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The relationship between agriculture and industrialization
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The current food industry faces a lot of issues and the film Food Inc has laid out quite a few of these issues. Of all the issues portrayed in Food Inc the biggest issue facing the current food industry is that large companies are controlling the food industry. Large corporations in charge have led to a slew of other problems within the industry. In Food Inc. some of the problems that the large companies have caused within the industry are being felt most by the producers working for the companies. Due to the shift from small local farms to more large scale factory farms the average farmer has had to increase the size of their operation in order even try to stay afloat within the growing world. In the film it was presented that it costs between 200 and 300 thousand dollars to build one chicken house and the producer only makes 15 to 20 thousand dollars a year. The large corporations keep the producers in perpetual debt by loaning them money to build a chicken house and a contract for x-number of years. The corporations then require the farmers to upgrade their facilities or face losing their contract so the farmers then need to take another loan from the corporations in order to keep their contracts to pay off debt. Before long they find themselves stuck within a cycle …show more content…
The companies need workers for their facilities so they recruit to low income people and can hire them for next to nothing. Some of the slaughterhouses hire illegal immigrants because they work for relatively cheap. Since the workers are effectively a dime a dozen and there are always replacements for the workers that they lose, either through quitting or deportation, the companies don’t place a priority on employee satisfaction. The work has become more hazardous than it was several years ago and is now considered one of the most dangerous jobs in the United States
...h and safety laws have been disregarded in the slaughterhouses, causing a number of deaths. Also, there is a great deal of corruption in the slaughterhouses where workers are being threatened or lied to, especially about their injuries. I couldn’t imagine a factory not providing any type of reimbursement if anybody got hurt on the job.
Workers are also mistreated. They are underpaid even though the meat industry is one of ...
Pictures displayed in grocery stores paint a picture of American farmers harvesting only the freshest production for your consumption. The truth is the majority of our food is from factories, not farms. Assembly line production has lead to human and animal abuse. Industrial food began with fast food restaurants. McDonald’s revolutionized food production by introducing factory like production into their restaurants, this was dubbed “McDonaldization”. Employee’s were viewed as replaceable, treated poorly, and paid low wages. Workers were taught and expected to carry a mentality of conformity. Factory production of food uses people in assembly lines to perform like machines performing the same task over and over. Abuse of migrant workers has also been found in many processing plants, hiring migrant workers for less pay and more dangerous jobs is common. Nicknamed “human machines” factory workers in slaughter houses, meat packing plants, and processing plants are required to perform repetitive motions more a meager pay, stripping them of their identity as humans. Workers are abused and used until they can no longer perform their duties and they are let go and replaced. Another reason migrant workers are often used is because they simply won't complain. Big companies seek workers from Mexico to come work in their plants because they know migrant workers are here illegally and will not
...struggling to earn any income at all and sometimes do not even get the opportunity to eat. Another issue that Raj Patel did not touch on is the lack of care consumers have for the farmers. It seems that consumers care about farmers about as much as the corporations do, which, in my opinion, is not a lot. When consumers only care about low prices and large corporations only care about making a profit, the farmers are left out to dry. Many consumers believe “food should be available at a bargain price, a belief that relies on labor exploitation and environmental exhaustion at multiple points along the commodity chain.” (Wright, 95) Corporations as well as consumers generally tend to be selfish and I think Raj Patel is afraid to mention this. If only these people cared a little bit more about each other I believe the hourglass of the food system will begin to even out.
Our current system of corporate-dominated, industrial-style farming might not resemble the old-fashioned farms of yore, but the modern method of raising food has been a surprisingly long time in the making. That's one of the astonishing revelations found in Christopher D. Cook's "Diet for a Dead Planet: Big Business and the Coming Food Crisis" (2004, 2006, The New Press), which explores in great detail the often unappealing, yet largely unseen, underbelly of today's food production and processing machine. While some of the material will be familiar to those who've read Michael Pollan's "The Omnivore's Dilemma" or Eric Schlosser's "Fast-Food Nation," Cook's work provides many new insights for anyone who's concerned about how and what we eat,
In a review the website writes that “Slaughterhouse is the first book in which workers in the meat industry speak publicly about what is actually taking place in America’s slaughterhouses.” This particular book shined light to the graphic and very disturbing facts that factory farms are providing all types of products at the expense of the lives of innocent animals. The book is able to bring forth evidence and enticing information that is hard to miss by the reader because at one point or another, this matter was meant to come to light. The review goes further in illustrating “Eisnitz 's investigation with a single complaint from a United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) worker alleging that cattle there are having their heads skinned while fully conscious. This single complaint becomes a full-scale, groundbreaking investigation.” Slowly but steadily, Eisnitz was able to figure the puzzle out and attract the attention of individuals and organizations who are particularly found of advocating for animal rights. The book itself had testimonies from workers who would deliberately beat, “strangle, boil, or dismember animals alive. Today’s slaughter line does not stop for anything: Not for injured workers, not for contaminated meat, and least of all, not for sick or disabled animals.” This is the driving force of individuals who have no other
Due to health reasons, the meat packing industry has aroused the attention of many. This has been caused by the safety standards in the meat packing industry. The attention has also been caused by the use of machines in the packing process. The industry uses fast running machines hence the employees are exposed to more injury risk. The industry is majorly comprised of immigrants and undocumented employees. This has greatly attracted attention due to the care for the employees who are mainly non-citizens (United States Department of Labor, 2010).
