Subsistence Agriculture vs. Industrial-Style Animal Farming

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.

The world continues to face a wide-scale food crisis. The effects of this crisis reach from the farmers who grow and raise the food to the very system of laws that are in place to govern the system itself. Food giants are reaching deep into their pockets for lobbying in order to take advantage of both the producers and the consumer all in the name of profit. Moreover, farmers are being driven to suicide, and the ecosystem’s livelihood is treading a fine line. Both Michael Pollan and Raj Patel bring to light these problems and offer suggestions to help lessen their severity. Though there are many philosophies on which they both agree, they both have their own ideas to fight back. Pollan seeks to challenge the consumer as an individual while

"I believe in the future of agriculture, with a faith born not of words, but of deeds." These famous words from "The FFA Creed" by E.M. Tiffany outline the basic beliefs of FFA members and agriculturists around the world. But these values, although crucial to the sustaining of our world's ever-increasing population, are growing more and more detached from the people not involved in agriculture. Although food and fiber production has increased in recent years, providing more bushels per acre and more meat per head of cattle, the agriculture industry has come under fire due to an overwhelming majority of people being totally disconnected from the agriculture industry. Today, we'll examine the primary causes of this disconnect, the negative effects on agriculture and our society as a whole that results from it, and how you can help solve this ever-growing problem.

Many support agricultural modernization, as a solution Africa’s, and many other impoverished nations hunger problems. This would include the industrialization of their agricultural industry, using modern, genetically enhanced seeds, and fertilizer. Yet, some of the same groups that are promoting the organic movement in the United States are advocating against the globalization of modern industrial agricultural practices (Paarlberg 179). Those who support modernization of such nations argue that the current process in inefficient, and inadequate. They believe that globalization of the highly capitalized, science-intensive, agricultural system that has been developed in the West, is the answer to the worlds hunger problems. They also warn that if the West abandons its current practices, it may fall victim to famine due to inadequate production (Paarlberg 179). However, supporters of organic production point to the fact that each year, approximately ten million tons of chemical fertilizer are poured onto our corn

Members of society are no longer able to fathom how those who live in small communities are able to grow and harvest their own foods for survival (Heilbroner 3). Just as Polanyi argues, Heilbroner concludes that the market indeed runs itself with a dialogue that reaffirms the notion of the system being in control of all modes of production and distribution without human intervention (13).

Anna Belfer Cohen and A. Nigel Gorring-Morris. 釘ecoming Farmers: the Inside Story.Current Anthropology, Vol 52, No. S4 (October, 2011): n pag. The Origin of Agriculture: New Data, New Ideas. Web. 20 Nov. 2013.

In fact, it is also necessary for governmental bodies to become involved in promoting localized food such as policies and labelling laws that encourage healthier eating and food re-localization. In addition, regulations to foster sustainable food production are essential. Moreover, in the movie Cuban, the Accidental Revolution, David Suzuki, introduces how the government’s vision becomes one with the farmers, that there is a possibility for the industrial food system to work together. For example, Cuban agronomists describe the benefits of crop rotation for soil health, while Cuban farmers express pleasure with the relative productivity and profitability of their ecological and somehow newly industrialized farming systems. By inventing a new way to create food and working with nature, profit is gained and diversity is generated leading the country to possess the largest national program in sustainable agriculture. With the government’s assistance, farmers learn to do more with less and growing food as a community becomes more a passion that profits. In his article, Wes Jackson also supports the idea of finding a new way to create food without technology and science. Instead of focusing mainly on the local food systems, he emphasizes that by using all the knowledge acquired from the pioneers and their cleverness, we can build domestic prairies that have high-yielding fields that are planted only once every twenty years. It is not the entire answer to the total agriculture problems, but breeding new crops from native plants selected from nature’s abundance and simulating the resettlement botanical complexity of a region should make it easier to solve many agricultural problems (40). The share to work side by side with nature may be one of the solution to establish a new sea of perennial prairie

Throughout time, humans have pushed forward in every aspect in life in order to improve their living standards, wealth and most importantly the agricultural sector which is the base of every human race. Food is the basic requirement for any individual to stay alive and healthy. In an article by Tamsin McMahon, she states that over the past 60 years, the world population has grown from 2.5 billion to 7 billion while world hunger dropped from 40% down to 15% (McMahon T., July 2012). This shows that our agricultural advances through technology have helped control world hunger and decrease it by more than half, but this is a short-term solution if we want to consider the future generations that depend on our current actions toward the three main pillars of agriculture which are: Health and nutrition, Economy and sustainability all while considering the local small farms and corporate farms.

