Corn Bad

Many alterations have been applied to the area that corn is grown in. The main biome that corn is grown would be grasslands. Grasslands are an extremely important biome for producing food, it was shown that approximately 90% of the food produced today contains at least one of the fifteen species that are grown in grasslands. Unfortunately, for there to be enough space for corn to be grown and harvested, native grasses must be cleared, therefore having a devastating impact on the biome. Corn is known to be the most thirsty crop to be grown, taking up almost 7,000 to 8,000 gallons of water, draining countries, that don't receive as much rain, of their groundwater. Another impact on the environment of corn production would be the excessive use of fertilizers, this is due to the little nutrients returned back to the soil. As corn is mainly used for consumption, very little plant

The United States of America is the world’s largest corn overproducer. With such heavy focus on corn, I would like to draw attention to a measure taken by the United States government, the Federal Agriculture Improvement and Reform Act of 1996. This act increased the amount of farm land that is meant to be used in the States for growing corn from 60 million acres to a whopping 90 million acres. Such a significant increase cannot go without some kind of effect. Writer, Michael Pollan, in his book “The Omnivore’s Dilemma”, discusses the instability of the US farming industry as well as the negative environmental implications corn has on us. This instability and environmental impact has given rise to movements promoting a return to more

The history of corn can be dated back to the beginning of time, but the use and value of corn had been unnoticed until it was introduce by the Native Americans. Where corn had seemed to be a big part of their everyday life from, being in myths, legends, and for a huge portion of their diet corn was an essential component. "when the Europeans had touched base to the New World during the late fifteenth century, the Native Americans had introduced corn what they had called maize to the Europeans .This crop was then later on grown and adapted from Canada to southern South America very quickly, which then began to form the new basis of the New World civilization" (Leventin & McManhon, 2012). The way corn has been changing and revolutionizing throughout time has been both fascinating and drastic. Rather than conventional corn being grown, it is genetically modified corn that have been dominating today 's crop industry and farming but the question remains as to how the various types of GMO corn has influenced the way it is grown and used and what its ramification are.

Growing up in Nebraska I can tell you that I have ingested my fair amount of corn and corn-based products, I mean we are the Cornhuskers after all. But what is so special about corn? I ask this question because I want to know what is so special about corn and why is it in almost anything and everything we eat. America's agriculture is vast in the many types of plants that are planted and harvested every year, such as soybeans and wheat that are also used as an ingredient in many of our foods that we consume every day. When trying to answer this question I had to do some of my own investigative work, just as Pollan did when finding out all he could find out about corn. I researched the most grown grains in America, since corn is a grain, and to no surprise, it was corn but the second majorly grown crop that we Americans plant was soybeans. From there I

Corn even turned up in French fries (23 percent).” (Patrigenaru) What is wrong with all this corn? Growing corn involves an abundance amount of pesticides and fertilizers that release chemicals into the soils that eventually make it to the water tables underneath. the ground. That can be terrible for the environment. Also, eating too much corn can cause an abundance of calories in a diet and not enough nutrients necessary to sustain a healthy body. In other words, corn replaces nutrients with an excess of calories. Patrigenaru also points out, “More than a quarter of products in the average American supermarket now contain corn or its derivatives.” (Patrigenaru) Since corn replaces nutrients with calories and is in almost everything that is consumed in America now, it is plain to see why the United States is one of the fattest countries in the world. Processed food are becoming more and more prevalent in the American diet day to day. Kim Rhyssdal wrote in an article based on an interview, “Processed foods are, plus or minus, 70 percent of what most of us eat.” (Ryssdal) 70 percent is a very damaging piece of evidence to the conviction of the American diet. While corn is the leading source of the unhealthiness of Americans, added sugar and fat are not far behind. Tim Philpot wrote in an article, “As for added fats and sugars, their 2008 levels reached 459 and 641,

At this point you must be wondering, whats the issue with corn? Frist let me point out when I say corn, I am not speaking of sweet corn that you eat a bowl of for dinner. We are talking about field corn, which is primarily grown to fed animals, that we then eat. The problem is with feeding animals field corn. Here 's the problem with feeding animals (particularly cows) field corn: animals are not supposed to eat corn!!!! As a result we have meat products that are wreaking havoc on our health. First, understand cows are meant to eat grass and other foraged materials. Cows are not supposed to eat corn, when they do a plethora of things happen. The first is that it makes them sick. Cows fed corn become bloated, are more susceptible to liver abscesses, and e.coli. Also, because Corn is high in phosphorous and low in calcium which is a recipe for kidney stones. You must also understand to combat all the damage the corn does to cow, farmers then pump their animals full of drugs to

The food we eat and the quantity of it is what industries base their investments on; they use this to their advantage and produce more quantity than quality for us to consume, without taking into consideration the effect this might have on us or on the world as a whole. In the article “When a Crop Becomes King” written by Michael Pollan we see what the excessive use of a crop can do to our health and the environment. The vast production of products made with corn has made it the crop which is grown more than any other in the United States, but the process of adapting to the high consumption of corn came at a high cost. While corn is the easiest and cheapest substitute for sugar and animal food it is also linked to the cause of chronic diseases and serious, long-lasting damage to our ecosystems. The production of certain things is something we might not have control of but what we should have control of is our health and what better way than denying anything that we know might give us a hard time the power to do

Corn is not the ideal nutritious food. It wreaks havoc on the animal;s' digestive system and gets turned into sweeteners that makes people obese, aside from giving us an unhealthy diet. In other words, the industrial food chain that American man is sustained on is largely based on corn, whether in its direct form, fed to livestock, or processed into chemicals such as glucose, and the cheapest forms of these are high-fructose corn syrup and ethanol. The former, particularly, through a combination of biological, cultural, and political factors, appears in the cheapest and most common of foods that constitute the American diet. It is the ingredient that results in obesity, and, since it appears in the cheapest products, the ingredients that more poor, than wealthier individuals, consume.

