Rhetorical Analysis: Organic Farming In his article, “Organic Farming Healthier, More Efficient than Status Quo”, Anurag Muthyam, argues organic farming is a better farming method than conventional farming. He does so by first asking the audience where their food comes from drawing their interest into the topic. Throughout the article, Muthyam tells his audience about the potential good that can arise with choosing organic farming over conventional farming. Muthyam also explains the general concept of what is organic farming in the third paragraph after hooking the audience by telling them where their food comes from and how it is produced. After introducing the concept of organic farming, Muthyam goes on to compare and contrast organic farming …show more content…
His audience does know whether he is a college student at Kansas State University. The only thing that points to Muthyam being a college student in KSU is that the article was published in the Kansas State Collegian, the college newspaper of KSU. Muthyam does not state his credentials any where in the article, but he does bring in other experts in organic farming or similar backgrounds to support his claims. Muthyam used, “According to USDA organic certification…” when he was about to explain the general concept of organic farming and how to attain it. That is the strongest direct ethos Muthyam was able to provide to his audience. Muthyam explains to his audience in a clear and direct way about organic farming is which can be a form of ethos, unfortunately Muthyam was unable to provide a solid counterargument for organic farming or provide an argument for conventional farming. This decreases his appeal to ethos. Another thing that decreases Muthyam’s ethos is that he mentions KSU’s data for an example without specifying the department or give any actual data; same thing happened when he referenced Cornell University without stating the name of the study completed. Muthyam’s ethos was not as near as strong as his …show more content…
The target audience is in general college students due to the article being published in the Kansas State Collegian. Muthyam does give a general explanation of what organic farming is and how as a society can attain it. Muthyam does not address that his audience is also part of an agricultural school, typically from Kansas which is known as a farming state, and that many people of his audience come from a farming background which could mean that they know more about conventional and organic farming than him. Muthyam’s audience reduces to a small amount of college students who do not know much about either farming method. Muthyam also assumes that the audience dislikes the idea of having food as GMOs (Genetically Modified Organisms) which again the audience could be more knowledgeable than what Muthyam expected or gave them credit for. Muthyam did not provide any backing to the warrants he takes on in this article. In paragraph six and eight, Muthyam states several different things that have no significance to his claim. In paragraph six, Muthyam states that organic farming is the way to feed the world, but then states that people need to stop depending on industrial agriculture and should practice urban agriculture. Muthyam does not explain where or why industrial and urban agriculture have any significance to his claim about organic farming being the best course of action. Throughout the
Check your supermarket, there could be lies on your food, telling you that what you are eating is organic and cared for but most of it is not. The documentary In Organic We Trust by Kip Pastor focuses on organic foods, what they are, how they are grown, and what makes them “organic”. What he finds is shocking and relevant to society today in every way possible. Pastor proves this to the audience by using a strong form of logos throughout the documentary. He conveys it to those watching by using pathos to play on their heart strings, but lacks via ethos to win over the rest of the audience. A great job is done in this film of convincing the audience that Pastor is on their side and fighting for the health of America, even questioning what “organic” actually is.
The taste of the processed chicken from my elementary school cafeteria remains imbedded in my memory. I can still taste the chunks of chicken that could not be broken up by my teeth, and the tired, lazy feeling I had walking back to my next class. This is the exact situation organic farmer and producers are trying to avoid by making healthy products. The documentary, In Organic We Trust, attempts to persuade the viewers that organic products create a healthy lifestyle, and improve living conditions for people all over the world. Kip Pastor’s use of ethos and logos in his documentary are strong and provide supporting evidence, however, Pastor is lacking an abundant amount of pathos. Pastor incorporates logos into his documentary by allowing the audience to experience a multitude of facts and supporting evidence. Ethos is used in the film through Pastor’s interviews with professionals, and pathos is shown by the touching stories of individuals.
In Organic We Trust, Kip Pastor attempted to persuade the viewers that, although the food system may be flawed, organic foods are actually better to consume. Overall, throughout the entire film Pastors uses of pathos, ethos and logos were used in a very precise and effective manner. Although Pastor’s use of pathos and logos were better structured that the ethos, all of the three types of arguments were credible and valid. Pastor’s overall goals to educate the viewers about organic food and the food system were extremely observable throughout the entire film. There’s no doubt that Pastor’s message is very powerful and convincing. The motivation behind this film is the reason for Pastor’s success and credibility.
