After reading The Omnivore’s Dilemma CH 8-10 by Michael Pollan, he mainly talks about the organic farms and the importance of grass in farming. Joe Salatin uses many modern technologies and many biological ways to create a natural ecosystem. In Polyface Farm, there are many species of animals and plants, and the fresh grass is all over around which makes the farm more natural. The reason why Salatin consider himself as a “grass farmer” is that the grass has a high status in Salatin’s farm, which is one of the main factors that make the high quality of this farm. The industrial farm setting includes “a great machine, transforming inputs of seed and fossil energy into outputs of carbohydrate and protein” (Pollan 130). In the other hand, the industrial farm makes everything perform like a machine, which makes the food become not natural any more in the process of producing food. Comparing the Salatin’s farm to the big organic farms, Salatin gets a different farming system, less trading, healthy soils and localized transport. In contrast to the Naylor’s farm, Salatin’s farm seems that he intends to make a more natural crop farming system, and he makes diversified species which keeps the balance of the ecology. I think that it is better to get a small-scale organic farming, which provides the high quality food; however, the requirement of the organic food is much higher than the outputs of the small-scale organic farming so that…
Pollan talks about most of the organic food we consume today is produced from the so-called “industrial organic” farms, which belong firmly to the industrial food chain rather than the ideal organic food chain. First, the reality of “organic food” chain is largely inaccurately reported.…
We have choices to make when purchasing food; when we buy chicken do we get organic or not? These choices do impact us globally; hence “Think Globally, Act Locally.” Our environment is important and it’s also the nesting ground for our food source. We as the people should make sure our actions and decisions gear toward protecting the world we live in. When purchasing our food I do believe that the best would be organic. It supplies our animals with the healthiest appetite to provide the best produce to us. Farmers markets are the best way to support your town or community and making sure you also are getting healthy food for you family. Everything plays apart with something else and making sure we do our part would be making sure we are the healthiest we can…
I gained different knowledge about organic food along with the benefits of it. Non-organic food contain pesticides and plenty of food additives. 100% Organic is made with none of that it’s made all naturally so for example its made with no food supplements and no pesticides. In the food and recipes feature stories section John Reganold, a professor of soil science at Washington State University in Pullman, Washington, states, "If you 're talking about pesticides, the evidence is pretty conclusive. Your chances of getting pesticide residues are much less with organic food.” For example in a regular industrial farm where they plant crops they use pesticides along with food supplements for it to grow faster and for it to taste better. Now in organic farming where they grow crops or raise animals there are no pesticides or food supplements used in to make them grow faster, it was…
Recently, I became a member of a CSA—community supported agriculture—and am receiving a box of organic produce delivered to my doorstep every week. My reasons for doing this are as follows: I want to eat locally grown produce; I want to reduce the use of chemicals in the food I eat; I want to reduce my carbon footprint by buying local, non-corporate food; I prefer to support local farmers, especially in a down economy; by subscribing rather than just buying at a farmer’s market, I’m showing my commitment to organic farming; and I will eat a broader range of vegetables as a result. By doing this, I am hoping to improve my own health while also, I hope, reducing the environmental costs of corporate farming. Michael Pollan’s “Behind the Organic-Industrial…
Section Two Pollan brings to light organic foods and the difference between mass produced and local farms. He exaggerates, he describes grass as it is capable of becoming something else. Page 126 “End of season Grasses transformed into 25,000 pounds beef, 50,000 pounds pork, 12,000 broilers, 800 turkeys, 500 rabbits, and 30,000 dozen eggs.” All this is within 100 acres of pasture and it comes to show that grass truelt feeds many and all that feeds…
They aren’t better tasting, nor do they have anymore health benefits than nonorganics. Organics do tend to use fewer pesticides, though they do still use them, and pesticide related health risks are not nearly as imperative when compared to other problems out there. Depending on yields and how much farmers are using conservation tillage practices that traditional farmers are already using, there is a chance that organic farming could possibly be somewhat better for the environment. We should all keep one thing in mind: organic foods just cost more. The absurdity here is that the food police have made food into a “status-seeking game” while at the same time wondering why exactly the poor don’t consume enough nutritious food. Even teachers at our kids’ schools find places in their schedules to bring up eating organic, buying local, and recycling. New York Times asked one mother about her child’s schools’ push to “go green” and she said that, “the social pressure her children felt regarding recyclable products was palpable.” She had caught her child’s teacher’s attention when she chose to use plastic bags inside of a lunchbox. She said, “That’s when the kids have meltdowns, because they don’t want to be shamed at school.” This type of “status-seeking” consumerism occurs when we purchase things just to better our reputations. Instead of avoiding this type of attitude, the food police encourage it (Lusk, The Food…
