MacDonald is a mass production of food. Technology has been used in order to aide this mass production, with little attention to the health and safety of the people and the environment. It’s cheaper, feeds more people, easier and faster.
Industrial agriculture is very much the same. It’s MacNaturebreeds! We’re relying on a few highly productive livestock breeds and crops for the same reason many fast food restaurants do: the money-making, profitable business of it all.
With industrial agriculture, humans dominate instead of balance. We control and modify crops and breeds with chemicals and impose unnatural technology.
For those who are like me, and are unaware of the difference between ‘industrial’ agriculture and ‘sustainable’ agriculture, I googled and paraphrased it for you.
Industrial agriculture is basically a kind of modern farming to the ‘industrialized’ production of livestock and crops. Political and economical influences are prevalent in this industry.
Sustainable agriculture is simply agriculture that is socially fair to the environment and to farming communities. It is also humane.
Clearly, the latter is the better choice. Naturally (no pun intended), we should practice the kind of agriculture that is beneficial to all – in terms of farmers, consumer’s health and the environment.
To be fair, industrial agriculture does have its benefits. It’s a cheap way to produce abundant amounts of food – making it more available and frees farm labouring. With the number of humans on this planet… it’s certainly appealing. Not to mention profitable as well. A child dies every five seconds due to hunger related issues, and industrial agriculture is perceived to be a way to lift those out of hunger and poverty.
And while we may not be too concerned about farmers – now countries must also spend money to sustain them (even though, really, it was their fault to begin with) and drives thousands of farmers to their death. The soil eventually becomes unusable and infertile, due to chemical overdose.
After watching Food Inc., it’s easy to see that industrial agriculture is a global crisis. We’re being lied about our food and how it’s made, hiding the unethical and unsanitary ways about our livestock and crops. It creates/promotes
- diabetes and obesity
- factory farming with inhumane conditions – also polluting communities
- pesticides (associated with cancers, autism and other neurological disorders)
- denying farmers their rights
- disgusting, artificial food
.jpg)
“There are many arguments against organic and sustainable agriculture, namely that they can’t produce an economy of scale to feed our rapidly growing world population. Another criticism is that there isn’t enough natural fertilizer to maintain current yields and chemicals must be used.
There is also a concern that the low prices we’ve become accustomed to won’t be there with organic agriculture. From the evidence that I’ve found, none of these arguments stand up to scrutiny and organic farming practices can indeed maximize the benefits and minimize the downsides.” (Allan Warren, Life More Natural)
Huh. So it seems as if industrial agriculture really doesn’t have a leg to stand on at all.
The topic of this bioblog is "feeding a growing population" versus "conserving biodiversity". But, we don't have to choose, with sustainable agriculture - BOTH are possible!
So tell me what you think. You want to buy food that’s been genetically modified to grow faster, greater, bigger and cheaper? Or you want to eat food that’s nutritionally healthy, good and wholesome?
I commented on Dora's blog and Inggrid's blog.
My references are:
Chowdhury, Debasish Roy. "The Hungry Won't Live If Farms Die." China Daily Website - Connecting China Connecting the World. China Daily, 23 May 2008. Web. 28 Dec. 2010. <http://www2.chinadaily.com.cn/opinion/2008-05/23/content_6728427.htm>.
Horrigan, Leo. "What's Wrong with Industrial Agriculture." Organic Consumers Association. Organic Consumers Association, 20 Mar. 2002. Web. 28 Dec. 2010. <http://www.organicconsumers.org/Organic/IndustrialAg502.cfm>.
"Industrial Agriculture | Economy Watch." World, US, China, India Economy, Investment, Finance, Credit Cards | Economy Watch. Ed. Stanley StLab. Economy Watch. Web. 28 Dec. 2010. <http://www.economywatch.com/agriculture/types/industrial.html>.
Rae, Jenna. "Effects of Industrial Agriculture of Crops on Water and Soil - a Knol by Jenna Rae." Knol - a Unit of Knowledge: Share What You Know, Publish Your Expertise. Knol Beta, 28 Apr. 2009. Web. 28 Dec. 2010. <http://knol.google.com/k/effects-of-industrial-agriculture-of-crops-on-water-and-soil#>.
Warren, Allan. "Organic vs Industrial Agriculture: Can We Have the Best of Both?" Life More Natural. Life More Natural, 7 May 2009. Web. 28 Dec. 2010. <http://lifemorenatural.com/?p=1155>.
Interesting post.
ReplyDeleteI think a big contributing factor to industrial agriculture is the manufactured demand. People eat too much meat, yet, as the pyramid at the top of your post demonstrates, more subsidies are being dedicated to meat production than to the production of lettuce, or other edible plant crops.
A salad is more expensive than a Big Mac because the Big Mac has been marketed more, and many people are more willing to spend money on a hot, satisfying burger than they are eating a salad.
And the burger is cheaper.
They really don't need all the calories in the burger, and a salad would do them more good, but the commercials tell them that the Big Mac is hot and juicy, so why not?
If people really thought before they ate, we would not have this problem. Unfortunately, choosing the best solution is rarely easy. Hopefully, sustainable agriculture practices and education will make choosing the best solution easier.
Seeing that ‘a child dies every five seconds due to hunger related,’ as you have mentioned, industrial agriculture does seem ‘appealing.’ However, despite all that, industrial agriculture isn’t the key to ending world hunger! In fact, all the pesticides used as well as the pollution generated is causing human health problems, which were so harmful that it was suggested that people should simply not eat them! From this, one can clearly see that this will not end world hunger, but will instead create bacteria responsible for thousands of deaths and millions of sicknesses.
ReplyDeleteIn addition, the soil really will become unusable and infertile if the practice of industrial agriculture is continued; in the last 40 years nearly one third of the world's arable land has already been lost! If we continue any longer, all of our fertile land will be all gone! We must open our eyes to the consequences of this system that is destroying our world!
Hey Connie!
ReplyDeleteI thought you made some very interesting points in your blog, such as connecting the idea that fast food can only exist with industrial agriculture, and that the production of fast food only encourages industrial agriculture. Its true that industrial agriculture makes food cheaper. I thought the way that you connected this idea with the fact that children die every 5 minutes of hunger to be very effective. This might have been a little exaggerated, since people in developing countries won't be saved from hunger by industrial agriculture, but none the less I got your point. I liked how you took the reader through your mental process as you decided whether sustainable or industrial agriculture was better. Good job!
angela