The Organic Farmer - Essay Example

Role: Parent/Organic Farmer Audience: Parents of Children in the United s Our modern world has provided technology that has improved our livesimmensely. Communication is easier than ever with the use of mobile devises that test, tweet and call. It is hard to imagine that e-mail, which is considered by any teenagers as being passé, didn’t even exist twenty-five years ago. Technology has conquered disease, promoted educational opportunity and advance transportation. It is easy to see that technology has provided the medicines, entertainment and comforts we enjoy everyday. But technological advances are not always without cost. There are outcomes from enjoying and utilizing technology at times that may prove too costly or destructive to justify the convenience provided by the new technology. Nowhere is this more evident in modern agriculture. Modern agriculture has brought us great advances such as chemical fertilizers that feed billions, but also pollute waterways, destroying entire ecosystems. It ha brought us highly processed food that can be consumed quickly and conveniently, but are low in nutritional value and high in fat. Modern agriculture can squeeze 120 bushels of corn from a single acre, but it promotes the consumption of that corn in an unhealthy and unsustainable manner. Parents that care about the future of the environment and the current diet of their children need to stop buying mass produced, overly processed food and switch to consuming locally grown, organic foods. Everyone wants what is best for his or her children. Many of us make sure our children attend safe, competent schools, participate in athletics and develop their talents in areas such as music, dance and fine arts. Unfortunately, fewer of us question the nutritional value of the foods that our children consume at home. It seems as though modern life has grown so busy that there is little time for the actual cooking of food that begins with raw fruits, vegetable and healthy meats. Pre-packaged meals that can be zapped in the microwave are convenient, but they have some drawbacks that parents need to consider. Microwave meals are highly processed. Many of the vitamins and minerals that are originally in the food are stripped out and then reintroduced later in processing. This, coupled with natural and artificial flavoring, creates a food product that tastes fine and has a list of nutrients printed on the side of the box that looks impressive, but is actually little more than an artificial vitamin. Much of the healthy parts of the original plants such as fiber and flavinoids are destroyed while processing the food. This results in food that is inferior nutritionally to organically grown produce. Organic food is harvested and grown in a way that ensures maximum nutrition is still in the food. Using fresh organic ingredients provided not only the macronutrients of proteins, fats and carbohydrates that growing children need for physical and cognitive development, but also retains trace minerals and vitamins that are destroyed by processing. Organic food is also free from dies that cause allergic reactions in some children. Unhealthy ingredients such as High Fructose Corn Syrup and preservatives are absent from organic food, so you know that they are going to be healthier for our children. Another reason parents need to switch to organic food is questions about food safety. Children are more vulnerable to food-borne illnesses than adults. There have been tragic consequences for children and their families that have consumed tainted processed foods. Children have been sickened and some have even died from eating tainted meat, restaurant food and even processed vegetables such as baby carrots. Foods are likely to pick-up dangerous pathogens such as e-coli when processed in facilities that are dirty or do not follow established food handling guidelines. The problem with buying and eating processed foods is you never know which food is coming from a dirty, contaminated factory and which is being processed in a clean facility. This question grows even more when buying processed foods from places such as China or Mexico, which are notorious for packaging foods in unhygienic factories and for failing to meet internationally established standards for food handling and packaging. Children that contract food-borne illnesses are much more likely to get violently ill. The safest way to feed your family is to buy locally produced foods that are grown and processed at a farm you can actually visit. By doing this, you are making sure that everything is clean and that proper procedures are followed. You do not need to be a food scientist or a federal inspector to see if a farm or packaging facility is doing something that increases the likelihood that the food they are offering is contaminated. Common sense concerning refrigeration and food handling should be enough. By switching to organically grown, local produce; parents can keep their children safe. Technology has provided the means for processing large amounts of food in factories, but this is one aspect of modern life that is less safe than the way it was done generations ago. Agriculture has a huge impact on the environment that we all share. Growing, harvesting, processing and transporting food all produces negative environmental impacts. Growing food with chemical fertilizers weakens soil structure and pollutes waterways. Harvesting with massive tractors and transporting fruits and vegetables over vast distances consumes much fuel. Even the processing of raw food into processed food items requires a phenomenal amount of energy and fresh water. Factory farming and big agriculture consume many finite natural resources. Every time we buy processed food that includes ingredients from all over the world, we are supporting a food distribution system that is bad for the environment. As parents, we need to recognize that our generation cannot continue to consume natural resources the same way we have been doing for decades. For the sake of your children, we need to support systems of food production and delivery that are environmentally sustainable. Organic farming is one of these sustainable systems. On an organic farm, the farmer works to produce naturally, without chemical fertilizers or pesticides. Striking a balance between high productivity and nutritional inputs does this. It is true that organic farms are not as productive as farms that use chemical fertilizers. As a result, organic food is more expensive than processed foods. Pert of the reason for this stems from the fact that our government actually subsidizes unhealthy, unsafe and unsustainable agricultural practices. According to Michael Pollan in The Omnivore’s Dilemma, the Federal government’s policies can be directly traced to overproduction of corn, which as lead to an unhealthy amount of corn showing up in the current American diet. By paying more for food grown on an organic farm, parents are helping to ensure that precious natural resources will be around so their children can grow to live happy, healthy and productive lives. Buying food from organic farms is not cheap and it is not convenient. It is, however, the right thing to do for our kids. They deserve to have access to safe food that is not polluted by pathogens and preservatives. Children deserve to have food that is of high nutritional quality so that their bodies and minds can develop correctly. Buying organic food is healthy for children and for the environment. Parents that buy organic food from local farms are ensuring that their children are receiving the healthiest possible foods now and will be able to provide that food for their own children in the years to come. Providing organic food for our children makes sense for good health in many different ways. Read More