Aboriginal (and many non-aboriginal) trappers hunt beaver and other fur animals for food. The fur provides important income in regions where alternative employment opportunities are often scarce. Any meat not eaten by trappers and their families is returned to the forest where it feeds other animals through the long, cold winter. Nothing is wasted.
Fur farming also helps to maintain rural communities, at a time when modern, highly efficient food production technologies are reducing farming populations in many regions.
Because the major fur auction companies are now owned by the fur farmers and trappers themselves, in both North America and Europe, producers receive full value for their furs. Prices are established by supply and demand as fur manufacturers and brokers from around the world compete for the limited supply of furs available each year.