Difference Between Polyface And Industrial Model Of Food Production

At Polyface Farm they process their own chickens. Pollan writes “Joel insist on slaughtering chickens on the farm” (172) This shows how it is done efficiently by the farmer, Joel, himself versus Industrial food chains where they waste fossil fuels transporting the animals and products. Also everything starts with one plant, grass. “But if you ask joel salatin what he does for a living he’ll say ‘I’m a grass farmer’” This shows that it is economically efficient because Joel doesn’t purchas feed, it just naturally grows everywhere. Polyface Farms is a prime example of a perfect food source for

The customers that buy from local sustainable farms know how their food is grown and harvested. At the Polyface farm Joel does not have walls on his slaughter house, this way people can come and see how their next meal is killed in a humane way. The people “don’t need USDA to ensure that the meat they’re buying has been humanely and cleanly processed,”(208) because they can watch with their own eyes how the meat is slaughtered. Industrial industries protest that selling produce locally can not get food to everyone around the US. Shipping produce across the country effects the foods taste. Also when customers go to the far, to pick out their own food they get the produce fresh and local. Local farmers on sustainable farms will make a bigger profit out of their produce because they do not have to put all their money into buying chemicals and fertilizers, this is good for the produce and farmers.

Nobody denies that the need for more food grows with the global population. Factory farms seem to be a solution to this problem since they produce mass quantities of food for cheap compared to their organic counterparts, which are forty-seven percent more expensive (Consumer Reports). The factory farming business, however, is not the best way to feed more people since it pollutes the environment. The factory

FRESH is a documentary by Ana Sofia Joanes, she explores the consequences of our current agricultural system and documents the work of farmers, activists, non-profit organizations and business that advocate for sustainable agricultural practices to address the problem. The film presents the farmers from Shenandoah Valley that practice traditional farming by raising and keeping their chickens, pigs, cattle and soil in traditional ways that attempt to imitate the way in which nature naturally works on nutrient and energy cycling. These practices challenge the industrial agricultural model that use a high input of resources to produce large amounts of a single crops/species in designated areas known as monocultures. Monoculture agricultures relies

These organic farming techniques were formed based upon the issues that industrial farming uses. In Michael Pollan’s article The Animals: Practicing Complexity, industrial farming techniques “follow a clear, linear, hierarchical logic” unlike Polyface’s system, which is more difficult to describe. Many see industrial methods as disrespectful to the lives of animals in which we harvest. The practices that Polyface Farms use present

The Local Sustainable Food Chain creates a healthier environment because the farmers work with the land and animals in more natural ways and help the environment thrive. As shown by Polyface Farms, a prime example of Local Sustainable farming, regular farming practices had created soil that “was either no longer fertile or had washed away. (Pollan 161)” As Joel salatin, the owner of Polyface, switched types of farming, he

The local sustainable food chain can be defined as chicken, beef, turkeys, rabbits, and pigs rotate throughout the farm feeding on grass and fertilizing the land in a huge cycle that keeps going.this means that it’s a big cycle going on the farm and the farm helps the animals and the animals help the farm. The animals eat the

In Chapter 14 of The Omnivore’s Dilemma, Michael Pollan points out that “at Polyface, the Salatins try to work with the natural instincts of their animals, not against them. When Joel lets his chicken loose in a pasture, he is using their natural instinct to clean up after herbivores….Instead of treating chickens as egg-laying machines” (Pollan 192). Unlike the industrial food chain, where the chicken is kept in the factory and is forced to eat GMO soy and corn. Chickens in Polyface are free to run around in the pasture and the chickens get to eat what is naturally for them. Secondly, Pollan notes that a place called “CAFOs-Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations” contains tons on toxic waste from cows who are forced to eat GMO corn and CAFOs “are also breeding grounds for new and deadly bacteria” (Pollan 61-62). CAFOs are unsafe for cows because the feedlots contain bacteria which can possibly harm and kill animals. Different from industrial, in local sustainable farms, cows are not forced into eating corn, but instead, eat what is natural to them like grass. Seeing that cows in local sustainable eat grass, the cow manure is not toxic but instead, the manure is full of protein for the chickens to eat. Generally speaking, local sustainable farms’ animals are healthier because the animals are allowed to follow their natural instincts, free-range, and not easily exposed to harmful