132). With the production of food at such a large scale, the issue of uniformity is called into question. The industry revolves around making food so it is easier to produce. The uniformly and scale of farming can enable a person with the intent to do harm to affect a large percent of food in a small attack (Pehanich 2006). With this attack and having uniformly in food making at one place it can put a person out of business since all they produce is affect from the attack. With farms owned by a corporation, like Tyson, food can easily follow this since the company makes money by having a simple and uniform practice. This problem is only going to increase as the years go
What were the key points about Factory Farmed beef and pork? What were the key points about Factory Farmed chicken? What were the key points about the sustainability of the land in factory farming? A key point about factory farmed beef and pork is that the animals are fed corn, which is not meant for their digestive system. This also introduces E.Coli into the meat and produce from the runoff. Another point is that meatpacking is one of the most dangerous jobs and many illegal immigrants do it. A key point about factory-farmed chicken is that chickens are redesigned to have bigger breasts than normal. The chickens are stored in houses with no windows and little space. Some of the chickens are too big that they can only take a few steps without collapsing. A key point about the sustainability of the land in factory farming is that a lot of land has been cleared for producing feed for livestock. The cows and sheep are responsible for a lot of the methane generated by human activity and a lot of ammonia emissions in the US come from animal
That salad with the GMO-induced tomatoes that are the size of one’s head. If we as a society ever want to change this rapidly growing trend of eating foods produced by the industrial food system, this one simple rule should be followed: consumers should challenge what food corporations promote as “normal” because part of their process may be unethical and there are alternatives to the industrial food system that may better one’s lifestyle.
Would you continue to eat meat if you knew the horrors that workers in meatpacking plants must? There are many serious safety and health hazards in the meatpacking industry. These hazards include exposure to high noise levels, dangerous equipment, slippery floors, musculoskeletal disorders, and hazardous chemicals. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the number of work related injuries in the meatpacking industry is three time higher than the national average (Bureau of Labor Statistics). Should OSHA have stricted penalties on companies with high injury/death tolls, what should they do companies who employ illegal immigrants, and are the safeground they have in place effective.
The movie “Food Inc” explains how the changes in the food industry took place. They start off with mentioning that McDonalds was the first restaurant to launch a revolutionary concept of factory-like food preparation where the workers were taught how to do only one thing. McDonalds and other tremendous corporations control the production of such ingredients as beef, pork, lettuce, tomatoes.
Can you imagine going through the pain that animals in slaughterhouses went through? Most people don’t think of that part of it but the real fact is that billions of animals went through a painful life to be killed for food every year. Most people like to keep the thought in there heads that these animals live on beautiful green farms where they are treated great and then have a very peaceful death, and never feel any or little pain. Well that is not the case, these animals are treated very unfairly. The animals in slaughterhouses are given a massive amount of antibiotics, hormones, and drugs to keep them alive in conditions that are so bad they would otherwise kill them.
One example of how the food industry is ruthless is when one of the CEOs of a fast-food chain states they are part of the problem is hired immediately. Though I don’t not find this wrong because if I was a stock-holder with my life savings invested within his company I would without a doubt have him fired for placing my money at risk. That is the harsh reality of economics, you cannot place you company in shock by either a damaging statement or bad executive move. I found most disturbing about the movie was how a case was being made against McDonalds that two obese teens did not know fast-food was unhealthy (Spurlock). Regardless of how they lived word of mouth had to have taught them fast food is not healthy, and if that didn’t health education has been in place for years now teaching us
Today, only 13 slaughter houses are in control across the entire nation. These houses are filled with low costs to maximize profit to keep their economic monopolization running. These slaughter houses are run by four main companies, Monsanto, Tyson, Perdue, and Smithfield who also all happened to decline interviews for the film. “The dominant companies only ambitions are to protect each other” (Parr). After 25 years of practicing trade that goes back to the root of farming, Parr was sued by Monsanto for offering a service that might help a farmer save seeds. Nevertheless, this then lead to Monsanto running Parr straight out of luck, and straight out of business. Another farmer, Joel Salatin of Virginia’s Polyface farms, says “the nutritional value of American food products is increasingly in doubt” after witnessing these complications himself (Salatin). Monsanto and others are allowing lower paid workers without guaranteed hours, income, or benefits to replace full time employees, only to scam the American people and gain