America's Eating and Farming Disorder - Essay Example

A country with a diet tradition does not require laws to govern their meals. Some authors claimed people could eat more meat and lose weight by avoiding bread and pasta. These are high protein, low carbohydrate diets, but these carbohydrates were eaten precisely to stay slim. New research tried to explain eating fat does not make people fat, and within a short time, bread and pasta were restored in supermarkets and restaurants. These changes in eating habits could not have occurred if the culture had deep rooted traditions about food and eating (2).

These food faddists have kept increasing and are responsible for the dietary confusion among people. Countries such as France and Italy choose their dinner on the basis of pleasure and tradition and can eat “unhealthy” foods and remain healthier and slimmer than the Americans. The supermarkets have a section of garden fruits and vegetables and a meat section in the rear. They represent a wide range of biodiversity, with stocks of plants and animals (16). A majority of foods in supermarkets come from processed corn.

This forms the industrial food chain and feeds the people most of the times. Even animals such as turkey, lambs and chicken are fed on corn; therefore America survives on corn (18). Soft drinks and sodas are sweetened with high fructose corn syrup. Corn has conquered most diets in America and the world and occupies a bigger percentage of the food chain. Foods such as hamburgers and Gatorade begin from corn. Through photosynthesis, a large percentage of carbon in the air is utilized by corn. This is then passed to the human body through meals.

American botanists have cross bred corn to produce hybrids and farmers only have to buy seeds every spring instead of relying on natural reproduction of the plants (31). This process of producing excess corn does not have huge benefits to the farmer. Naylor is a corn farmer, who can barely support the people living on the farm and has to contribute to the food chain (36). Scientists have produced genetically modified organisms (GMOs), which are more expensive. They have high yields, but the profits have to cover for the high purchase prices.

The high production has outrun the demand, which keeps the prices low. The farmers only have the option of producing more corn and rely on government subsidies for survival. Agricultural corporations like ADM and Cargill gain the primary benefits of the industrial food chain. They purchase cheap corn from the farmers and process it into high valued corn products that flood supermarkets and other food stores. In the olden days, farmers used horses for labor. The greenbelt was lined with ranches for horses and other animals.

The introduction of tractors phased out the horses, and the ranches disappeared. Cattle and other animals were fattened on feedlots with corn (41). They are not allowed to feed on grass, and their meat has a high percentage of dangerous fat. These fats and bacteria are passed to humans, who prefer fattened beef due to its tenderness. Artificial fertilizer was applied to corn fields to supplement the fertility of Iowa soil. Soil fertility has shifted from reliance on the sun to reliance on fossil fuels.

These chemical elements have destroyed the natural soil fertility and are passed over to the human body when they consume corn (45). Synthetic fertilizers phased