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Comparative analysis essay
Comparative analysis essay
Comparative analysis essay
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“Food fight!” Two words that filled some young children with joy as they watched tomatoes and cakes flying across the lunch room, but they lose that feeling of joy when they become adults. They eventually learn that for some, good food is hard to come by, and they develop an interest in clinging to what food they can get, some without question, in fact, many without question. This creates a huge problem for them. The shelves are stacked at the supermarket with many confusing labels, some not even true, and when they’re grasping for things they don’t understand, how can they possibly eat healthy? There are two main processes that get the food to the shelves in the supermarket: organic and industrial farming. Both of these processes are shrouded …show more content…
one can be made aware of the positives and negatives of industrial and organic farming, spot the differences and similarities of both methods and those who support them, and formulate an opinion on which practice they believe is the …show more content…
Hurst believes that the technical advances involved in modern farming allow it to feed everyone. “Only ‘industrial farming’ can possible meet the demands of an increasing population and an increased demand for food as a result of growing incomes” (Hurst), he says. He states this after mentioning biotech crops, crops altered to increase efficiency, and uses this quote to highlight the advantages that industrial farming has over organic farming by using advanced like biotech crops. Another point Hurst looms over is the misconception of animal treatment. Many critics of modern farming like to claim that there are no benefits to caging animals and that it is cruel, but Hurst sees it differently. “The crates protect the piglets from their mothers” (Hurst), he says. According to Hurst, mother pigs are known to crush, or even eat, their own children, and crates help protect the young piglets from their mothers. Another example he gives highlighting the value of cages is the misfortune of his family’s friend, Lynn Niemann. Niemann lost four-thousand turkeys to extreme weather conditions and natural predators. If Niemann would have caged these turkeys, he wouldn’t have lost those turkeys, believes Hurst. Another problem critics have with caging is that it supposedly harms the environment. This is due to the
...oss’ paper. Therefore, this objection is not sound because the number of naïve people are rapidly dwindling. The second objection stated that one person has no effect on the factory farming industry, so giving up meat is pointless because the industry is too large to feel the effects of someone converting to vegetarianism. I refuted this objection by saying that, yes, one person alone will not make a difference, but when more and more people become vegetarians, the industry will be forced to respond by producing less animals, therefore, preventing more animal suffering. Although these two objections were strong and valid, I believe I was able to successfully defend Norcross’ argument that factory farming is wrong and cruel.
Animal and plant husbandry due to human growth has transformed into factories that pump out foodstuffs in higher quantities than imaginable centuries in the past. This is done through the use of monocultures, which produce one single crop in high quantities, and factory farming, compact animal lots that grow the animal as quickly as possible for slaughter. The shift to monoculture farming and factory farming was due to the rapid increase in population and advancements in farming technology, for example pesticides. In recent years the focus has shifted to escaping factory farming through organic farming. Organic farming produces foodstuffs without the use of chemical fertilizers, pesticides, or any other artificial factors. Organic farming focuses on natural development of organisms. Author Michael Pollan in his essay “The Animals: Practicing Complexity” describes his time at an organic farm and describes Polyface Farm as profitable, efficient, cheap,
Agriculture fixates more on the production of food instead of stewardship, caring and protecting the land. Berry indicates, “Once one’s farm and one’s thoughts have been sufficiently mechanized, industrial agriculture’s focus on production, as opposed to maintenance or stewardship…” (Berry, 2005, para. 11). When farmers direct their attention on producing crops for the corporation, the farmers forget the reason why they farm in the first place. The farmers mislead thoughts on production create agricultural distress because they lack stewardship. Stewardship involves an intimate relationship with nature, but farmers focus more on the efficiency of production, neglecting the farm. Berry emphasizes that production steers the way of farming instead of the actual farm and community. Berry claims, “…emphasis on production permits the way of working to be determined not by the nature and character of the farm in its ecosystem and in its human community” (Berry, 2005, para. 11). Corporations control the farming industry, mistreating the farms and the farming communities. Production disregards the environment of the farm and demands more than the farm can produce, resulting in damage to the
The idea of the family farm has been destroyed by large food corporations. As discussed in class, industrial farming typically leads to the mass produ...
