Goat Farmer Follows Islamic Law to Satisfy Muslim Consumers

June 3, 2001

Source: The Boston Globe

On June 3, 2001, The Boston Globe reported on Dave Bernier, a farmer in the Berkshires. "His goats, in accordance with Muslim religious law, pass their days without stress, feeding on grass, and when the time comes to slaughter them, Bernier sometimes accompanies them to the slaughterhouse to keep watch while Allah's name is pronounced and the animals' jugular veins are cut...his new habits are guided by business sense: At the end of the day, he's working for the imam." Bernier is one of 65 farmers who met in Blandford "to explore a market that has boomed along with the influx of immigrants to the Northeast. Recent arrivals from Africa, Latin America, the Caribbean, and a variety of Muslim countries that prize goat meat have made it the only red meat growing rapidly in popularity."