Thursday, February 13, 2014

Exploration 4 Chase

In the beginning of the film, Michael Pollan states, "The only thing Americans fear is incovenience." In turn, this has created, what was expressed by many different food analysts and local farmers, as an unsustainable food system. Because of the demands of society wanting foods quick and in bulk amounts, a conversion from grass-fed to grain-fed animals has occurred. Throughout the film we see how easy it is for machines to place grain in large troughs down a line compared to the process grass farmers go through beginning with composting soil, migrating cattle, and then replenishing the fields with chickens after cattle have eaten. Along with convenience, the industrial food system grows because of how they are subsidized compared to grass farmers. With the demands of a nation, funding for bulk-food production facilities is takes precedence over organic farming. However, as Pollan mentions when the industrial food production facilities get diseased by E. coli or other infections, the entire nation is at risk. Whereas when you have multiple organic farms, if one becomes infected, the population can rely on the other sources. A question after watching this film I had is if each family could produce their own food, would the problem be solved? I believe we could at least begin to grow our own produce in an effort to becoming less vulnerable to whatever the industrial food system decides to incorporate.

3 comments:

  1. "The only thing Americans fear is inconvenience." Very true, we have had to sacrifice quality for quantity. It's a hard choice for some farmers, but to others they just see more money. I agree everyone should look into doing their part to help fix our food system.

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  2. "With the demands of a nation, funding for bulk-food production facilities is takes precedence over organic farming." That's a huge problem for our nation. Eating unhealthy and getting lack of nutrition from our food will result in negative benefits. We tend to ignore the contrast between industrialized and organic foods because they "want" us to buy their products. Big industries have money and will do whatever it takes to brainwash people. While local farmers really can't do much to compete.

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  3. "With the demands of a nation, funding for bulk-food production facilities is takes precedence over organic farming." This statement was a "slap-in-the-face" for me. I read this as if there was no other option but to do what is necessary for the country to survive as well as what we are capable of doing. This does not mean always necessarily what we want, but usually what is available to do.

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