Summary Of America Revealed 'The Food Machine'

The records of the last census taken todays population is approximately 7 billion. To put it into perspective of the amount of work farmers take into hand the average farmer feeds 155 people one their own. (“Comparing Agriculture of the Past to Today”) . Notice that a census is only taken on the people of the world, but farmers and their operations are not separately accounted for. “It is impossible to calculate the exact number of farms and farmers in the United States.” (Conkin 147). Of course farmers do not use the simplistic technology of the past to achieve these high expectations. Farms implement the use of Global Positioning Systems (GPS) to improve crop production. The GPS is a system that uses satellite signals to find the location of a radio receiver. (“The Science and Technology of Agriculture”) Using biotechnology has also became an interesting subject of big time farmers. This is the changing of genetic material if living things to improve the production of the product. An example of a GMO would be crops that have been modified to be resistant to disease. Disease resistant crops are one of the most widely used in the field of GMO’s. (“The Science and Technology of Agriculture”).

Times have changed, and so has the family, the community and our environment. And these changes have impacted our lives and earth immeasurably. This is where the factor greed comes in to play, the need for more. This need for more called for extensive measures, measures like fertilizers, pesticides and equipment to work the ground and harvest the crops became necessity. Agriculture became a booming business that did not and still does not promote the well-being of the employee nor the individual let alone the family unit and community. Since 1950 an average farm size has doubled, but the number of laborers decreased substantially and the number of small local farmers has been cut in half. Farmers have been forced to become more efficient and there 's been a reliance on greater chemicals and technology, which has become very extensive and expensive. Sadly, what has been short term expansion has become a long-term threat (Trautmann, 2012). This greed driven increase has led to subtle damaging ramifications that most people are ignorant to. Their needs are being met as quality is being forsaken. Our environment is being squandered. Selfishness abounds.

In the book Fast Food Nation, Eric Schlosser talks about the working conditions of fast food meat slaughterhouses. In the chapter “The Most Dangerous Job,” one of the workers, who despised his job, gave Schlosser an opportunity to walk through a slaughterhouse. As the author was progressed backwards through the slaughterhouse, he noticed how all the workers were sitting very close to each other with steel protective vests and knives. The workers were mainly young Latina women, who worked swiftly, accurately, while trying not to fall behind. Eric Schlosser explains how working in the slaughterhouses is the most dangerous profession – these poor working conditions and horrible treatment of employees in the plants are beyond

Many people have grown up around school lunches without knowing much about them. With these people trusting the schools to serve healthy lunches to students, not many people care to worry about what they are eating. Growing up ignorant about food is easy to do, but why settle for convenience if it harms the body? In Melanie Warner’s novel, Pandora’s Lunchbox: How Processed Food took over the American Meal, she goes over the history and science of many well-known food companies and the products these corporations sell to individuals. Warner explains how food science became popular to study and how progressive America’s food technology has come. Pandora’s Lunchbox is a remarkable read through its personal stories and demonstrations. Despite her fruitless comments about the science of food, Warner’s approach shows that her writing style and personal testimonies connect with the reader.

According to Hurst, “I’m so tired of people who wouldn’t visit a doctor who used a stethoscope instead of an MRI demanding that farmers like me use 1930s technology to raise food. Farming has always been messy and painful, and bloody and dirty. It still is.” He is trying to say that people have unrealistic views on today's farming by wanting them to do the same as they have in the past in farming in a technologically advanced world. Secondly Hurst explains that changing industrial farming will make prices of food go up.

The more technology there is on a farm then the less workers you are going to need. Farming isn’t a growing industry by any means. The employment of farmers will drop 8 percent from 2010 to 2020, according to the BLS. That’s because of new ways being developed to produce more food with fewer workers. Larger farms will survive because they can afford to invest into the new technology. States with the highest concentrations of farm employment have the best prospects. The top five states for this in 2011 were, Idaho, Iowa, Nebraska, Kentucky and California. Farming as a whole will continue to be less- hands on and done by machine with a single person driving it. Today’s farmers produce 262 percent more food with 2 percent fewer inputs (labor, seeds, feed, fertilizer, etc.), compared with 1950. The American Farm Bureau Federation surveyed about 1000 young farmers and ranchers from across the country. The survey showed that 91 percent of them were more optimistic about farming that they were 5 years ago, about 88 percent said that they wanted to see their children follow in there

The manipulation of the land for fast production ruins its overall health. The modern technology and advances of equipment provide farmers more efficient ways to farm. In

Chapter one opens with discussion of Carl N. Karcher, one amongst quick food’s pioneers. Carl was born in 1917 in Ohio. He quit college once eighth grade and spent long hours farming along with his father. once he was twenty years recent, his uncle offered him employment in his Feed and Seed store in urban center, CA. Carl bumped off to CA, wherever he met his woman Margaret and commenced his circle of relatives. Margaret and Carl bought a hotdog cart; Margaret sold hotdogs across the road from a inventor industrial plant whereas Carl worked at a bakehouse. throughout this point California’s population was quickly increasing, as was the car business. Carl eventually opened a facility Barbeque building. The post-WWII economy provided him with

In 1940, one farmer could feed a maximum of 19 people. Today, one farmer can feed over 155 people (Prax,2010). What changed? In the 1940’s many farmers relied on either working by hand or horses to work their land. However, horses tire out easily and working by hand takes an extensive amount of time. Because of these factors, farmers could only have small amounts of land, because that is all they, or their horses could manage. Today however, innovations such as the tractor and other motorized machines allow the farmers to work quicker and more efficiently; they are able to work more

Major labor-saving technological changes of the 20th century gave rise to the industrial processing of food. In the 1950’s and 60’s we saw a rise of supermarkets and the spread of fast-food eateries. The growth of supermarkets and fast-food eateries gave way to a new method of consumption. No longer was food’s route from the local farm or ranch to the

Once in your life, you will need a doctor, a lawyer, a police officer, and a priest, but everyday, three times a day, you need a farmer. Livestock production is the most labor intensive form of farming, yet it is the most criticized and regulated form of farming. Livestock are raised for meat, eggs, wool, or milk. Although some may have issues with livestock production, people should stop being so critical about animal products.

Agroforestry farming system contributes to the improvement of economic and social conditions in rural areas, not only by increasing profitability, sustainability and crop security buy also by creating jobs.

In the United States there are over 2.2 million farms. Agriculture is one of the largest industries in the U.S. Many farms use common farming practices that are a waste of resources. There are an abundance of alternative farming practices to replace industrial practices.

The world’s population is increasing at a rapid rate. According to Worldometers, by 2050 there will be a need to feed 9.2 billion people globally (http://www.worldometers.info/world-population/). This translates to an increase in global food production by 70 percent to meet the global goal (http://www.populationinstitute.org/resources/populationonline/issue/1/8/). However, current food production methods are not sustainable and the amount of arable lands is decreasing. The agriculture industry experiences different challenges ranging from global to technological aspects. The global aspect is the most prominent challenges experienced and influenced by different factors such as dramatic economic growth in developing nations and urbanization

The purpose of this chapter is to consider farming from the perspective of the farmer and how such consideration might benefit extension approaches and outcomes. The farming environment is complex and