It used to be that fine dining establishments featured imported ingredients on the menu. These days, many chefs in high quality restaurants take pride in featuring locally grown, seasonal items. Even some large chain grocery stores now offer meat and produce from local farms. While most Americans probably would not feel the need to be as close to their meat as Makenna Goodman describes in “Ever Wonder if You Could Kill What You Eat? We Did the Other Night”, there is growing support for Goodman’s ideas that being closer to the food results in better food quality (246). Many Americans seem to concur, as they are now willing to pay more for locally grown and organically raised food. Having seen countless local farms plowed under to become housing developments or shopping malls, and having dealt with several epidemics of tainted food, Americans are more conscious of the ‘support your local farmer’ movement. If this new ‘food fashion’ continues to grow in popularity, it will help strengthen local farms that in past years have suffered at the expense of large commercial farming enterprises. According to Michael Pollan federal policy has promoted industrial agriculture, or agribusiness, since the Nixon era in the belief that keeping food costs low by obtaining maximum production of commodity crops (corn, soybeans, wheat, and rice) was in the best interest of the national political agenda (186). In “Farmer in Chief”, Pollan asks President Obama to change federal policy and instead promote local farming, asserting that how Americans grow, process, and eat food impacts the health care crisis, energy independence, and climate change (187). Goodman, Pollan, and others agree that more local, small-scale, farming will be better for th... ... middle of paper ... ...ge.html?res=9500EEDC143EF936A15757C0A9619C8B63>. Environmental Protection Agency, Region 7 Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations (CAFOs). EPA, 17 Jan. 2012. Web. 07 May 2012. . Goodman, Makenna. “Ever Wonder if You Could Kill What You Eat? We Did the Other Night.” Acting out Culture: Reading and Writing. Ed. James S. Miller. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2011. 246-248. Print. Pollan, Michael. “Farmer in Chief.” Acting out Culture: Reading and Writing. Ed. James S. Miller. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2011. 186-203. Print. Sustainable Table. GRACE Communications Foundation. Web. 07 May 2012. . United States Department of Agriculture. Agricultural Marketing Service. USDA, 2012. Web. 07 May. 2012. .
Moreover, this system of mass farming leads to single crop farms, which are ecologically unsafe, and the unnatural treatment of animals (Kingsolver 14). These facts are presented to force the reader to consider their own actions when purchasing their own food because of the huge economic impact that their purchases can have. Kingsolver demonstrates this impact by stating that “every U.S. citizen ate just one meal a week (any meal) composed of locally and organically raised meats and produce, we
In the video, “America Revealed: Food Machine,” the host, Yul Kwon, investigated the modern American agricultural industry, with an emphasis upon the contrasts between contemporary farming and the American farming of previous generations. At the start of the program, Mr. Kwon discusses the route of a pizza delivery person in New York City, and he describes the origins of the ingredients of the pizza. To do this, the host travels to California’s Central Valley, a region that was once a desert, but is now the breadbasket of the United States. In this valley, thirteen million tomatoes are grown per year as well as fifty percent of the country’s fruits and nuts. Water is the most expensive resource in this region, as it must travel many miles from
More and more health-conscious individuals are scrutinizing the source of the food their family consumes. However, even the most conscientious consumer is not fully aware of the exhaustive efforts and struggle to get a juicy, ripe strawberry or that plump tomato in the middle of winter, even in Florida. These foods are harvested and picked mostly by seasonal and migrant farm workers. Migrant workers hail, in large part, from Mexico and the Caribbean, and their families often travel with them. Migrant farm workers must endure challenging conditions so that Americans can have the beautiful selection of berries, tomatoes, and other fresh foods often found at places like a farmer’s market or a traditional super market. Seasonal and migrant farm workers suffer a variety of health problems as a result of their constant exposure to stress, the elements, and chemicals such as pesticides. They are paid minimal wages and are expected to work long hours of strenuous labor for pennies on the dollar per piece or per hour. The migrant families are expected to live in substandard quarters and transported to various work sites in unsafe transportation. The fresh fruits and vegetables consumers purchase with little thought reach supermarkets at a cost that is not reflected in the retail price. This cost is ultimately absorbed by farm workers in Florida and other areas throughout the country, who are among the poorest of American workers.
Hribar, Carrie, MA. Understanding Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations and Their Impact on Communities. Ed. Mark Schultz, MEd. Http://www.cdc.gov/nceh/ehs/docs/understanding_cafos_nalboh.pdf. National Association of Local Boards of Health, n.d. Web. 14 Dec. 2013. .
The Web. 16 Mar. 2014. The 'Standard' of the 'Standard'. http://www.harp.gov/About>. Agricultural Adjustment Administration (AAA). "
Michael Pollan and David Freedman are two reputable authors who have written about different types of food and why they are healthy or why they are damaging to our health. Michael Pollan wrote “Escape from the Western Diet” and David Freedman wrote “How Junk Food Can End Obesity”. Imagine Pollan’s idea of a perfect world. Everything is organic. McDonald’s is serving spinach smoothies and Walmart is supplying consumers with raw milk. The vast majority of food in this world consists of plants grown locally, because almost everyone is a farmer in order to keep up with supply and demand. How much does all this cost? What happened to all the food that is loved just because it tastes good?
Cam, Heather American Literature; Oct87, Vol. 59 Issue 3, p429, 4p Academic Search Complete Ebesco. Web. 25 July 2011
A. “Farm Policy.” CQ Researcher 10 Aug. 2012: 693-716. Web. The Web. The Web.
From 1865 to 1900, production of crops increased, and prices dropped. (Document A) These crops were shipped east, where they were eaten and exported to other countries. This was due to technology, but government policy caused economic conditions in the west barely improved as a result. In fact, despite the success many farmers experienced, many in the west still struggled to put food on the table.
Labrie, Janet M. "The Depiction of Women's Field Work in Rural Fiction." Agricultural History 67 (Spring 1993): 119-33. JSTOR. Web. 15 Mar. 2012.
O'Connor, Flannery. Good Country People. Literature an Introduction to Fiction, Poetry, And Drama. X. J. Kennedy and Dana Gioia. Longman. 2002. (247-261)
Kelly, John. ENGLISH 2308E: American Literature Notes. London, ON: University of Western. Fall 2014. Lecture Notes.
Natural Farming products have high quality, good taste and better yield. People commonly think that by converting to organic farming you will have smaller yields, lower quality and smaller-sized fruits. In Natural Farming it is the opposite. We do not go back to the past; we take a leap into the future. Natural Farming products have much higher nutritional contents. Protein, amino acid, crude fat and other essential nutrient were identified to be as much as 300 percent higher than ordinary products. Chemical residue such as nitrate is almost undetectable.
Nussbaum, Martha C. “The Literary Imagination in Public Life.” Hard Times. Ed. Fred Kaplan and Sylvére Monod. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, Inc, 2001. 429-439.
and also supply lamb to local butchers. This can sometimes prove to be a costly enterprise for