Subsistence strategies are patterns of production, distribution, and consumption that members of a society employ to ensure the satisfaction of the basic material survival needs of humans. There are many forms these strategies can take. These groups fall into two main categories, food collectors and food producers. Food collectors are those who gather, hunt, or fish for food. Examples of this would be pastoralism, and horticulture. An example of pastoralism can be seen in the savannas, pastoralists and their animals gather when rain water is abundant and the pasture is rich, then scatter during the drying of the savanna. Horticulture can be seen in ancient Mayan culture, in the cornfields, multiple crops were grown such as beans (using cornstalks as supports), squash, pumpkins and chili peppers. Food producers on the other

Why is culturally appropriate food the essence of humanity? Humans are arguably the only animal categorized by diverse cultures, of which food is an essential part; food sustains us and without it we would die out. Humans do not exist outside of cultures, without them we would fail to thrive. After a decade of research and activism on this subject and that of food economy, intellectual property, and traditional lifeways, Vandana Shiva published Stolen Harvest, in 2000 (South End Press). It is an ethical treatise about the inalienable right to food and self-sufficiency that all humans and animals should be afforded, and serves as an excellent primer for novice agriculturalist. Stolen Harvest is a compendium of investigative essays theorizing: monocultures homogenize biodiversity, corporate monopolies augment this destruction, and structural violence clear-cuts sustainable lifeways and food systems worldwide (Shiva 1-15, 70).

In “Karl Heider discsses Dani sweet potatoes,” it shows that’s production mode of subsistence and a poverty culture because people use simplest tool to planting, which is stick. In their cultures, they have to use stick to clearing off the old brush and weeds from soils before they started to plant. Planting is the only from them to get food in Karl Heider’s video. In another video, “Boran Herdsman,” it shows Pastoralism mode of subsistence because Boran’s culture is depended on cattle for living. They always have to move one place to another place for cattle. They usually get food from the animals they cattle. The knowledge they need is to know how to take care of animals and how to raise them. In these videos, both are agriculture because

Is animal husbandry in Texas sustainable in relation to fresh water use and water contamination?

The revolutionizing transition from hunting and gathering to agriculture was a central shift in the way homo sapiens lived that occurred twelve thousand years ago. Consequently, several factors contributed to this astonishing modification of life including increasing population size, favorable environments such as the Nile River in Egypt and the Fertile Crescent in the Mediterranean. Furthermore, the transition from hunting and gathering to agriculture allowed for mass production of food in order for the sustainability of the increasing population size, but with agriculture also came specialization and the division of labor ultimately leading to moral inequality.

Which brings us to the quality of the milk, lots of commercial farms put steroids in there cows to produce more milk than a regular cow could produce, prolactin, steroids including estrogens, progesterone, corticoids, and androgens, these are just some of the steroids commercial farmers inject in there cows. Sometimes when a cow produces too much milk they could develop mastitis in cows, mastitis is an infection or inflammation in the udders which makes them produce chunky milk it can be potentially fatal in the mammary gland and very expensive for the dairy commercial/industrial farms says HDB dairy, if the udders of a dairy cow doesn 't work they often get shot and get butchered for meat just because the farm was pushing them to hard

In this unit’s text, we learned about modernization of society and how agriculture permitted nomadic hunt-and-gather groups to become stabilized and centralized in one location. The text and supporting video clips introduced both positive and negative anthropological effects of the rise of agriculture. Three positive outcomes include stabilization, improved nutrition, and food surplus. For each of these positive instances, there is an alternate and negative impact as well: habitat destruction, feast and famine cycles, and health concerns. This essay will briefly expound on each positive outcome and its counterpart, and will relate the sustainable agrarian achievements of the people of the Gamo Highlands to these effects.