The Farm: Overview and Appraisal - Essay Example

This chapter gives a narrative account about a farm in Iowa specifically in a place named Greene County (Pollan, 2006). This farm is situated in a part described as having some of the richest soil in the world, a layer of cakey alluvial loam nearly two feet thick (Pollan, 2006, p. 33). The narrator in the story is driving the tractor of one of the farmers mentioned who is named George Naylor (Pollan, 2006). The principal crop that is being planted by Naylor is corn (Pollan, 2006). It is described how corn is planted by farmers throughout the years and the different government policies and innovations with regards to farming are also considered in this chapter.

The chapter is worth reading for a variety of reasons. First, it is very informative for the reason that it tells the life of a farmer, which does not only focus on the typical life of a farmer wherein he plants and reaps his harvest. Conversely, the life of the farmer, Naylor is rooted in a variety of events that contributed to the manner how he manages his farm (Pollan, 2006).

Second, it stirs up the interest of readers towards farming which for others may just be plain and simple but it portrays that there is more to farming than just planting and harvesting. Farming is highlighted to be in the bloodstream of Naylor because his father too was a farmer (Pollan, 2006). Corn farming is full of intricacies for the reason that a farmer must choose the right breed to plant in his soil and find means to increase his harvests such as choosing the right pesticide to drive pests away which could be detrimental to his crops, choosing the right fertilizer that will make his crops stouter and the strategy to reap more during harvest time.

Third, this chapter challenges readers to think beyond what is the usual practice and to use one’s mind in finding solutions to everyday problems. Farmers are planting more even though the price of corn is declining, an evident example contrasting with the law of supply and demand, which is a mystery on the part of a reader to read such premise thinking that the farmer will get more bankrupt if he does this but it has been explained that a corn farmer plants more so that the return of cash flow will even out his debts and because the government had a subsidy for the corn which he could obtain only if he plants corn and sells them (Pollan, 2006).

Fourth, this chapter opens the eyes of readers to the realities and consequences of innovations that are deemed always good. This chapter illustrated many interesting facts about farming like how it is done and the necessary schemes to reap more (Pollan, 2006). However, the downside of the strategies and innovations were also given high regard such as fixing nitrogen which contributes to a fruitful harvest though, in return, the by-product nitrous oxide, which is a greenhouse gas also contributes to global warming which poses a great threat to the balance in the atmosphere and ecosystem (Pollan, 2006). Nitrogen also when in excess because the crops did not ingest them mixes with water making it probably detrimental to the human body, it also makes seas hypoxic which will not also be beneficial for the marine ecosystem (Pollan, 2006).

Lastly, this chapter moves and encourages readers to never give up on the challenges life puts before them. Even though Naylor is faced with a lot of predicaments when it comes to corn farming, he never gives up and is unafraid to take risks for he believes that you cannot gain anything if you will not work hard for it (Pollan, 2006).

This chapter is interesting and mind-stimulating for a reader mainly for the reason that it opens the eyes of an individual to what is happening in the real world, that there is more to what one person usually thinks and knows. It helps one to get to the bottom of a story that for some may be uninteresting and insignificant but it surely has an impact on certain aspects of the life of every individual without them even knowing it unless one gets to read this chapter. It may also make one think about where a certain thing came from like where the food originated from before he or she eats it once one reads this chapter showing the whereabouts of the common crop that people eat. Finally, after knowing the consequences of farming innovations mentioned, it may also influence a reader to opt for a more organic or natural form of food.