A vegetarian in the land of beef and swine

MERCEDES — Kenneth Ahlrich stopped eating meat two years ago.

The 75-year-old, a fourth-generation cotton and grain sorghum farmer, doesn’t talk much about his diet, which is a rarity at the Texas Farm Bureau’s Farm Lead, where he is a member.

“You have to live your life the way you want to,” he said. “Let them criticize me, I’m going to do what I want to do.”

At the 71st annual Mercedes Livestock Show, Ahlrich and his wife, Virginia, spun a table-sized cotton gin; one of several displays in the Planet Agriculture exhibit from the farm bureau to promote Texas agriculture and their product’s many uses.

Did you know lipstick comes from beef cattle and that marshmallows are a byproduct of sheep and goats? How about how cotton oil can be used to make synthetic rubber for tires?

“There’s kids that grow up in the cities and towns that don’t know where milk comes from,” Ahlrich said. “They think it comes from H.E.B.”

The exhibit made scant mention of the criticisms of modern agriculture, its use of hormones to fatten animals and how animal waste has found its way into and tainted the water supply in agriculture-dominated regions of the U.S.

The irony was not lost on Ahlrich.

“I’m just doing what I feel is best for me and let them do what they think is best for them,” he said. “Show and tell; I’m in much better shape than I was three years ago.”

Ahlrich explained his transformation from omnivore to herbivore beneath an exhibit that promoted Texas swine. Two years ago he attended a seminar at Hallelujah Acres in Shelby, N.C.

A 17-acre farm, Hallelujah Acres promoted a Christian-minded vegetarian diet. It boils down to this: Adam and Even ate plants and fruit in the Garden of Eden, not meat, Ahlrich said.

“My wife and I hardly eat anything but organic food,” Ahlrich said.

They’re also trying to go organic on the farm, but it’s difficult. They still need to use fertilizers and other inorganic methods to help their crops. This year, however, the method didn’t matter.

The Ahlrich’s lost their entire cotton crop outside Corpus Christi to drought. They had insured the crop, but the payout was determined by a 10-year crop average.

Six of the last years were drought years, skewing the total payout for their losses to about 35 percent of the total crop, Virginia Ahlrich said.

“Insurance really doesn’t pay for the crop,” she said. “Did we pay all of our debts? No.”

The outlook for this year is better. Steady rain has made for heartier soil.

“This year looks very promising,” Virginia Ahlrich said over the drone of the cotton gin. “We may get as much as two bails to an acre.”

Kenneth Ahlrich did not promote his lifestyle to the exhibit goers. He was reluctant to even talk about it. For him, it’s a personal choice.

Ultimately, he hoped the crowd left the building with a greater appreciation of how the food on store shelves and burgers at fast-food joints came from farms and ranches that employ thousands. And how in the modern age of agriculture with global trade, the number of U.S. growers is dwindling.

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Sean Gaffney covers business, the economy and general assignments for The Monitor. He can be reached at (956) 683-4434.