The increased food production In America in the last 100 years is truly awe-inspiring. Most Americans have no concept of the sheer volume of food that Is consumed by each excellent, each year. According to a study published In 2011 by the USDA, each US citizen consumes approximately one ton of food each year. Our current method of food production makes this mass-consumption possible.
While the industrialization of food manufacturing has dramatically changed the economic and agricultural landscape of America, the results have been both positive and negative because the mount of food produced In the US each year Is more than enough to feed the entire country, but the quality of that food Is questionable, the production of that food has negative environmental Impacts, and the process by which that food Is harvested raises ethical dilemmas. The method of Forbids manufacturing refers to a process that includes assembly lines and large machinery to produce a product.
Forbids is described by author Steven Totality as “a model of economic expansion and technological progress based on mass production: the manufacture of standardized reduces In huge volumes using special purpose machinery and unskilled labor. ” This process has been applied to the production of food In many different ways, some with greater consequences then others. Many people object to the use of these techniques with live animals, such as cows, pigs and chickens.
The methods of harvesting these animals are often thought to be inhumane, because the creatures don’t lead very healthy, happy lives before becoming dinner, and are killed in an efficient, if unpleasant, manner. It is shocking for many people to see the filthy notations the animals live In, and the ways In which they are killed, but that shock does not seem to deter people from eating the food produced. Some animal rights groups, such as Liberation BC, argue that although the living conditions of the animals are important, any level of care that ends with the death of the animal is inhumane.
The Forbids methods of food production seem barbaric to many, and yet the amount of food needed to sustain the population of the US requires the mass- production of resources. The mass production of food has changed the landscape of America, from the family farm to the urban family table. The variety of food available is quite amazing: us citizens enjoy the benefits of grocery stores where any kind of produce is available at any time, regardless of the season.
This availability that so many of us take for granted is the result of a complex web of production, distribution, preparation, consumption and waste management, and these can have major impacts. The physical landscape has been ravaged and destroyed in areas where cows, chickens, and pigs are harvested and In certain agricultural areas. The economic geography has been Impacted dramatically; the process of food production as created jobs and provided the US a valuable trade resource.
The use of Forbids in food production has enabled the average citizen to afford a wide variety of edible items, although one could argue that the nutritional content of much of the processed food available has increased the cost of health care as lifestyle diseases run rampant. The human geography has been altered greatly as well, because the same selection of food Is widely available to most citizens, making the food from any industrial revolution has had a tremendous effect on Anglo-America and will most keel continue to influence the geography of the US. This was not my first viewing of Food, Inc. But I hope it is my last. I can’t stand to think about the methods of food production in this country, and I often feel like Americans have become a new breed of cattle; we all eat the same thing. This country could feed an entire nation for a year on the amount of corn that used to feed the country’s livestock for a month. In fact, according to NP, it takes 6. 7 pounds of grain/corn and 52. 8 gallons of water to produce one quarter-pound hamburgers. It is unnecessary and incredibly wasteful. I am not vegetarian or vegan, but I choose to eat very little meat.
I enjoy a bit of meat now and then, but I Just don’t like to eat a lot of it. In a perfect world, I would love to produce my own food, including chickens and cows along with fruits and vegetables, but at this point I am not set up for that. I try to buy meat that promises to be “humanely harvested,” but who knows if those stickers actually mean anything. It is hard to affect the system without the resources to do things differently. Our system of food production needs a massive overhaul, and the citizens in the lower socio- economic groups really suffer the most from our current method of food production.