There are many issues regarding the raising and producing of various livestock animals, and the use of pesticides on various types of crops. The movie Food.Inc does a good job explaining these issues, but in a very biased way. It makes agriculturists look like terrible people, when this is not the case.
Pollan believes that American factory farms are places with technological sophistication, where animals are machines incapable of feeling pain (368). In other words, factory farms use plentiful of technology where they do not pay attention to animals feelings. For example, beef cattle who live outdoors are standing in their own waste, and factory farmers do not considered that wrong and unsanitary. Hurst alleges that “turkeys do walk around in their own waste, although they don’t seemed to mind”(5). This shows that factory farmers think that animals really don’t have feelings and really don’t care. Pollan also disagrees with industrial farming because he states that, “American industrial farms itself is redefined- as a protein production- and with it suffering” (369). He affirms this because industrial farming cages their animals. Interestingly, both authors believe that animals still die and suffer no matter what circumstances an animal is living. Pollan believes animals should be treated with respect and not be caged. On the other hand, Hurst asserts that “farmers do not cage their hogs because sadism, but because being crushed by your mother really is an awful way to go, as is being eaten by your mother”(6). So Hurst say that he cages animals to protect them. Also both authors believe that there needs to be ways to enrich the soil, so the farms can have bigger harvest, healthy plants, and keep cost down. However, Pollan believes that farmer should use compost. He states that “the finish compost will go to feed the grass;the grass, the cattle; the cattle , the chickens; and eventually all of the animals will feed us” (370). So he thinks compost is good for the farms. Hurst on the other hand, think manure and commercial fertilizer is good for the farms. Hurst spread poultry litter on pasture and this made cattle production possible in areas
Today’s economy and the environment are hurting due to the lack of nurture we have been providing. Conventional farming rules the world of agriculture, but not without a fight from organic farming. Organic farming is seen as the way of farming that might potentially nurture our nature back to health along with the added benefit of improving our own health. With her piece “Organic farming healthier, more efficient than Status Quo,” published in the Kansas State Collegian on September 3, 2013, writer Anurag Muthyam brings forth the importance behind organic farming methods. Muthyam is a senior at Kansas State University working towards a degree in Management. This piece paints the picture of how organic farming methods
Kalafa, Amy. Lunch Wars: How to Start a School Food Revolution and Win the Battle for Our Children's Health. New York: Jeremy P. Tacher/Penguin, 2011. EBook Reader.
Factory farms are beneficial for producing large amounts of food and that’s it. Somewhere in the mid to late 1900’s, factory farming started to become a thing, fewer farms were as a result, but the farms that are still around have gotten larger and larger. In order for factory farms to work efficiently, animals are kept inside facilities that are over cramped and keeping the animals away from their natural habitats. Along with the animals being over worked, they are genetically bred to be food machines (Singer). The “machines” are producing more manure than ever, now the farmers must get rid of the manure, and a good majority of the time a portion of the manure ends up in places it is not supposed to resulting in pollution and adverse affects on the environment. However, Singer argues that only sentient creatures should be considered when talking about equality. Sentient creatures are individuals who can suffer. Therefore, since farm animals can suffer, we should treat them with same equality that humans get. In order to deal with the problems of factory farming and inequality towards animals; Singer believes that humans should know what farmers are doing towards the animals they are eating as well as moving their diets towards being a vegetarian. Through knowledge and a vegetarian diet, they will force the industry to change for the better and stop being the root cause for all the problems on the
Poultry is by far the number one meat consumed in America; it is versatile, relatively inexpensive compared to other meats, and most importantly it can be found in every grocery store through out the United States. All of those factors are made possible because of factory farming. Factory farming is the reason why consumers are able to purchase low-priced poultry in their local supermarket and also the reason why chickens and other animals are being seen as profit rather than living, breathing beings. So what is exactly is factory farming? According to Ben Macintyre, a writer and columnist of The Times, a British newspaper and a former chicken farm worker, he summed up the goal of any factory farm “... to produce the maximum quantity of edible meat, as fast and as cheaply as possible, regardless of quality, cruelty or hygiene” ( Macintyre, 2009). Factory farmers do not care about the safety of the consumers nor the safety of the chicken, all the industrial farmers have in mind are how fast they can turn a baby chick into a slaughter size chicken and how to make their chicken big and plumped. Factory farming is not only a health hazard to the well-being of the animals, but the environment, and human beings ;thus free range and sustainable farming need to be put into practice.
