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With the world shrinking away due to an increase in economic globalization, life seems to be moving faster and faster everyday. Corporate business is taking over agricultural ecosystems. The Earth is sadly backdrop to all this chaos: left to rot away on its own. Small town America is disappearing amidst an overflow of megastores. Quaint communities and local economies are decreasing as malls are increasing in popularity. Environmentalists are worried these days; the Earth’s condition seems to be waning at an unruly rate.S.P. 1 There is a movement to stop all this madness: local food. Americans should buy local food products, whenever possible, in order to reestablish a sense of community, boost the local economy, and convalesce the environment.
Most early American farmers did not grow food for profit but instead farmed to feed themselves. Farming was strictly for survival, not money. This philosophy is called subsistence agriculture ("The Local Food Movement"). Before the twentieth century, the majority of imported food was not shipped from any distance that extended out of the reach of a wind-powered boat. In those times, shipping ports of large urban areas were always hustling with merchants and consumers (Hartman). During the twentieth century, the agricultural and food industries became incredibly mechanized. Increasing efficiency also resulted in increasing profit. Some farming operations became bigger and cheaper as the century continued on until it turned into the modern agricultural system. As farmers became more efficient growing and harvesting crops, surplus of food came to exist. Smart farms sold their surpluses to local markets. During the Industrial Revolution, different types of locomotives allowed farmers’ crops to ...
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...ood is generally more affordable; although, locally grown food is healthier.S.P. 2 The longer it takes for food to travel from the field to the shelf, the more it may deteriorate in nutrient content (Kowalski). Along with nutrition, taste is one of the reasons many local foodies say they prefers locally grown produce to imported (Kowalski). Nutrient is an important part to everyone’s healthy lifestyle. Eating local food can help attain high nutritional standards. Improvement of the environment, economy, and health can be attained by partaking in the local food movement.
Local food products should be purchased to strengthen community, sustain local economy, and ameliorate the environment. The benefits of buying local all go back to improving well-being of humanity. Even though not everyone can afford to buy local products, those who can should make an effort to do so.
From 1865 to 1900, production of crops increased, and prices dropped. (Document A) These crops were shipped east, where they were eaten and exported to other countries. This was due to technology, but government policy caused economic conditions in the west barely improved as a result. In fact, despite the success many farmers experienced, many in the west still struggled to put food on the table.
First, the local sustainable food chain is healthy for people. In the book The Omnivore’s Dilemma as people stand around to buy chicken from Polyface, Pollan records some of the customers’ quotes. In the book it says, “ You’re not going to find fresher chickens anywhere. (Pollan, 184). ” This quote shows
In “Called Home”, the first chapter of the book Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year in Food Life, Barbara Kingsolver presents her concerns about America's lack of food knowledge, sustainable practices, and food culture. Kingsolver introduces her argument for the benefits of adopting a local food culture by using statistics, witty anecdotal evidence, and logic to appeal to a wide casual reading audience. Her friendly tone and trenchant criticism of America's current food practices combine to deliver a convincing argument that a food culture would improve conditions concerning health and sustainability. I agree with Kingsolver that knowing the origin of food is an important and healthy benefit of developing a true food culture, but it is impractical to maintain that everyone is able to buy more expensive food. Kingsolver presents a compelling argument for developing a food culture, however this lifestyle change may not be practical or even possible for a poverty-level citizen. The following essay will summarize and respond to Kingsolver’s argument to demonstrate how “Called Home” is a model for novice social scientists.
