Everytime you go to the grocery store, chances are, you're going to find what you want. Such consistency and availability of products and groceries can be accredited to industrialized farming. However, industrialized farming is, in fact, a danger to our health and our environment. Think about all of the gas we use distributing the multitude of groceries to every store throughout the country. As long as industrialized farming exists as it does now, we are going to rely heavily on gasoline for our well-stocked grocery stores. Not only is our reliance on gas bad for the economy, but it pollutes the air we breathe.
Ever since the industrial revolution, when tractors were introduced to farming, we have been slowy becoming more dependent on machinery for our crops. Farmers currently use pesticides to prevent product loss to "pests." Presiticdes are dangerous to humans and can cause health problems. Profit seems to be more important nowadays to farmers rather than public health. Sure, groceries may be cheap and plentiful as a result of industrialized farming, but such farming techniques have negative affects on our health and the environment.
I feel that there needs to be some kind of innovation made to improve modern farming. Perhaps an alternate fuel source would get rid of some of the pollution done to the environment. Some kind of change is needed for industrial farming because we're certainley not going to get rid of it unless we absolutely need to. More often now we are seeing organic and pesticide-free foods in our grocery stores, which shows we are making at least some progress.
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Good information, Kevin! I do agree with everything you said. Because farming is industrialized, most of our food comes from far away places when many of the towns and cities have capable farming families living right near them. If we relied more on local farmers rather than a farmer all the way in California, we wouldn't be supplying pollution and carbon dioxide emmissions. Also, I don't get why people have to buy vegetables and fruits that aren't in season. Granted, those specific fruits and vegetables may be our favorites, but there is a reason why they taste better in the summer or the winter, or whatever season they are from. Those food items probably require more pesticides and chemicals to keep them healthy and thriving in their "off-season." I hope we will soon learn from our mistakes and turn things around.
ReplyDeleteKevin you are right, you have good info and get to the point. Farmers are more focused on profit then safty. This is not acceptable. The pesticides can cause serious problems. And erica made a great point on "why people have to buy vegetable and fruits that aren't in season". Good work kevin, great post.
ReplyDeleteThe first thing I think about when I think of industrialized farming is crops being sold that aren't in season. I have been waiting for a blog to talk about this, and now I see that it has been brought up. I totally agree with Erica that crops that are not in season are treated with intense care and fertilizers. I remember looking at a picture in a magazine comparing an organic strawberry with an "industrialized" strawberry. The industrialized strawberry was enormous compared to the organic version, an was more of a vibrant red color, if I do recall. Taste is also different when comparing the two "makes" of crops. Organic strawberries are much sweeter than out of season industrialized strawberries. I like to think of industrialized crops as "crops on steroids." I mean, would you rather have an Alfonzo Soriano strawberry, who can only hit the long ball and is a crowd pleaser, or a scrumptious Ryan Theriot strawberry, who isn't the best home-run hitter, but has a great batting average and can play solid defense? Nice blorg Kervin!
ReplyDeleteOh, I forgot to mention that Alfonzo Soriano is an awful outfielder, for those of you that don't know. He's terrible. I mean, he can throw, run fast, and hit for power, but when it comes to catching fly balls, forget about it.
ReplyDeleteYes, the pesticides are very harmful to our bodies and a lot of the machines that are used pollute the air. I think people are trying to think of ways to make machines, and industrialized farming, more environmentally friendly...such as the one way you listed which (organic) pesticide free-food.
ReplyDeleteOrganic pesticides are a great idea to increase productivity and, at the same time, keep a steady output of food coming from our farms. Finding alternative fuel sources is a great idea on many levels. It would take away our dependency on oil and decrease pollution. You really touched on some awsome ideas. Great blog Kevin!
ReplyDeleteThe only way that the industrialized world would be a massive counter-revolution where we completely forget about our trucks and planes, and where every community is independant, and can support themselves even in a bad year. In the end, I believe that it would take far too many people giving up far too many important things for such a counter-revolution to take place.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Steve, it would take a really long time for a counterrevolution to occur. Nice thought though kevin! :)
ReplyDeleteNice job Kevin,
ReplyDeleteI think that it would take a pretty long time for our country to completely change the way it handles our foods like fruits and vegetables, regarding industrialized farming. I do agree with you about all the wasted gasoline trying to bring in the food to the stores faster, but I don't know how much could really be done about it. I mean a lot of times stores are stocked with imports from places where the fruit or vegetable is in season and chemicals are used in those cases. I guess a way to cut back is to stop buying off-season produce that has to be chemically treated to stay "normal," though chemically treating it makes it taste horrible.