Anna Livermore February 27, 2024 Ms. Cox Food in Literature Newman vs. Salatin In July of 2019, Chris Newman wrote an article titled “Small Family Farms Aren’t the Answer”, arguing the necessity of evolving restorative agriculture to remain competitive in the broader market. Published on the public platform Medium.com, Newman strategically establishes ethos, pathos, and logos to criticize the praise of small family farms as well as the culture of farmers markets. As a solution, he advocates for a farmer’s co-op. His proficient organization and balanced establishment of ethos, pathos, and logos contribute to the effectiveness of his argument. Several months later, Joel Salatin, owner of Polyface Farms, responded to Newman’s article on his …show more content…
He leans heavily on ethos and pathos and often forgets to establish logos to persuade his readers. In contrast to Salatin’s emotionally charged and poorly structured response, Newman’s article is the more convincing argument due to its organization and persuasiveness. Joel Salatin is a strong advocate for his method of farming, which emphasizes the imitation of the symbiotic relationships found in nature. Salatin draws a parallel to how, “in nature, you’ll always find birds following herbivores,”(Pollan 211) by using a technique he’s especially proud of, “Egg Mobiles.” To create this natural relationship, he uses an old wagon to house laying hens and moves it periodically to synchronize with the grazing patterns of his cows. In comparison to the conventional idea of efficiency associated with large-scale industrial farming, “Salatin’s farm makes the case for a very different sort of efficiency--the one found in natural systems.” (Pollan 214) Beyond his agricultural practices, Salatin places a significant emphasis on fostering an intimate relationship between consumers and farmers. He manifests this belief in the transparency of Polyface Farms, where
Even with these faults, this society appreciates the hard work of farming compared to the easy way of living today. One point of Berry’s argument is that he believes that the land is falling more and more into the hands of speculators and professional people from the cities, who, in spite of all the scientific agricultural miracles, still have more money than farmers. Big technology and large economies have caused more abandonment of land in the country than ever before. Many of the great farmers are clearly becoming different because they lack manpower and money to maintain properly. The number of part-time farmers and ex-farmers increases every year due to the problems with money and resources.
In recent history, farming in America has changed dramatically, and Naylor’s farm is representative of many in the American Corn Belt. Though it began growing a variety of crops and keeping livestock too, Naylor now only plants corn and soybeans. In Naylor’s grandfather’s days, the farm fed the whole family with just enough left over for twelve others. Now, Naylor indirectly feeds an estimated 129 people, but this does not mean his farm is any more successful. In fact, Naylor’s farm cannot financially support his family.
The first element of the rhetorical structure and possibly the strongest in this documentary is pathos. Pathos refers to the emotion exhibited throughout the documentary. Food, Inc. is filled with an array of colors, sounds, stories, and images that all appeal to emotion. Miserable images of cows being slaughtered with dark music in the background, pictures of industrial factories with no sun and unhappy workers, and even a depressing and eye-opening home video of a young boy who was killed by the disease as a result of bad food were all portrayed throughout Food, Inc. Barbara Kowalcyk, mother of the late Kevin, is an advocate for establishing food standards with companies throughout the nation. When asked about her sons death, she replied, “To watch this beautiful child go from being perfectly healthy to dead in 12 days-- it was just unbelievable that this could happen from eating food.” (Food, Inc.) Obviously very devastated and still heartbroken over her loss, Kowalcyk fought
Moreover, this system of mass farming leads to single crop farms, which are ecologically unsafe, and the unnatural treatment of animals (Kingsolver 14). These facts are presented to force the reader to consider their own actions when purchasing their own food because of the huge economic impact that their purchases can have. Kingsolver demonstrates this impact by stating that “every U.S. citizen ate just one meal a week (any meal) composed of locally and organically raised meats and produce, we
Michel-Guillaume-Jean de Crevecoeur was a French born citizen who moved to New York and became a naturalized citizen of Great Britain. After living in America as a citizen for a while, Crevecoeur decided to write an essay titled “Letters from an American Farmer”. During this time, tensions in America between the colonists and loyalists were increasing, and because of this the idea of America as a sovereign nation and territory was becoming popular. Crevecoeur wrote this essay in order to discuss what it means to be an American, and why people should be honored to be called an American. Crevecoeur believes that America is a melting pot of the world, and is full of opportunities for anyone who lives there. In order to back up his claim, Crevecoeur uses rhetorical devices, especially pathos, while he does also use ethos and logos as well.
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...
Joel Salatin’s family moved to Virginia in 1961, to a very poorly maintained farm. This farm was the family’s “clean slate” which they could make into whatever they wanted. His parents were the original unconventional small farmers. They began planting crops and building moveable fences and shelters for their livestock. With the help of Joel’s father William, the work that had progressed after his father’s death, in 1988 Polyface began to skyrocket in its’ growth. The idea of unconventional farming normally has a negative connotation, but Joel Salatin as an “out-of-the-box thinking process” (Polyfaces.com, video).
In 1919, farmers from thirty states, including Missouri, saw a need. They gathered in Chicago and formed the American Farm Bureau Federation. In 1919, they had one goal, they wanted to speak for themselves with the help of their own national organization. Since 1919, Farm Bureau has operated by a philosophy that states: “analyze the problem of farmers and develop a plan of action for these problems” (Missouri). In the past 94 years, the A...
To begin, he introduces the idea that the food production farms aren’t these "happy farms" society makes us believe they are. For instance, the author Michael Pollan explains how farms began to expand causing corn to produce rapidly, leaving massive quantities of
...ood that he grows. Pollan describes his day at the Polyface farm through out most of his essay and construes about how “local is not organic” and the importance of “choosing the person who grows your food” (Pollan 1 & 4). However, Pollan does neglect to bring up the time, cost, and environmental effects between buying at a local farm compared to a local supermarket. I conjecture a further investigation and inquiry on the environmental impact on the Earth and the study of gas consumption and cost differences between buying from a local farm and shopping at a local supermarket.
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
...o. “The Great Agricultural Transition: Crisis, Change, and Social Consequence of the Twentieth Century US Farming”. Annual Review of Sociology 27 (2001): 103-124.
Manipulation of language can be a weapon of mind control and abuse of power. The story Animal Farm by George Orwell is all about manipulation, and the major way manipulation is used in this novel is by the use of words. The character in this book named Squealer employs ethos, pathos, and logos in order to manipulate the other animals and maintain control.
“The pen is mightier than the sword.” This is a popular saying that explains that, sometimes, in order to persuade or convince people, one should not use force but words. In Animal Farm, by George Orwell, animals overthrow the human leader and start a new life, but some animals want to become the new leaders. To make the other animals obey the pigs, they first have to persuade the farm’s population. Squealer is the best pig for this job because he effectively convinces the animals to follow Napoleon by using different rhetorical devices and methods of persuasion.