The Corporate Takeover of American Farming
The Corporate Takeover of American Farming
Introduction
We are literally eating ourselves to death. For the first time in American history, the generations born after the baby boomers face a lower life expectancy than their parents did. This situation is largely a result of a product that we cannot even eat until it has been processed into our food and drink supply. This food, plus a sedentary life-style, have caused an epidemic of obesity which has been on the rise in America for the past 30 years, increasing the rate of diabetes and other food-related illnesses. Because of the method of farming, the use of chemical fertilizers, and the supply of genetically modified seed for crops of corn and soy, we have plenty of cheap food available in the US, but this food comes a at a cost. It causes so many problems with our health that we would be much better off with a lower quantity of a higher quality substitute which we would call wholesome food. The primary ingredient is found in the most common element in our food supply: corn. Not the type of sweet corn that you eat off the cob in the summer-time, but an inedible corn that must be processed at high heat levels to be transformed into a starchy mess before any mammal can eat it. This corn product is in our food and our sweetened soft drinks. It is used as cattle feed because it is cheap and readies the cows for market in a shorter time than the grass which cattle have naturally evolved to eat. It is in ready-made foods and soft drinks in the form of high fructose corn syrup. Another ingredient grown by US farmers is soybeans. These are also used to feed cattle and they wind up in two-thirds of all processed foods (Pollen p 36). Corporations run the whole system to their ultimate benefit in the form of cheap feed and sweetener as inputs of production. Ethanol producers also benefit from the availably of cheap corn. This corn is farmed at a loss to farmers which the U.S. government makes up for in the form of
Introduction
We are literally eating ourselves to death. For the first time in American history, the generations born after the baby boomers face a lower life expectancy than their parents did. This situation is largely a result of a product that we cannot even eat until it has been processed into our food and drink supply. This food, plus a sedentary life-style, have caused an epidemic of obesity which has been on the rise in America for the past 30 years, increasing the rate of diabetes and other food-related illnesses. Because of the method of farming, the use of chemical fertilizers, and the supply of genetically modified seed for crops of corn and soy, we have plenty of cheap food available in the US, but this food comes a at a cost. It causes so many problems with our health that we would be much better off with a lower quantity of a higher quality substitute which we would call wholesome food. The primary ingredient is found in the most common element in our food supply: corn. Not the type of sweet corn that you eat off the cob in the summer-time, but an inedible corn that must be processed at high heat levels to be transformed into a starchy mess before any mammal can eat it. This corn product is in our food and our sweetened soft drinks. It is used as cattle feed because it is cheap and readies the cows for market in a shorter time than the grass which cattle have naturally evolved to eat. It is in ready-made foods and soft drinks in the form of high fructose corn syrup. Another ingredient grown by US farmers is soybeans. These are also used to feed cattle and they wind up in two-thirds of all processed foods (Pollen p 36). Corporations run the whole system to their ultimate benefit in the form of cheap feed and sweetener as inputs of production. Ethanol producers also benefit from the availably of cheap corn. This corn is farmed at a loss to farmers which the U.S. government makes up for in the form of
Cited: http://www.motherjones.com/tom-philpott/2013/08/beef-industry- addicted-drugs on August 28, 2013 Pollen, Michael. (2007). The Omnivore’s Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals. New York: Penguin Books Woolf, Aaron. King Corn, Documentary, Directed by Aaron Woolf. 2007. Amherst. King Mosaic Films