Clark Finney

For more than 10,000 years the human race has grown crops on an increasingly massive scale. Whether its the ancient Egyptians who pioneered mass-production of wheat to feed an entire civilization; or the United States, making so much more corn then needed for domestic consumption so that its farmers can sell to other countries in enormous quantities, agricultural technology, and know-how continues to expand. To feed the worlds growing population, modern businesses such as Cargill Inc. and ADM, have not only massed produced crops and animals, but have discovered ways to grow animals larger and grow crops that produce more fruit, grain and vegetables per plant. However, simply striving to produce massive quantities of food ultimately can be harmful to the food supply, if left unchecked. Desertification is the persistent degradation of dry land ecosystems by variations in climate and human activities. Whats the main reason for desertification? The answer is simple, all of us, and our desire to mass-produce crops too quickly for the earth to replenish the fertility of the soil. There are no seasons in the American supermarket anymore. Now, we can have tomatoes all year round. But at what cost? They are simply grown halfway across the world, picked when they were green, and ripened with gas. Here, a prime example is shown of how, we, as a people, are planting and producing crops too quickly for the soil to replenish itself. Traditionally, farmers cleared land, and grew the years

harvest. Then, they would move off that segment of land for about 10 or 15 years to allow the soil to replenish itself. Today, farmers are growing crop after crop after crop, and consuming all of the soils fertility. The U.S. Department of Agriculture stated in an interview with CNN last year, The threat of desertification is all over the world, and it includes about one third of the earths land surface. The statement also said that, each year, a land area bigger than the state of Texas is lost for farmingpossibly forever. However, not only are we destroying our crops, but now, we also are devastating the quality of our meat by the mass production of cattle, poultry, and pork. According to the North America Meat Process Association, In the 1970s the top five meat companies owned and operated about twenty-five percent of the meat market, Today, the top four, operate about eighty percent. This shows, how massive these meat corporations have grown over the past thirty years. With the monopolization of the food business, ask yourselves this question, How do I know the meat I buy isnt harmful? Chances are the meat you buy is safe to eat, but only after it has cycled through countless chlorine and chemical baths. Is this the type of treated and processed food you want served to your family? The FDA has shut down organic farming operations for the soul purpose of the chicken being processed open air, which to the FDA, is hazardous to the safety of the meat. But, when tested, it was discovered that the organic chicken was substantially safer than most of the large company brands found in the supermarket. Even though massed produced meat goes through countless chemical

baths and UV-Ray showers, people still vacillate over whether or not to buy mass produced, or locally farm raised. Because corn is so cheap and readily available, most of the big companies feed their cattle corn. Michael Pollan, author of Omnivores Dilemma says in an interview for the Oscar award-wining documentary, Food Inc., Cows are not designed by evolution to eat corn, theyre designed to eat grass. Theyre fed this because corn is really cheap, and it makes the cows really fat, fast. Consequently, the cows high corn diet causes an acid-resistant form of Ecoli. When the animals go from these concentrated animal feeding operations to the processing plant, their hides are caked with manure containing Ecoli. Despite extensive efforts to maintain cleanliness when the beef is processed manure still gets into the meat. This contamination is the cause for most of the Ecoli outbreaks shown on the news. Carol Forman, director of the food policy for the Consumer Federation of America, said in an interview with PBS, We have 5,000 deaths a year attributed to food poisoning from common bacteria. Many of these are traced to meat and poultry. I'd say that's not acceptable. In conclusion, it is easy to infer that the mass production of meat and crops has made eating these foods harmful to our bodies. Even though the mass production of food is necessary to the survival of the human race, a cleaner and safer source for our food must be found.