Chapter Six – The Consumer: A Republic of Fat
Précis
Like the Alcoholic Republic, the more of something that we have, the more we will consume it. With an abundance of corn, Americans are expanding their diet and become obese.
Gems
“When food is abundant and cheap, people will eat more of it and get fat,” (p. 102).
“Deep cultural taboos against gluttony – one of the seven deadly sins, after all – had been holding us back,” (p. 106).
“Our bodies are storing reserves of fat against a famine that never comes,” (p. 106).
“But as productive and protean as the corn plant is, finally it is a set of human choices that have made these molecules quite as cheap they have become...” (p. 108).
Thoughts
Over processing needs to stop because it does not help the economy and it has a negative impact on our health. Why has no alternative solution been created? Corn itself may be easily accessible and adaptable to different environments, but it does not mean that we need to make that our main focus. Our society should grow seasonal foods, which will not create abundance and reduce the need for so many pesticides to keep things fresh. There will also be no need to import out of season foods, reducing the amount of fossil fuels used. But then again, our society has developed such a dependency on a wide range of foods, that it seems almost impossible to adopt this method.
Everyone is now concerned with obesity, but it is our own fault. If we keep providing all of this excess food, we are going to consume lots of empty calories causing obesity. Why are more regulations not instilled in order to cut down on the amount of food processed? Why do people not want to accept the fact that industrial farming is taking a serious toll on our society? It seems that nobody is open to change; they only want to diagnose the problem, not solve it.
Chapter Seven – The Meal: Fast Food
Précis
Fast food is all just corn processed into different forms. Corn has colonized the human and become accessible in any environment i.e. a car.
Gems
“These healthier menu items hand the child who wants to eat fast food a sharp tool with which to chip away at his parents’ objections,” (p. 110).
“Whatever it is...for countless millions of people living now, this generic fast-food flavor is one of the unerasable smells and tastes of childhood – which makes it a kind of comfort food,” (p. 111).
“In truth, my cheeseburger’s relationship to beef seemed nearly as metaphorical as the nugget’s relationship to a chicken,” (p. 114).
“But then, this is what the industrial eater has become: corn’s koala,” (p. 117).
“Corn’s triumph is the direct result of its overproduction, and that has been a disaster for the people who grow it,” (p. 118).
Thoughts
Fast food while convenient is just corn represented differently. If the main basis of fast food is that it is easily prepared and cheap, why can we not find another way to provide the same benefits, but in a healthier way? It seems that fast food really has no value at all. There is nothing nutritious about it, and it only seems to hurt us.
Corn really does seem to have taken over any system of food in our nation. With its overproduction, it is obvious that this would happen. If we are to have this abundance, we could at least make something good out of it. The food that we create barely resembles foods. In terms of meat, it does not even seem that we are eating meat anymore, but instead corn in meat form. Is it really that much of an effort to have grass fed animals? If we continue to only think about quantity and not quality, our children will adapt these ways and the cycle will never be broken.
Chapter Eight: All Flesh is Grass
Précis
Pastoral farming is a sustainable alternative to industrial farming. It is all about a coexistence with grass; it feeds animals, and the animals nurture it.
Gems
“But as I would understand by the end of my week on Salatin’s farm, the old pastoral idea is alive and, if not well exactly, still useful, perhaps even necessary,” (p. 125).
“Salatin is the choreographer and the grasses are his verdurous stage; the dance has made Polyface one of the most productive and influential alternative farms in America,” (p. 126).
“A great many animals, too, are drawn to grass, which partly accounts for our own deep attraction to it: We come here to eat the animals that ate the grass that we (lacking rumens) can’t eat ourselves,” (p. 127).
“Salatin was suggesting that the organic food chain couldn’t expand into America’s supermarkets and fast-food outlets without sacrificing its ideals,” (p. 133).
Thoughts
It seems just to run a farm based on the relationship between the human and the earth. But in a society like today, I doubt it would be very likely for this type of farming to dominate. Pollan does state that it may even be necessary, which I find completely true. There will come a time when industrial farming can bring us no further; we will come to an abrupt halt. Before this happens, because it could bring great chaos, we should start a slow transition into a lifestyle that coexists with nature.
