Animals Practicing Complexity Analysis

Michael Pollan exposes this by suggesting three main ideas to the future President of the United States. The first idea that Michael Pollan has, is to make farming as natural as it can be again. Currently, CAFO’s are being used to produce our food, which is very unhealthy. CAFO stands for Concentrated Animal Feeding Operation, which basically means animals

Introduction: Bad press is bad for business and a company’s bottom line. The agriculture business in America and around the world has seen heightened controversy due to leaked images of unethical treatment of animals. The industry hit hardest by this controversy is known as industrial agriculture or factory farms. Factory farms are very large centers that produce much of the meat, eggs, dairy, and other foodstuffs we consume.

With the help of appealing strategies and literary devices, guidance is provided to us which gives a clearer comprehension of the book itself. Especially the logos strategy gives the readers a sign that Pollan tries the best to get involved with the dilemma for understanding it better than just the obvious. Setting his unique tone throughout the book, Pollan provides his critical attitudes towards the phenomenon that the industrial farms are taking advantage of the ignorance of people’s knowledge of what they are eating, making large profits regardless the health and safety of people. The purpose of informing people what they are eating and what goes behind the food is reached with his investigation and observation expressed throughout the book, bringing the awareness of knowing the truth to the

In Blake Hurst’s “The Omnivore’s Delusion: Against the Agri-Intellectuals,” he opposes the accusations made by tofu-eating, recycled-toilet-paper-using, self-starving Michael Pollan and his followers. Throughout “The Omnivore’s Delusion…,” Hurst mentions how methods of farming have evolved to match demands of produce. The author states that “Only ‘Industrial farming’ can possibly meet the demands of an increasing population and increased demand for food as a result of growing incomes” (Hurst 4). This quote essentially means that “Industrial Farming” is the most efficient way to farm for today’s population level. A second point that is made by Hurst is that changes made by today’s farming are necessary.

The profit margin for these factory farms is large, this is because the proper care of animals is looked over, which is where much of farming costs lay. Factory farms are huge operations, which need a huge number of employees to ensure they run correctly. Factory farms offer a wide variety of job opportunities and economic stimulation to areas of the world. This is the reason factory farming is good.

The three essays assigned this week had several common threads running through them. The strongest core theme is the rapid change in the food cycle in America and the vast changes that have taken place in the way by which we grow, produce, and process the food that average Americans eat. The food we eat now is drastically different from what our grandparents grew up eating and the three essays each examine that in a different way. Another theme is the loss of knowledge by the average consumer about where their food comes from, what it is composed of, and what, if any, danger it might pose to them. “Monsanto’s Harvest of Fear” by Donald L. Barlett and James B. Steele is a harsh look at the realities of food production in a country where large corporations, like Monsanto, have been allowed to exploit laws and loopholes to bend farmers and consumers to their

Think of a world where technology takes over everything. Not only are robots taking over our jobs and cell phones are becoming our permanent computers, but think about technology taking over our agricultural system. An author named Jonathan Rauch, who is known as a widely published commentator on contemporary culture, science, and politics, published an essay in The Atlantic in 2003 titled “Will Frankenfood Save the Planet?” It discusses the possibility of biotechnology taking over the agricultural system we have now and the effects it would have on not only our country, but also other countries as well. Rauch does not realize that biotechnology could never solely take over the production system and provide the amount of food necessary for

Describe two negative effects to the agricultural industry caused by better farming productivity and the corresponding increased

Deborah Fitzgerald wrote Every Farm a Factory, which was published in 2003 by Yale University. Fitzgerald is the Kenan Sahin Dean of the MIT School of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences. She is also a Professor of the History of Technology, in Science, Technology and Society. Deborah Fitzgerald’s work revolves around the history of agriculture and food in modern America. She has had two books published on the subject:

Michael Pollan’s alternative to Factory farming has given a huge insight into a better ethics on food. In “The Animals: Practicing Complexity” Michael Pollan writes about a polyface farm and how it works. The goal of a polyface farm is to emotionally, economically, and environmentally enhance agriculture. Everything on a polyface farm has the potential to be helpful to something else on the farm. Pollan states “The chicken feed not only feeds the broilers but, transformed into chicken crap, feeds the grass that feeds the cows that, as I was about to see, feeds the pigs and the laying hens” (Pollan 345).

Also, Mark Shepard states that in comparison to calories, his farming method is most effective because his methods produce more calories than a corn plantation. A second example from the movie is Steve Gabriel’s WellSpring Forest Farm. Steve promotes the regrowth of forests and provides a range of products including, mushrooms, maple syrup, duck eggs and more. Steve Gabriel regrows trees and uses the trees to harvest mushrooms, then he lets the trees decompose into the soil and promote more growth. All together he’s enhancing the cycle of a natural ecosystem well helping out people by growing

The difference between a factory farm and a regular family farm is that a factory farm, “also known as Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations, Confined Animal Feeding Operations, or CAFOs, factory farms use industrial production techniques to raise thousands of animals in one location” (http://www.preservationnation.org/forum/library/public-articles/factory- farms.html?referrer=https://www.google.com/#.Vf9Wqp3BzGd ). A factory farm has: Beef cattle -500 head on feed (feedlot), Dairy -500 cows, Hogs -1,000 head, Broiler chickens -500,000 sold annually, and Egg laying chickens -100,000 – where as a regular farm would have less head. Many family farms have struggled because of factory farms taking over.

According to Hurst, “if we weren’t closely connected, we wouldn’t still be farming” (11). Hurst revealed that he still farms the same land his grandfather did 80 years ago, but finds himself using more advanced technology; still, that does not take away any knowledge or experience he’s had as a farmer (12). This merely shows that farmers are taking further responsibility with their farms by using the best farming methods available: staying connected to their farms, using technology that will make their farms productive, so on, so forth. Overall, Hurst clearly points out why industrial farming is really necessary and also defends what critics say about industrial

According to dosomething.org, a global organization, the pollution caused by the farms cause many types of illnesses such as nausea depression, and possibly death. The affects the farms have on humans are the least of our problems compared to the environment. It instituted when Americans wanted a better way to grow their food that was cheaper, faster to grow, and easier to take care of. Even though farmers are cultured, and know how to keep the environment safe, industrial farming is bad because it wastes money and it harms the water supply.

However, except for supplying the needs of humanity and making much cheaper food. Factory farming is an unhealthy agricultural practice to both human and the environment. Factory farming contributed to serious pollution problems, the animal treatments are cruel and it has affected the business opportunity of traditional farms and its workers by occupying their markets. Factory Farming is a threat to human health and the environment, therefore the government should take action on it.