Chapter 3: From Farm to Factory
Summary: at the heart of ever industrial food chain there is a big business that has something to do with the food whether its distribution, production,etc. The reason why factories and farms go hand in hand is because the food companies supply the farms with fossil fuel, pesticides, and fertilizer that is used to harvest and transport different vegetables but mostly corn. On farms nowadays the corn that is being grown is being fed to much nitrogen which causes nitrogen pollution. The reason that is bad is because most of it does not go to the plants it evaporates in the air and becomes acid rain which increases global warming.
Gems: The industrial food chain makes some people very rich. Big agribusiness companies take in billions of dollars in profit. Yet one person who is not getting rich from the mountain of corn is the American farmer.
What really seemed to interest me is how the businesses get so rich and the farmers that supply the food and do all the hard work stay dirt poor. It is interesting how the companies buy the corn from the farmers for a low cost and then sell it at an extensive price to the consumers and don't give back to the people who supply the goods.
Chapter 4: The Grain Elevator
Summary: A grain elevator is basically where a farmer would store his corn when the winter season was coming or if it was cold out. Through out different seasons the process of growing corn changes rapidly and the author explains how exactly what the farmer does. When corn is harvested the bushels don't just go to one thing it i s broken up into percentages and divided amongst different categories. In this case where corn goes the most is to animal feed. The main question i have is how do they preserve corn for so long? The second question is what season is the best to grow corn?
Chapter 5: The Feedlot Turning Corn into Meat
Summary: Basically the way farmers use to treat their cattle have changed throughout the years. Before corn became so popular the cows where allowed to eat grass and roam free through the pasture but no they are forced to stay in their barns most of the day. Feedlots are basically beef factories where they turn corn into beef, and what they do is take ground up pieces of beef and put it in the corn that they feed the cows and that is what causes mad cow disease. What interest me the most is how farmers changed their style of farmer so drastically. The main question that i have is what is the point of feeding cows other cow pieces? and by the farmers changing their style of farming what do they get out of it?
No comments:
Post a Comment