Organic foods are those grown without the use of growth hormones, antibiotics, synthetic pesticides, or chemical fertilizers. Genetically modifying crops is also not preformed in organic farming. Soil fertility can be maintained using crop rotation, cultivation practices, and cover crops. Natural fertilizers and pesticides are still considered to be included in organic farming (Winter & Davis, 2006). Products that are controlled with cultivation conditions rather than chemical-synthetic pesticides include organic products (Woese, Lange, Boess & Werner Bogl, 1999). The use of synthetic pesticides and materials falls under conventional farming. If the materials are on the National List of Allowed and Prohibited Substances, it can, however, be considered organic. A process that chemically changes a substance extracted from naturally occurring sources is considered a synthetic material (Winter & Davis, 2006).
For years organic farmers and conventional farmers have feuded over which is superior. Organic farmers argue that their product is more eco-friendly because they do not use the synthetic chemicals and fertilizers conventional farmer’s use. Conventional farmers argue that their product is healthier and yields more. People tend to have stereotypes regarding the two types of farmers. Organic farmers are usually thought of as liberal, hippy, tree-huggers while conventional farmers are usually thought of as right-wing, industrialists. Obviously, some do adhere to this stereotype, but a majority of these farmers are normal, hardworking people. Although these farmers, both believe in their methods, one is no better than the other. There are advantages and disadvantages to both, but there is no true superior method of crop farming.
It is estimated that 37 farmers leave the land every day to pursuit in different field (Herro 2006). The decline in rural farmers is from the consequences of industrialization of agriculture. Only 1 percent of the UK workforce is now employed on farm, compared to 35 percent in the last century (Herro 2006). Many of these workers are being weaved out by better technologies that can do the same work at a faster and more efficient rate. On the contrary, organic farming relies more on people for knowledge, daily monitoring, and production. A study by the Soil Association shows organic farming can potentially provide 32 percent more jobs per farm than conventional farming in the United Kingdom (Herro 2006). However, critics have argued that human labors will lead to higher food prices, which makes the shift infeasible. But while this may be true in developed country, a full scale shift to organic farming in developing countries, where labors are much cheaper than pesticides, can lead to a much higher profit for the farmers. Organic farming attracts younger employees than any other work industry. Currently, the average age for conventional farmer is 56 (Herro 2006). If a full scale shift to organic farming were to happen, it would draw a more vibrant and enthusiastic workforce who are food conscious than that older generations, setting up a platform
Many people in America, from toddlers to the elderly, have shown numerous signs of bad health. People have the desire to keep on eating due to more, new things being merchandised as “new and improved items” from the producers. For example, nowadays, people are eating pure junk that they find satisfying on the grocery food shelf. As, stated by Michael Pollan, in his article, “Eat Food: Food Defined” he affirmed that “real food is the type of things that our
In order to feed the growing population of the world, nontraditional farming and ranching techniques have been used to increase food production. For example, animal mass harvesting systems and feed lots used for chickens and cows allow for faster growing and harvesting of the animal. But are these practices moral? In Paul Taylor’s “The Ethics of Respect for Nature”, he illustrates how this treatment of animals is immoral, because of his biocentric view. Bonnie Steinbock would disagree with Taylor due to her speciesic view, illustrated in her article “Speciesism and the Idea of Equality”, that places human needs over animal needs in this case.