Reason 1: the locally grown produce’s nutritional value is overall better than unfamiliar produce shipped from foreign countries
This is due to the symbiotic relationship Walmart has to its consumers, they are able to offer lower prices in more locations and consumers desire affordability and proximity. Despite the obvious domination of the economy by Walmart, less conventional producers and consumers are present and on the rise. Local rather than global and small rather than large, the increase of these less conventional manners of production can be seen in the increase abundance of farmers’ markets, Community Supported Agriculture (CSA), and community gardens. Farmers’ markets are common areas where farmers meet on a regular basis and sell various fresh produce directly to the consumers. The number of farmer’s markets between 1994 and 2014 has increased from around 2,000 to 8,000 (ers.usda,gov). Farmer’s offer an aesthetic that Walmart cannot provide—the opportunity to be personable. The consumer is able to see who grew the food, ask how it was grown, and will not be dazzled by fancy packaging or
Former editor of Us News and World Report and recipient of Guggenheim Award,Stephen Budiansky in his article, “Math Lessons For Locavores”,published in August 19,2012 addresses the topic of locally grown food and argues it as a more sustainable choice in terms of freshness and seasons.I agree with Budiansky for growing food locally,however; with three other reasons: we can reduce food waste,(which will benefit the environment), and obesity(which will help an individual mentally and physically), and improve our economy. The purpose is to illustrate why locally grown foods would be a finer option for an American lifestyle. Budiansky adopts an informative,persuasive,and insightful tone for his audience,readers
Nutritionism and Today’s Diet Nutritionism is the ideology that the nutritional value of a food is the sum of all its individual nutrients, vitamins, and other components. In the book, “In Defense of Food” by Michael Pollan, he critiques scientists and government recommendations about their nutritional advice. Pollan presents a strong case pointing out the many flaws and problems that have risen over the years of following scientific studies and government related warnings on the proper amount of nutrients needed for a healthy diet. Pollan’s main point is introducing science into our food system has had more of a negative impact than a positive one, we should go back to eating more of a traditional diet. I believe food science has given us
The 1920’s were the singularly most influential years of farming in our country. The loss of farms following the war, and new agricultural practices resulted in the dawn of modern agriculture in our country. The shift from small family to big corporation during this time is now the basis for how our society deals with food today. Traditional farming in the 1920’s underwent a series of massive transitions following WWI as the number of farms decreased and the size of farms increased.
Michael Pollan makes arguments concerning the eating habits of the average American. Pollan suggests, in spite of our cultural norms, we should simply “Eat food. Not too much. Mostly Plants.”
Kathrine Spriggs establishes the importance of global environmentalism in her passage “Buying Local” in “Everyone’s an Author” with contributors Andrea Lunsford, Michael Brody, Lisa Ede, Beverly J. Moss, Carole Clark Papper, and Keith Walters. Spriggs makes it clear that her position is for buying locally grown products from small sustainable farms. She claims that is is an advantage to the environment in terms of contributing to social and economic factors as well. However, “buying local” in my opinion is more of a “local trap”. Perhaps there are certain limitations to “buying local” such as pesticides, chemically grown or DNA altered produce, and unsustainable
More and more farm-to-table restaurants, farmer’s markets, and food co-ops are cropping up to meet the demand among consumers for healthy, local foods, as more chefs and consumers recognize the poorer taste and nutritional integrity of ingredients shipped in from far away. Fruits and vegetables that have to be shipped long distances are often picked before they have a chance to fully ripen and absorb nutrients from their surroundings. Because local food doesn’t have to travel long distances, it is grown in order to taste better and be healthier rather than to be resilient to long travel. The farm-to-table movement also helps local economies by supporting small farmers, which is a dying
America is a capitalist society. It should come to a surprise when we live like this daily. We work for profit. We’ll buy either for pleasure or to sell later for profit. It should come to no surprise that our food is made the same way because we are what we eat. We are capitalist that eat a capitalist meal. So we must question our politics. Is our government system to blame for accepting and encouraging monopolies?
Have you ever considered what is in the food you are feeding your children? Most foods that are bought at the neighborhood grocery stores are considered global foods which are packed with additives and chemicals making them far less nutritious than local produce from the community farmer‘s market. After much research, I have concluded that it is better to buy produce which is grown locally rather than produce which is sourced globally (from other countries). I think this is important because most people, like myself, buy global foods and do not realize how much better local foods are for the local economy, the global environment, and our personal nutrition. Nutrition is vital to the healthy of everyone especially children, so with the purchase of local fresh produce, it can ease the worry in parents of what children as well as ourselves are ingesting.
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
American culture is changing dramatically. In some areas it’s a good thing, but in other areas, like our food culture, it can have negative affects. It is almost as if our eating habits are devolving, from a moral and traditional point of view. The great America, the land of the free and brave. The land of great things and being successful, “living the good life.” These attributes highlight some irony, especially in our food culture. Is the American food culture successful? Does it coincide with “good living”? What about fast and processed foods? These industries are flourishing today, making record sales all over the globe. People keep going back for more, time after time. Why? The answer is interestingly simple. Time, or in other words, efficiency. As people are so caught up in their jobs, schooling, sports, or whatever it may be, the fast/processed food industries are rapidly taking over the American food culture, giving people the choice of hot