Organic and All Natrual: A possible solution

I think in our world its bizarre that humans have found a way to produce food in an artificial environment that cause serious repercussions to the environment. Of coarse its not a recent feature of humanity, as many people forget about the great dust bowl, caused by farmers not using crop rotation and re fertilizing the soil. In modern America a new fad has begun to emerge, an organic fad. The organic solution is simply simple, farmers and rancher don't use hormones, antibiotics, steroids, pesticides, chemical and preservatives and dyes in the food they produce. While at the same time not leeching from the Earth. I believe farmers should go back to this methodology, growing and produce food organically. Allowing cows to graze on grass, instead of corn and keeping the animal in claustrophobic pens. I also believe farmers that is, agricultural farmers should go back to simple fertilizers, and take measures in avoiding run-off into drinking water. At the same time those farmers should also end the use of harmful pesticides, particularly on produce with edible skin, such as apples. It is my firm that farmers and ranchers should go back to an organic farming method that would not only benefit people, but the Earth as well.

Conveyer Belt of Death: The Slaughterhouse Worker

Everyday I punch into this hellish domain, this building of death. Everyday I make the same cuts in dead flesh in a inconsistent line of people. Eating chicken and cutting it up raw for endless hours everyday are so different, it makes me sick at time to think people consume these filthy birds. If people were to see exactly how filthy this process truly is, I think people would stop eating chicken altogether, or at least consider changeing the way in which the bird is slaughtered. For instance, just yesterday fifty pounds of raw chicken fell onto the slaughterhouse ground, to save money the company forced the employees to place them on the conveyor belt for furter processing. Without even checking to make sure e-coli wasn't in the chicken. Because the company doesn't want to deal with insurance many of the employees are illegal immigrants, and are underpaid and treated like industrial slave, near sweat shop labor. Just another day in the slaughterhouse.

The Corn Farm

There is corn
Field after field stalk after stalk
This will lead to problems being born
The pesticides being used to kill the bug
So the farmers have a massive harvest
But really this is were human graves are dug
Indeed these are the seeds of destruction

A feed lot: Through the eyes of a cow

There is so little space, one can barley move ones legs. There are massive pools were I can swim in feces, that nearly drowned one of the other cows days earlier. At times its difficult to believe that this is not hell. Hundreds upon thousands standing in place, barley enough room to walk, the smell of waste, so fowl that our keepers were face masks to mask the near killer odor. The only thing keeping me going is the knowledge that one day our keepers will lead us to a promise land. Outside of the lot, on to greener pastures. Were we are fed grass and hay instead of the repulsive corn, were I may roam and graze the land. In the mean time, I must bear the weekly inoculations from my keeper, and stand in a pool of waste. I can only imagine what awaits through the fenced in path, most likely salvation, but I can only hope.

Back to our roots

Isee industrial farming everywhere, all over the American farming states one will see massive industrialized farms. Seeing as how I'm from Illinois I've seen many of these massive corn farms. It makes me think of how much power and fuel it must take to power these places everyday. One would think growing food is a natural and and harmless activity to the Earth, but I simply think that's incorrect. Because farmer use so much oil, fertilizer, and pesticides it pollutes the nearby water supplies and the causes greenhouse effect due to the high oil usage and or fossil fuels usage. All of this is totally unnecessary seeing as how there are farmers whom produce organic produce. Free of pesticides and fertilizer runoff. I believe this is how Americans should be farming, going back to our old roots of natrually growing produce and giving back to the Earth as opposed to leeching from it causing serious repercussions.

Corn is everywere

Heading into a typical American grocery store were the store sells the typical brands of food, if one were to look on the ingredients label; one will most likely see a corn product listed. Whether is corn meal, or the more commonly used sweetener corn syrup, it is likely one will see corn in almost any snack food or drink.

Antibiotics: Our greatest ally is our greatest enemy

It is estimated by the UCS that 70% of the antimicrobial drug are given to animals in the United States over people. In the U.S. farmers pump their livestock with antibiotics and hormones, so much so that it has given birth to anti-biotic resistant bacteria. Its estimated that is costs the public health system in the U.S. close to 5 billion dollars.

Pigs and their destructive waste

As everybody knows, livestock produces waste. The question is, what do farmers do with the waste? Their is a multitude of ways farmers could dispose of such waste, but like all businesses they look for the cheapest solution. In this case, dumping the hog waste in an open-air lagoon. The issue with such a disposal method is when these lagoons overflow from rain the flow into nearby streams and creeks used for human consumption.

What about the Cattle?

Within the meat industry exist large industrial cattle operations call CAFOs, or concentrated animal feeding operations. The idea is to pack thousands of cattle in the case of cows ten of thousands, in massive pens in filthy conditions in order to feed them as quickly and efficiently as possible.

Fertilizer: An aid in a growing problem

The crops grown in the U.S. use excessive amounts of fertilizer. The chemical fertilizers allow farmers to grow more crops per acre,corn now produces 153 bundles per acre. Farmers average ten millions ton of fertilizer for corn alone, and over twenty-three million for other crops. So what exactly is the cost of all this fertilizer being used in the Mid West for crops? Over 212,000 thousand metric tons of seafood in the Gulf of Mexico. Around the world there are over 400 of these dead zones were there is no oxygen in the water causing the death of sea life. Within the Gulf of Mexico there is a 6,000-sq mile dead zone were very little sea life live and no fishing takes place.

Cheap Corn

Corn in America is by far the cheapest crop, to produce and buy. The U.S. government provides subsidies for the corn industry in order to keep the prices artificially low. Within the past decade alone the federal government has poured more then fifty billion dollars into the corn industry in order to keep the prices low so companies like McDonalds can keep their food cheap and spend little.

Slaughterhouse floor

The image shows dismembered chickens laying on the ground of a Tyson slaughterhouse, a clear indication of the need for more sanitary conditions.