The Horticultural Industry : Economic, Political And Biological Challenges And Opportunities

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.

To conclude, our current way of agricultural life is not sustainable. The article “What’s for supper” has made me realize that if I hope for a better future for generations to come I should support a locally sourced lifestyle. This article is an eye opener to me and proved to me the importance of supporting locally grown produce. Locally grown produce supports the environment as well as jobs for people in the community. The current system takes a toll on every species on the planet. Humans are overproducing on a massive scale and are wasting close to half of our supplies and

The agricultural industry: the farms, plants, animals, and farmers, have supported this great country for so long, but lately we have turned our backs on it. Today, we live in a materialistic society, people wanting more and better items, not settling for products that will accomplish the same job.From looking at the fruits and vegetables in the grocery store, we see the bruised or smaller ones left, while the big and brightly colored ones are selected first. In our society today, changes are constantly being made to help expand and evolve the agricultural industry, but it has yet been able to do so. To this day farmers across this nation have not been completely successful in providing for the people who make up this country. In the stores

Astyk and Newton, in their essay: The Rich Get Richer, the Poor Go Hungry, explains that “around the world, industrial agriculture has consolidated land ownership into the hands of smaller and smaller populations” destroying local self-sufficiency (518). Individuals are no longer able to grow own fresh, healthy foods to feed their family. They now depend on industrially grown crops and processed foods loaded with chemicals for food. Additionally, because of the farm policy, farmers that continue to cultivate healthy produce like fruits and vegetables get little or no government support, thus the higher prices of fresh produce seen today at our grocery stores.

Food Inc. Documentary Report Fatter, Faster, Bigger and Cheaper Fatter, faster, bigger and cheaper seems to be the way the food industry operates in America today. The Food Inc. documentary shed a short light on how our food is processed and how our image of the “American farmer” is no more than a memory. The film really made you think about what we are feeding our families. Throughout this movie Kenner highlights on how are meat is processed, and let me just say I was disgusted. I am a hunter and I have never had a problem killing my animal and butchering it myself, but as I watched how cows were standing in their own fecal matter three to four feet deep I about vomited, I thought to myself ‘ why is this not considered animal cruelty?’

McWilliams also references the issue of the economy, stating, “it also hurts farmers in other parts of the world. The U.K. buys… green beans from Kenya… threatens the livelihood of 1.5 million sub-Saharan farmers.” Buying strictly locally grown foods will put large

In his article, “Setting the table for Urban Agriculture,” accredited writer, Michael Pollan, expounds upon Urban Agriculture and it’s place in the twenty-first century. Pollan’s purpose is to explain to readers the legal and societal context of Urban Agriculture. He uses a serious tone and real world examples in order to solidify the idea that Urban Agriculture is an integral part of our “local, regional, national, and global” food infrastructure.

In this research essay the article “Farmers Get Biggest Subsidy Check in Decade as Prices drop,” written by Alan Bjerga. The article brings forward the pressing issues of the agriculture downturn of prices in the United States of America. The article reviews crop surplus and reduced income in terms of the drop of agriculture prices. The article also touches on the fact that the united sates of America agriculture system needs more aid to provide safety for net farmers.

The drought has weakened the ability of farmers who produce food. Therefore, sub-Saharan Africa and Australia farmers obtained reduced income and tax revenues. Instead, food prices and the rate of unemployment were increased. Compared with sub-Saharan Africa, Australia had more severe financial problems. With an economic recession spreading in agricultural industry, Australia farmers are encumbered by debts that they cannot afford new technologies or crops.

In today’s society, we have become consumed within the materialistic aspects of a lavished lifestyle. Human nature commonly functions on the concept of we want what we can not have. However, conceptualized in “Walden,” as well as “Silent Spring,” we must work with nature not against it. Over time, agricultural technologies have developed, this complex system has encountered a number of changes on many different levels. There are an abundant amount of ways in which our system produces and distributes these goods, and as time goes on, and resources become more sparse, agriculture has had to adapt to a number of situations in order to survive and provide for the world. Thus, as time has proceeded, in general, humans have distanced themselves

As of December 31st, 2014, the population of the United States was estimated to be over 320 million with a net gain of one person every 13 seconds (U.S. Census Bureau). In the year 2011, the world population reached 7 billion and is currently predicted to reach 9 billion by the year 2050 (Monsanto). In order to meet the expected needs of our growing population, agriculture production will need to at least double (Monsanto). Agriculture is essential to everyone’s daily lives. This raises many concerns for agriculturists and for our growing population as a whole. With the population of the United States continuously growing, space is also becoming more limited. Therefore, agriculturists are having to find new, innovative ways to produce

Omohundro (1982) suggests that local ecological and social conditions as well as from external influences create challenges for gardening initiatives. He depicted

A recent report from HSBC isn’t quite so alarming…unless you read between the lines. “World agricultural markets,” it says, “have become so finely balanced between supply and demand that local disruptions can have a major impact on the global prices of the affected commodities and then reverberate throughout the entire food chain.”

“Unquestionably the EU now exerts the most important and effective influence on both British and Irish environmental policy and politics (McGowan, 1999: 175).” The European Union has developed itself into one of the world leaders in relation to environmental standards and its ability to apply legislation to its member states. Both, at present and in the past, challenges and opportunities have been encountered, and will continue to be encountered into the future. Indeed, Europe now directly impacts on food producers and manufacturers through the implementation of various policies such as the Nitrates Directive and issues surrounding Climate Change - both of which are the dealt with in this paper respectively. Through these and other

Political factors impact the agricultural sector in factors relating to regulation, distribution, and consumption of foods in a given country. Government policies and imposed regulations have a direct effect on nutritional choices that a consumer makes, and this, in turn, affects the agriculture market (KPMG, 2012). For example, policies governing food prices or the amount of information that a consumer will receive affects the choice of the consumer. Food regulation and safety measures implemented influence the supply of food products, and ultimately determines the market choice for consumers (KPMG, 2012). Economic factors have a direct effect on the agricultural industry. On one hand, the input cost such as the price of seeds, fertilizers, and cost of labor affect the productivity of the industry. The economic status of a country also affects the industry’s productivity. For example, in developing countries, the agricultural sector is less developed owing to limited resource input and poor infrastructure (KPMG, 2012).