In “Omnivore’s Delusion,” Blake Hurst, a veteran famer, calls attention to the “agri-intellectuals” who are critiquing farming when having no experience. First of all, the author wants “Agri-intellectuals” to take a walk in a farmer’s shoes. Throughout the article, Hurst throws jabs at the people criticizing choices a farmer makes, for example, he says, “It is important, though, that even people riding in airplanes know that there are environmental and food safety costs to whatever kind of farming we choose” (4). The author says this to show his anger and suggest to these critics they should know what they are talking about before they talk about it. Secondly, Hurst points out the food animal endangerment. The author tells his readers
Muthyam’s article states, “conventional farming’s dependency on chemical fertilizers destroys topsoil,” (Muthyam 4) and without healthy topsoil we can never produce more antioxidants or carbon. The increased production of these elements could alleviate climate change. The human beings who feel strongly about the climate change issue would be challenged on their “Bt gene” eating habits. Muthyam makes the reader think twice about buying conventional farming products because they are contributing to the problem presented. No one likes to hear about others starving which strikes the reader when they read organic farming can feed masses. The article states “we could feed our entire population through urban agriculture alone” (Muthyam 6). She also refers to the chemicals and synthetic fertilizers as being poison, which gets people double-taking their decisions to consume these conventional products. Consumers of conventional produce wouldn’t consider eating a product if it was directly labeled as
Americans, as a whole, are fat, over-indulged, lazy, entitled humans. As a whole, yes, yes Americans are all of these things. In 2004, Alison Motluk, a freelance journalist who writes for numerous magazines including the New Scientist, The Walrus, and The Economist, pens an article called “Supersize Me: It’s Time to Stop Blaming Fat People for Their Size.” Motluk blames the food industry for increased portions. She blames the food industry for unhealthy, addictive additives dumped into our food. She blames the food industry for easy access to fast food. She blames city growth for making it near impossible to walk to get food therefore, people have to drive to get sustenance. Motluk blames schools for fat children because physical education
A bowl of mix greens with fresh cut cucumber and grape tomatoes. Dressed with a fire roasted red pepper vinaigrette. It make a nice basic salad, but it stands on it one as a nice mean starter or lite lunch. What goes in to the growing of all the produce? We start in this world as hunter and gatherers. We did that for hundreds of thousands years. Then we learn how to grow and harvest our own food. Letting us work less to get more food and beginning one of humanities first huge population growth. That was not the last time we change the way we got our food. In the Second World War we discovered from weapon research how to make more effective fertilizers leading to more boatful harvest. Without that discovered the world could have not gotten to its huge population of over seven billion people. Now what is the next advancement in the agriculture going to be?
of miles in space, looking like a dot. He said to a crowd “Look again at that dot. That 's here.
n.d. 10 April 2014. Monsanto. The. Organic and Conventional Farming. n.d. 10 April 2014. Qaim, Matin.
Thesis: Organic food is full of nutrients and when compared to conventional food is a much better choice
A study of 362 datasets found that organic agriculture produces 80% of conventional yield with 21% standard deviation (Tomek et al. 2012). Second, organic farming requires less energy input which equates to less money spend from the farmers in addition to lowering carbon emissions. A study by the Department of Environment shows that organic agriculture uses 25 percent less than energy than their chemical counterparts, and certain crops like organic leeks and broccoli use 58 and 49 percent less, respectively (Bialis et al. 2013). Third, organic farming does not use pesticides. According to the World Health Center, 20,000 people die annually from the exposure of pesticides (Costa et al. 2014). Fourth, the methods that organic farmers use are better for the environment in the long run. And lastly, organic farming creates more jobs. A study done in United Kingdom shows 93,000 jobs could be created if Britain were to make a full scale shift to organic farming (Herro 2006). Although conventional agriculture is the primary producer for food currently, a large scale shift to organic agriculture is better suited to feed the world because organic agriculture can produce at adequate yield, requires less energy input, do not use
In Genesis 1:29, God said, “I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food.” From the beginning God has given us food for life. Plants, meats, trees, and fruits are offered to us as a means of sustenance from the very same God who made them long ago.
Thirty years later, organic farming was in high demand, but suffered developing pains. Although there was agreements being made, there was no regulations put forth towards organic farming. Fast forwarding to present time, many consumers are starting to purchase organic food products even making it a trend. Written in Inouye, Alena, and McCauley’s 2006 article “Organic Farming Should Be Pursued”, “organic farming is gaining in popularity due to Americans ' increasing concern about food safety and environmental protection.” This quote assumes the reasoning behind the sudden popularity in organic farming is society’s attraction towards the idea of a cleaner food industry and environment. The article also mentions, “As a result, sales of organic foods in the United States have increased by more than 20 percent every year since 1996, reaching $7.8 billion in 2000.”(Inouye, Alena, McCauley) The fact that popularity towards organic farming grows at a rate of 20 percent every single year further proves how its movement has such an impact towards the consumers of
Organic food has better ratings on health benefits than conventional food but conventional food costs less. Most people have a hard time making an educated decision on the better selection. Scientists and consumers have reviewed and theorized that the healthier option for the human body seems to be consuming organic food in comparison with traditional foods. Many people disagree about the legitimacy of the argument for organic food consumption, and whether it will result as the healthier choice. Organic food proves to be the healthier choice because of the way the crops get handled. As stated by Organic Agriculture professionals, “organic agriculture refers to the practice of cultivating crops or raising livestock with little or no use of synthetic fertilizers, pesticides, hormones, genetically modified organisms (GMOs), or other human-produced imports” (Organic Agriculture and Organic Food, par. 1). Scientists and consumers agree that in order to live a healthier lifestyle, one must make organic food a priority and consume less conventional food.
Agriculture is the industry that I am choosing to reflect upon that is one of the top industries in the United States and therefore I felt it to be a good industry to focus on.