Michael says that grass “…is the foundation of the intricate food chain Salatin has assembled at Polyface, where a half dozen different animals are raised together in an intensive rotational dance on theme of symbiosis.” (pg. 126). The amounts that Polyface produces on its beef, chickens, and pork are remarkable considering they are only using 100 acres of land. The numbers are astounding because he can make $3,000 per acre in his crop rotation compared to the $150 per acre a monoculture can produce. If you were to ask Mr. Salatin what type of farmer he is, he would respond a “grass farmer”, and as Pollan points out, out of the many crops he produces and the many meats he is able to raise, the grass is the least obvious reason for Salatin to be in business. But indeed, the grass is the crop his farms depends on in order to keep the partnership between the animals, grass, and keep Polyface running. In an article called Mixed Crop-Livestock Farming, by the Agriculture and Consumer Protection, they state that these “…diversified systems are a combination of specialized subsystems that aim to reduce risk in conditions of variable but relatively abundant resources…resources such as fertilizer and fossil fuels are restricted because of problems with pollution.” This article I found was from the FOA (Food

Hobby farms are on the rise, thanks to the growing popularity of terms such as “organic”, “free-range” and “sustainable farming”, to name a few. People are getting more health-conscious by the day, and are becoming more selective when it comes to buying fresh vegetables, meat and poultry.

As the Earth’s population grows at breakneck pace over the next several decades, who will feed the world’s people? Agriculture has undergone an extensive expansion and transformation throughout the last few centuries, beginning with the Industrial Revolution of the late 1700s. New technology allowed for better and greater methods of production. With the development of modern technology, people try to think some way can plant less, get more. Many farmers plant only one crop in the same place year after year. However, those against monocropping claim that it is very hard on the environment and actually less profitable than organic means of farming (“Monoculture Crops – Learn About The Effects Of Monocropping”). In addition, the destructive nature of agriculture has recently shown its hand. While our supermarkets, convenience stores, and restaurants are filled with abundant food options, people forget to ask themselves where all this food comes from. Globalization has opened up economies of scale and has allowed people to tap into different types of products, whether that is food or clothing. But the availability of an increased mass market comes at a cost. However, today, the modern farming techniques have grown into a headache for farmers and governments alike, because they are the consequences of overproduction, industrial waste and other problems arising from the modern methods of agriculture. Thus, modern techniques are harmful to environments, animals, and humans.

Modern day farming has transformed from the farming process of last century. Instead of farmers producing for their families, farmers are now similar to input/output managers supplying massive manufacturers that feed the country.

Hence this could create a systemic ideology of farm to fork that would procreate within the community. Along with this practice, we must decrease unnecessary distribution and the transport of food. The area in which a product is raised is the area in which that product should be expended, “consumers should be encouraged to eat in ways that support environmentally sound, healthful food, and carbon sequestration” (Niman pg. 48). Through revitalization of local food growth and consumption, the price of goods in the area would aid in the elimination of the middleman as well as the wholesalers to whom gain a profit from the farmer. By means of a holistic approach, The overall simplification of downsizing and educating our agriculture system is the resolution to creating a renewable and just future for our food

Even though we are only conducting a small scale sustainable agriculture on campus, we wish to achieve the goals for sustainable farming. We want to be sufficiently productive, while using resources efficiently and minimize undesired and unnecessary waste. Moreover, we want to be resilient and adaptable to any changing conditions such as weather, water shortage, and labor availability. Therefore, the main goal of our project is to maximize production with limited resources and

To expand its operations, Polyface will have to acquire new land. This would also require someone to manage the farm activities in a similar fashion to the existing farm. This would need intensive training and experience in the existing processes.