Pollan begins with an exploration of the food-production system from which the vast majority of American meals are derived. This industrial food chain is largely based on corn, whether it is eaten directly, fed to livestock, or processed into chemicals such as glucose and ethanol. Pollan discusses how the humble corn plant came to dominate the American diet through a combination of biological, cultural, and political factors. Pollan admits that he is surprised to discover that at the beginning of the food chain; almost regardless of the food being eaten was corn. Corn feeds the animals we eat, which lay the eggs we
Reymateu Johnson Writing 231 Reading Response #3 November 20, 2014 Reading Response #3 In Omnivores Dilemma: Corn Conquest, Michael Pollan states that most of the industrial food we eat, basically all processed food we find in our supermarkets, can be traced back to corn. Seems and odd concept but scientifically it’s true. The C-4 trick helps explain the corn plant’s success in this competition: Few plants can manufacture quite as much organic matter (and calories) from the same quantities of sunlight and water and basic elements as corn. I found the information in this essay quite interesting. I was surprised to learn that my body had been fundamentally altered by the prevalence of corn.
The change is undeniable. Thomas Capehart from the USDA speaks clearly of this change in a research article released in 2009 when he wrote, “The United States is world’s largest producer and exporter of corn” (Capehart, 2009). However, he speaks predominantly of manufacturing types of corn like Dent. So what about sweet corn? In the United States, sweet corn has become a staple of small town, old time American culture, connecting consumers to local America, rather than the globalized country.
Corn illustrates how American consumption’s affecting the environment and the health of the consumers because Americans eat massive amounts of food without knowing where it comes from, how it’s produced and what chemicals are in it. The way our nation consumes and views our food is a major issue. Wendell Berry wrote that “Most urban shoppers would tell you that food is produced on farms.” (100) People don’t really know where food comes from; they just assume their food comes from a farm. People don’t know what farms their food’s produced on or where these farms are. People just buy food off the shelves without knowing what’s in it.
Kim Ratz (2005) calculated that out of the 10,000 items that consumers find in a typical grocery store, “At least 2,500 items use corn in some form during the production or processing.” The solution would be to start replacing corn products such as High Fructose Corn Syrup with with less damaging sweeteners. One alternative is Lucuma Powder. According to Navitasnaturals.com (2011), Lucuma Powder has been certified as raw, kosher, gluten-free, vegan, and 100% organic. It also actually has healthy benefits such as naturally occurring beta-carotene, niacin, and iron. And it's actually very low in sugars.
They’re designed by evolution to eat grass. And the only reason we feed them corn is because corn is really cheap and corn makes them fat quickly … The industrial food system is always looking for greater efficiency. But each new step in efficiency leads to problems. If you take feedlot cattle off their corn diet, give them grass or five days, they will shed eighty percent of the E. coli in their gut” (Foodincmovie). There have been many cases where children have died just by eating food that has been processed by the food
At the peak of the potato industry J.R. Simplot became a potato farmer. He learned to grow potatoes from his landlord Lindsay Maggart, whom he would soon invest in a potato sorter with. After winning a coin toss on who owned the potato sorter, Simplot began sorting potatoes for farmers himself. Within the next decade, this would make J.R. Simplot the largest potato stripper in the west, operating thirty-three warehouses in Oregon and Idaho. (Schlosser) Simplot also shipped onions.
1.3 Draw a graph showing the market demand and supply for corn and the demand for the corn produced by one corn farmer. Be sure to indicate the market price and the price received by the corn farmer. Price of Corn (Dollars per Bushel) $4 Demand 0 6,000 15,000 Quantity of Corn (Bushel per year) Lisa Cortazzo Chapter 12 Pg. 425 3.1 What effect does the entry of new firms have on the economic profits of existing firms? As new coffeehouses open near the local Starbucks, the firms demand curve will shift to the left.
Emiliano purchased a team of ten mules and used them to haul corn from the farms of the area to the town. Later he branched out into hauling bricks and lime for construction work. He was proud of his entrepreneurship. But Emiliano also farmed. He said, One of the happiest days of my life is when I made five or six hundred pesos from a crop of watermelons I raised all on my own.
The only major ingredient found on the nutritional facts on the back of the cereal box would be cornmeal. After researching the origin of this cereals particular cornmeal could not be found. Cornmeal is a kind of flour or meal that is made from ground sweet corn. Sweet corn is found in many different farms. In order to keep this cereal fresh, BHT has been added to the packaging.