Economics of Food Production and Consumption Choices

In the documentary food inc. it takes an in depth look at the farming industry that not a lot of people get to see. The film shows how convenience foods are cheaper and more abundant than ever, and people are not realizing how the food gets put on their plates. I always though food came from nice farms with cute little fences and everyone’s happy, but in reality most foods come from mega factories and assembly lines that mass produce unhealthy choices for people to consume. When I think about the actions and profit motive of the multinational corporations, I see that they are just giving the consumer what they want, more food that is cheaper and convenient and at a faster pace. In order for the industries to do so they take on the task of finding faster ways of creating these food products and mass producing them even if it means hiring illegal immigrants and treating there workers poor, just to satisfy the buyer and make more money. The corn industry has become a primary agricultural crop, present in many manufactured foods today, which isn’t a hard crop to come by and is cheaper for the buyers. The cost to our health and environment are hidden when purchasing many of the foods that come from factory farmed animals. Though many packages are labeled with cute farm scenes, the reality is different. Animals are being forced to live in overcrowded and unsanitary conditions. Although factory farming drives down the prices at the register, the overall cost to the environment is much higher. We as consumers I think can impact the way our food is grown by just buying at local or organic farms, we can also harvest our own food. Doing this would cut back on transportation costs and chemical preservatives that most of our food undergoes. Local food systems often cut out the middlemen involved in processing, packaging, transporting, and selling food. Our economic choices in the food industry aren’t hard to come by we can just choose not to buy certain food or brands