From the very beginning chapter 4 sets the tone for the chapter. "Cullers...opens his farm for a giant industry-sponsored field day each fall so other farmers can see his secrets, most of which involve incredible amounts of chemistry and petroleum". We as a society see developing our tools only as positives. We sometimes don't always see the downsides to developing tractors and other tools. Cullers and the giant agriculture businesses see the huge GPS driven tractor and
the pesticides helping increase our food surplus. While in the mean time our food surplus has actually continually decreased.
Not only is our surplus of food decreasing, but the amount of energy it takes to produce each crop is constantly increasing. This increase in energy needed to harvest crops directly increases the amount of fossil fuels consumed. "It takes ten calories of fossil energy to produce a single calorie of modern supermarket food". The harvesting of the food, transportation and the preservation of the food all requires. The food industry is becoming dominated by the large companies.
Alternatives to help cut down on the energy cost for these crops would be to buy local. Going to the local farmers market or buying directly from individuals farmers will help cut down on the fosil fuel consumption. Another alternative would be to create an individual or community garden. That way you save fuel consumption from harvesting and transporting. Community gardens also help bring the community together and could potentially help feed those in the community less fortunate.
I also talked about community gardens and local farmer's market in my post. I think that community gardens are a great way to bring people together and grow local food for the community.
ReplyDeleteI think it's interesting how some industrial farmers truly believe it's their duty to feed the world. Industrial agriculture does NOT mean more food for people. More than half our grain production goes to feeding livestock and other animals, which poses a plethora of issues. First, the grains that they feed these animals are NOT what these animals would eat naturally (cows graze!). Corn is a great way to fatten up animals, so it's even fed to fish. If we shifted our focus to feeding PEOPLE and feeding livestock what they truly need to be fed, then we can make some serious strides in ending hunger in this country.
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