Have you stopped to truly think about where the food on your plate comes from? What actually has to happen for us to get milk to go with our morning bowl of cereal and cup of coffee?

Considered the effects of animal agriculture on animals, the environment, our health, and workers?

These are topics that are pressing issues today, as problems surrounding factory farming and environmental impacts from animal agriculture are becoming increasingly debated and brought to the attention of the public.

If learning more about these issues is something that interests you, then come out to Farming and Ethics: An Evening with Sonia Faruqi on Wednesday, January 27 at Bagnani Hall at Traill College.

The evening will begin with refreshments at 6:30 p.m., followed by a talk by Faruqi from 7 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.

Afterwards, there will be questions and discussions including book signings and the opportunity to buy the book that Faruqi will be reading from and discussing, Project Farm Animal, which was released last year. Farming and Ethics is a free event open to the public, and is supported by the Sustainability Studies and Sustainable Agriculture and Food Systems programs, as well as the Trent School of the Environment, the Kawartha World Issues Centre, and Trent Oxfam.

Dartmouth graduate and former Wall Street investor Sonia Faruqi goes on a four year long journey travelling the world, visiting and volunteering on farms from the United States to Belize to Malaysia.

She writes brilliantly about her experiences, exposing the truth of global agriculture and the grim realities of the egg and dairy industries. Part narrative, part expository, Project Farm Animal deals with the harsh truth behind organic and free-range farms, and the injustices that still occur on “humane” farms.

Gone are the lovely images in your head of cows happily grazing in a vast field of grass and chickens roaming free – many of these farms are not much of an improvement. Project Animal Farm discusses issues such as animal production for fast food, and raises the question of how the high demand for fast food has affected animal welfare and intensive meat production.

Faruqi’s travels also ended up taking her from intensive factory farms to small, rural farms around the world. She discusses solutions to larger pastoral farming and sustainability of animal agriculture, and the future of farming.

Project Animal Farm additionally touches on the large environmental impacts behind animal agriculture, the role of workers in the business, and health issues surrounding hormones given to livestock.

Raw, informative, captivating, and extremely eye opening, Project Animal Farm is a book to surely inspire us to think about where our food is coming from, why we should care as consumers, and solutions to issues that are raised.

Every time we sit down for a meal, we have an important choice to make. Farming and Ethics is sure to be a highly educational and engaging evening that will get audiences thinking differently.

Certainly a not-to-miss event!