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austriaan alternative way oF pig Farming is possible, as shown by individual Farmers who have revived heritage breeds and use attentive, respectFul Farming methodshappy pigsand delicious laRdLinkswww.vier-pfoten.org www.fibl.org www.slowfood.com* Thanks to Barbara van Mele for her help with writ- ing this article.“The percentage of Austrian pigs raised organically or outdoors is shamefully low, well below 1%,” says Karl Schardax, a pig farmer from Up- per Austria. Bizarrely, he says, “people want proper farms, they donate to proj- ects run by organizations like Vier Pfo- ten, but when they do their shopping, they put the cheapest meat in their cart. That’s what we need to work on.” And that is exactly what Karl is doing, working energetically with other col- leagues who share his ideas.animal dietand well-beingThe pioneering breed changing pig- farming methods is the curly-haired Mangalica. The name covers three varieties: red, blonde and swallow- bellied (dark with a white belly). The Mangalica breed has Hungarian- Pannonian origins and is accurately though not very appealingly defined as a “lard pig.” Unfortunately, this creates an image problem for the breed, as today’s consumers want lean meat, ideally without a trace of fat, even though the fat of MangalicaJüRgen schmücKing*61