Without rumens we depend on the animals that can eat grass to eat it. If they are not eating grass, than we are disturbing the natural process. We too need the nutrients that it in turn supplies the animals. Therefore without this relationship between grass and the being, we are hurting ourselves. Why is pastoral farming not the main farming type in America? Does it thrive in any part of the world? While we like to think of ourselves as a superpower, I believe that in terms of agriculture, we could learn a lot from other countries.
Chapter Nine – Big Organic
Précis
The leading organic farms in our society are industrial organic; they are large suppliers. After investigating them, it can be seen that organic farms might not always be completely truthful or necessarily more beneficial.
Gems
“And so, today, the organic food industry finds itself in a most unexpected, uncomfortable, and, yes, unsustainable position: floating on a sinking sea of petroleum,” (184).
“The inspiration for organic was to find a way to feed ourselves more in keeping with the logic of nature, to build a food system that looked more like an ecosystem that would draw its fertility and energy from the sun,” (p. 183).
“Cuddled by us and our chemicals, the plants see no reason to invest their resources in mounting a strong defense,” (p. 180).
“Seldom if ever stepped upon, the chicken-house lawn is scrupulously maintained nevertheless, to honor an ideal nobody wants to admit has by now become something of a joke, an empty pastoral conceit,” (p.173).
“Artificial manures lead to artificial nutrition, artificial food, artificial animals and finally to artificial men and women,” (p. 148).
Thoughts
As I have said before, our society does not seem ready to take on the idea of organic. It is apparent through the examination of these organic farms that nothing stays purely organic; something must become industrial. These farms are forced to change their ways, and end up substituting the pesticides with other habits that are not necessarily any better. The regulations for organic farming are so laid-back that the entire system is almost a joke. Why do people not see the significance of organic farming?
Food suppliers should be ready to take on a couple different farms as long as they grow their food organically; quantity should not be their main focus. Because food suppliers have large demands, small farms are required to produce a lot more. Without this high demand, small farms could thrive better; therefore a food supplier needs to branch out and take from many smaller farms. This will help decrease overproduction and also lessen the need for the industrialization of organic farming.
Chapter Ten – Grass: Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Pasture
Précis
Rotational grazing is focused on a more direct consumption of sun energy; first the grass takes it in, which is eaten by the cows, and in turn we eat the cows. It has a hard time in our society because of its inability to be industrialized efficiently.
Gems
“We should call ourselves sun farmers. The grass is just the way we capture the solar energy,” (p. 188).
“Cows eating grasses that had themselves eaten the sun: The food chain at work in this pasture could not be any shorter or simpler,” (p. 195).
“The moment Budger shears the clump of grass, she sets into motion a sequence of events that will confer a measurable benefit on this square foot of pasture,” (p. 196).
“We seldom focus on farming’s role in global warming, but as much as a third of all the greenhouse gases that human activity has added to the atmosphere can be attributed to the saw and the plow,” (p. 198).
“Grain is the closest thing in nature to an industrial commodity: storable, portable, fungible, ever the same today as it was yesterday and will be tomorrow,” (p. 201).
Thoughts
Rotational grazing seems to be the most affective way of farming discussed so far. It is not easily industrialized, as grass cannot be packaged and handled as easily as corn, but maybe that is a good thing. This aspect would lead to less corruption in the rotational grazing community, turning a healthier profit. Why is rotational grazing such a new idea? Is it not based off of prehistoric farming, or nature itself? The situation for the cows seems so natural; it is hard to find a downside to the argument.
Global warming is such a big concern now, why is rotational grazing not being seen as a possible solution? This process eliminates mass amounts of carbon in the atmosphere, as opposed to industrial farming, which creates it. Would our society crumble if we made a transition out of industrial farming to something more sustainable? This must be the case because otherwise I do not see why the transition has not already been made.
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