Temple Grandin, who revolutionized the beef industry, has a unique understanding on how animal brains work.
Temple Grandin offered spellbound farmers, environmentalists and people interested in sustainable agriculture a window into what goes on inside an animal’s brain.
“Animal thinking is very, very specific,” Grandin said, enunciating each syllable, “because it’s a picture.”
Grandin was best-known speaker Thursday Jan. 23 at the 34th anual EcoFarm conference.html, which explores sustainable agriculture through Saturday at the Asilomar Conference Grounds in Pacific Grove. Grandin,.html diagnosed with autism at a young age, revolutionized the way cattle are slaughtered by discovering ways to make the situation less stressful for livestock—thereby making the process easier for farmers, too. She also became an unofficial spokesperson for the autistic community—making her pretty much one of the coolest people ever.
Grandin, who also speaks tomorrow morning at the Monterey Autism and Asperger's Syndrome Conference, understands the animal world so well, she says, partly because an autistic mind also thinks in pictures. Additionally, attention to detail allows her narrow in on data others might skip over. And she covered such a wide range of topics in her presentation it was hard to keep up with her brain.
Grandin detailed how she helped large-scale farmers make inexpensive improvements when she advised them to fix flooring, change lighting and add panels that block people who walk by from view. She compared the need for hard and fast agricultural regulations to the importance of traffic regulations. She talked about how animals are constantly switching back and forth between seek mode, when they are curious, and stress mode, when they become more fearful.
“Some people might say, ‘You’re not based on science here.’ Well, I could get on a good Internet connection and stuff so many abstracts down your throat, it’s not funny,” Grandin said.
Grandin even questioned the value of raising organic cattle. She compared non-organic animal medication to the antibiotics she’s taking for pneumonia, which she says might have otherwise killed her. “Sometimes, animals get sick, and you have to treat ‘em,” she said.
She added that organic dairy farmers get used to looking at scrawny cows with bald spots—so much that when asked what percentage of their cows are lean, they underestimate by half. “They start to thinking that’s normal,” Grandin said.
After a standing ovationfor Grandin, Charlie Anderson of Skagit Valley Farmers Cooperative said the perspectives from speakers like her are why he comes to EcoFarm.
“It’s the practical things you take with you and stories you tend to remember,” Anderson said. “Those things make so much sense: ‘why didn’t I see that?’ I’ve seen a lot. I come to this show here, and I’m constantly new things that I feel like I should have recognized myself. That’s the best learning for me.”
