There are other factors when it comes to farms, such as the environmental effects industrial agriculture has, and the problem of soil erosion, which is becoming very detrimental. Genetic diversity is just another factor that adds to the case of sustainable agriculture. If companies like McDonalds have such a great impact on the choices of farmers, they should make the incentive of ordering many different types of potatoes. And if we want to do something, we need to make our point through our purchases. BUY SUSTAINABLY GROWN FOODS!
Sunday, February 27, 2011
Genetic Diversity in the Food We Eat
Before I begin to talk about genetic diversity, I would like to talk about the difference between sustainable agriculture and industrial agriculture. Industrial agriculture is the way most of our food is produced. It is the most profitable method of farming. It involves something called monoculture, which I will get into in a bit. Sustainable agriculture is a more ecological approach to farming. It applies knowledge that we now know to the idea of industrial agriculture for everyone's benefit. Now with that in mind let's talk about industrial agriculture. One problem that most people are unaware of is the genetic diversity of the foods we eat and crops we grow. Because of the dominance of fast food, and other factors, most foods are grown from almost one species. For example, all the way back in the 1990s, only two types of peas made up 96% of all pea crops in North America. Something even crazier is that only because of Mcdonald's preference, more than half of all of the potato crops in the world are of one breed, Russet Burbank. Farmers get pressure from all types of companies to grow certain crops, mostly because of those certain species' convenience. Unfortunately, this is creating a huge decline in the genetic diversity of our crops. What adds even more to this problem is monoculture. Monoculture is basically where most farmers grow only one type of crop on a very large region. The low genetic diversity means that the species of crop that is being mass produced doesn't have a chance to evolve into a better survivor, and that they are all susceptible to the same diseases. Monoculture is basically making it easier for a certain disease or other to infect huge amounts of crops more rapidly. In fact, it's even happened before. In 1970, the Southern Corn Leaf Blight epidemic took out an incredible 60% of the US corn crop in only one summer. So there is precedent that genetic diversity is important for the prosperity of our crops. Sustainable agriculture looks to fix these problems and more. People who support sustainable agriculture plant a diversity of crops and species. This can actually serve as a buffer towards pests and other problems, since certain species have resistances others don't. Sustainable agriculturists also believe in the use of diverse cover crops, crops that are grown only for the resistances against pests, and their attraction of beneficial arthropods. Diversity in these crops increases their efficiency, and can reduce the use of pesticide.
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Hey nice posting Cris,
ReplyDeleteYou're blog was really well written and cuts straight to the point when it comes to industrial agriculture and its negative effects. I also believe that top tier companies have a huge effect on what farmers are growing nowadays and push them to grow certain crops, which in turn leads to monoculture. I also learned something new from your blog when you talked about how sustainable farmers grow cover crops in order to raise pest resistance and to attract helpful bugs. All in all I agree with everything you said and that everyone should take the habit of purchasing organically grown produce not only to remove the popularity of industrial agriculture, but also to benefit our health in general.
Your argument against industrial agriculture was great. More people need to be aware of where their food comes from and realize that they are buying from producers who only care about the money they make. I also agree that monoculture is bad because they do not let plants evolve and gain the resistance to fight off insects and other threats, so instead the farmers just put more and more pesticide in them which equals to more poison for us, same for the animals, if they don't evolve those traits, they will just be piled up with more antibiotics and hormones. More people need to realize that buying organic foods from sustainable farmers will lead to a better environment and better health.
ReplyDeleteI like what you are saying in your blog Cris. I never knew that most of our food was industrially made and it makes me think of how unhealthy it is compared to food produced by sustainable agriculture. The next time i go to the grocery store with my parents i will try to get to buy more sustainable food instead of industrial made food. Thanks a lot for teaching me more things about industrial and sustainable agriculture.
ReplyDeleteThat's true Cris, at least all of us have heard think before you put something in your mouth. Farmers grow crops, but with all these companies bugging them its are to grow more then one crop. We should know that we have to put the right foods in our mouth.
ReplyDeleteNice post Cris!
ReplyDeleteI thought your points against industrial agriculture were great, I especially liked your comparisons between previous types of crops and the genetic diversity now and how they were naturally selected for. The potao one was surprising. i completely agree with where you stand and i agree with buying sustainably grown foods but because of demand and our planet's growing population it would be hard to completely rely on sustainable farming sources. Enjoyed the post Cris!
Bolis I.
Very good argument Cris, not only did you point out things out, but you backed it up with statistics. I totally agree if we, the consumers, want change we have to start buy not buying products created through industrial agriculture.
ReplyDeleteNice one Cris! You were able to bring to the surface a lot of things that were left unseen in other agruements. The way you drawed the point of the fast food restuarants, for example McDonalds, having an impact on the majority of the crops that farmers grow was a strong point in your debate. In the end, it did lead to a struggle to maintain the genetic diversity of the crop species.
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