The main reason for which corn is the main crop in America is because it can be easily used for the making of “processed food and hundreds of other products.” Corn has become so convenient, that many factories use it to feed their animals, in order to accelerate their growth. Since it benefits government subsidies, many farmers opt to make a greater profit by changing the way they raise cattle, which also means the amount of animal manure is much greater. Furthermore, since there is “no good way of disposing it,” the grounds are becoming ideal parameters for the breeding of “deadly bacteria,” which brings about the unethical and scientific issues in the industry for these bacteria have found “their way into our food.” Moreover, as confirmed by the American Association for the Advancement of Science, a corn-based diet can promote Escherichia coli within the “digestive tract of

The main reason for which corn is the main crop in America is because it can be easily used for the making of “processed food and hundreds of other products.” Corn has become so convenient, that many factories use it to feed their animals, in order to accelerate their growth. Since it also benefitted government subsidies, many farmers have opted to make a greater profit by changing the way they raise cattle, which also means the amount of animal manure is much greater. Furthermore, since there is “no good way of disposing of it,” the grounds are becoming ideal parameters for the breeding of “deadly bacteria,” which brings about the ethical and scientific issues in the industry for these bacteria have found “their way into our food.” Moreover, as confirmed by the American Association For The Advancement Of Science, a corn-based diet can promote Escherichia coli within the “digestive tract of

Farming involves many risks and dangers. According to “Farm Safety - Risks and Hazards,” farming is a very threatening activity to anyone. Most people that get injured on a farm are either under the age of 15 or over the age of 65(Better Health Channel). Additionally, farming has multiple other reasons it is and can be a danger to anyone, such as long hours and working with dangerous machinery. According to Bethany Baratta, a reporter for the Iowa Farm Bureau, “It only takes 14 seconds for a person working inside of a grain bin to be pulled under the surface of the corn pile. With more than 60 percent of the grain in the United States being stored on farms, there’s a greater chance that farmers and farm workers may be tasked with checking the condition of the grain inside the bin. But with that chore comes the risk of a grain engulfment” (Baratta). This can be a huge problem for Austin when he farms during harvest season because like the quote says it only takes 14 seconds to be consumed by grain, and Austin works a lot with the bins around the farm, so he is always putting himself in danger. Farmers also help with our economy in Iowa and around the world. Austin explains, “The land we farm has CRP (conservation reserve program) strips and CRP waterways bordering the creeks and streams providing wildlife habitat and preventing soil erosion and contamination of the stream.” This is positive because this ensures that farmers don’t damage the water in our creeks and streams which flows into our rivers and eventually into our oceans. They’re also providing habitat for wildlife so they can prosper; therefore, providing food for some people in Iowa and food for many others around the

During this week’s class, I learned even more about where our food comes from with the conclusion of the movie Farmland, our class discussions, and readings. What I took away most from this week was how the societal image of farming and food production is typically not black and white, and how it’s very different from how we imagine our food is produced. The selections from Michael Pollan’s book The Omnivore’s Dilemma were particularly interesting to me.

In the educative essay “What’s Eating America,” Michael Pollan designates the history of corn, a good and healthy food if cultivated properly. This essay is very informative because it talks about American’s diet. In this essay, Pollan examines the way of growing the corn as an influential example of using the chemical fertilizers in food. Also, He complains “Growing corn, which from a biological perspective had always been a process of capturing sunlight to turn it into food, has in no small measure become a process of converting fossil fuels into food…” (Pollan 302). While it might be very useful when used in a prudent way, in reality the usage of chemical fertilizers is higher and the farmers are feeding their corps more than it needs which affect the ecology’s system. In other words, his focus is on corn and not only does him just points out corn presence in nearly all food products; but he comes up with other matters like fossil fuels and the factories polluting the atmosphere. Thus, it’s astonishing when someone stops and thinks about how many things are composed from corn.

Chapter one of The Omnivore’s Dilemma by Michael Pollan follows corn on its journey from acting as the primary crop of the Native Americans all the way to its introduction into the industrial setting. Pollan makes it explicitly clear that corn is in everything. Behind all the chemicals listed in the “ingredients” section on a product, consumers will find corn. Corn even plays a role in our chemical makeup. Because of corn’s ability to intake more carbon than most other plants, it does not have a preference over the carbon isotopes it consumes. By looking at the carbon isotope ratios in humans, we can determine how much corn one has eaten. Pollan states that corn’s variability is what makes it such an important crop. The European settlers

People of the United States have diets which are predominantly based on food products which are not as healthy as the basic diets of those in other countries. Nutritionists and other biological researchers have been able to determine that corn is the most