Monoculture is mainly used in industrialized agriculture with many inputs of fossil fuels and chemicals to produce large amounts of a single crop. Polyculture is often locally based, and may be found in a subsistence agriculture practice that uses human and animal energy to produce smaller amounts of many different crops. Polyculture and working with nature can provide many and more sustainable solutions to our current challenges, and that in diversifying the food economy we will be much more resilient to future shocks. In doing so we can also reduce our…
One aspect of Laramie that strikes me is how peaceful, and free the town is, for example one of the characters states, “But you’d have to be out of your mind to let your kids out after dark. And here, in the summertime, my kids play out at night till eleven, and I don’t think twice about it” (Kaufman 7). This text portrays Laramie’s peacefulness, because here the character explains how he does not “think twice” about letting his kids play outside in the dark. One moment that I find interesting about Laramie is how one of the character tells his story about his desire to go to college for theatre, and his parents could not afford the tuition, so the boy signs up for a scholarship, and wins, but his parents did not support him throughout his significant experience. Another aspect that is interesting to me is how the play is written as a documentary that you would see on television, but in written form. So far, my early impression of the play is that it is overwhelming, due to Kaufman’s writing style. I am not enjoying how there are so many characters that share their stories, and experiences towards that town because all of the encounters are overwhelming, as well as the numerous amount of characters.…
How often do you think about what you eat? Humans have transitioned from a hunter-gatherer society where finding food is a living to a world where anything is available at the touch of a button. From colorful bags of greasy chips to organic carrots, there are aisles and aisles of options available at both the supermarket and Amazon for you to get food whenever you need it. However, with the rise of easy access to food, there is another problem to be solved by humanity. Which options do you choose?…
Ten years ago it was difficult to find organic foods in local stores, but now most super markets sell several types of foods that are organic. Because of this, the public has been given the opportunity to provide healthier and cleaner foods for their families. But, when buying groceries, people unfortunately tend to buy what they believe to be organic food, but what is actually referred to as conventional organic, without even noticing. There are two different types of organic foods, true organics and conventional organics. True organic food is food grown is healthy soil, which grows healthy, plants, which in turn, feeds humans and creates health within. Conventional organic food is basically industrial agriculture done without the use of chemical fertilizers and pesticides. It follows the bare minimum to meet the regulations in order to get the ‘Certified Organic’ stamp. Companies do this in order to cash in on the bigger margins that health- and environmentally-conscious consumers are willing to support for organic food. When shopping it is important to buy mostly true organic foods, doing so allows you, as the consumer, to avoid dangerous chemicals and hormones, benefit from more nutrients, and preserve the ecosystem.…
I had certainly never looked at organic food this way. I grew up eating regular food.. I saw no “rich narrative,” no “well-composted soils on small farms,” and no heroes or villains. Nor did I see any reason to be surprised (as Pollan was) by a microwaveable organic TV dinner. That’s not to say that I was born with a detailed understanding of the workings of organic farming. I knew next to nothing about farming, but I never saw any reason to fill in the blanks with these kinds of stories.I suspect that Pollan is right that Whole Foods would like us to think of these stories. Regardless, I’d venture to guess that he and I experience shopping at Whole Foods about as differently as two people might experience the same grocery store, given his fascination with stories and my own devout literalism. It really does open my eyes about organic food and be well educated about what we put in our bodies. I really think it benefits me a whole lot.…
Coincidentally, before my second viewing of Food INC in our first sociology class, I was in a renaissance of eating healthier. I wanted to lose some weight and maintain that healthier weight not by using a temporary diet but by changing my lifestyle. I decided to cut out processed foods as much as possible. I was also interested in the organic option over the conventional options at a Safeway for example so I did my research on organic food. While there isn’t hard conclusive evidence that non-organic food is surely harmful to the body, there were some interesting correlations with non-organic food and negative effects. Upon further research and article reading, I read that some foods should definitely be eaten organic versus food that doesn’t have to be eaten organically. For example fruits or vegetables with a thick covering like pineapple will be less affected by pesticides because the hard “shell” prevents the pesticides from getting to the…
Five years later, the industry of synthetic and processed food skyrocketed, sending organic and small stores out of business. As a result, “the counterculture promoted natural foods organically grown” (Pollan 2). Big Food has been working to develop a healthy organic cuisine…
There are some alarming differences between organic and processed foods especially when considering agriculture. “Organic” means that a food is grown without the aid of pesticides or fertilizers. Organic farmers use manure and nothing else to grow fruits, vegetables, and grains. It says in The Organic Myth that this can lead to some bad cases of E. Coli that wouldn’t be present in foods grown with pesticides since there are all sorts of bacteria in the manure (2004). The reverse is that without all those chemicals being sprayed on crops, you tend to have less pollution. Rodale states, “Growing foods organically prevents thousands of toxic chemicals from entering the environment and poisoning…