Tuesday, September 22, 2015

Exploration Four: Fresh from Chas Jones

     A monoculture is the cultivation or growth of a single crop or organism especially on agricultural or forest land. Most farms are like this now a days because it is the most efficient way to produce the maximum amount of crops and livestock. But nature is not meant to be like that. Nature is full of all kinds of different species living and working together. So going against how mother nature is supposed to be there are problems that occur. Such as pests in crops and disease in livestock. Then this causes the farmers to use pesticides on the crops and antibiotics on the livestock. I believe that most farmers are looking at this the wrong way just because the right way is inconvenient. Organic is proven the be better for the crops and livestock, its been proven to be cheaper and it is better for us too.http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2013/01/01/bees-dying-from-chemical-agriculture.aspx

3 comments:

  1. I agree when they were talking about how going against mother nature is creating more issues. This goes along with when Michael Pollan was saying that " Once you concentrate animals you have all types of problems." Animals are not meant to be compacted into small spaces. When everything goes wrong and animals are getting sick it is a sign that the humans maintaining them are doing something wrong. At the end of the day I believe that it comes down to the industry as a whole being selfish and lazy. In the grand scheme of things It doesnt seem like anyone cares about well being or health anymore.

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  2. I agree with you, industrial farmers are more worried about finding the most convenient way to grow crops and are more concerned with the amount they produce rather than the effects it has on the environment and humans. In the video, Joel Salatin described how industrial farmers are more concerned with "faster, bigger, cheaper". But really, although this way of farming may seem cheaper, there are many underlying costs that we don't realize come from the amount of energy required to make industrial farming a success.

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  3. The thing about industrial farmers is that they want to make the greatest profit and have the cheapest cost. It's a business. So in a good way, the monoculturing of animals and crops is good for the economic stability for the farmers. However, the documentary does an amazing job on how going organic with livestock and crops could create a better profit margin for those in the industry by spending less on fertilizer and nutrients on crops. It just makes sense for farmers to go organic.

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