Chapter 11 10/13/10
So what is all this hype about organic foods? Some may say that it is healthier. That the animals are treated well on the farms and live a good life. Well some of this may be true but it seems there are a lot of white lies when it comes to organic foods. Just like non organic foods organic food farms have turned into more of a factory. The food isn't all that different either except for the fact that there are no added chemicals. So yes it is healthier but the difference can't be all that much. Also the animals are claimed to have been taken care of better. For example, free range chicken farms. Some of these farms that claim to let their chickens roam free aren't exactly telling the whole truth. Sure they aren't stalked up in cages but they definitely not in a much better environment. These chickens may not be let out until they are 5 weeks old but at that point many wont want to go out. Instead hundreds of thousands of chickens may be packed into a room or maybe a mobile chicken coop. So does that make these organic foods that people think are so great all just one big hoax?
Chapter 12 10/14/10
It seems like there are only really big industrial farms around now. No more happy farms with happy animals, and even people. But there still must be some out there. Yes of course there are, for example there is one called Polyface Farm. It sounds like your normal American farm, or at least what was your normal American farm. They raise all different types of animals and grow all different types of fruits and vegetables. Now the big question is how does this small happy farm compete with the big mean industrial farms and agri-business. Well the farm makes all of its money on corn. I would also think that they have to put in a lot less money in order to grow their foods. They don't need any gas, no manure, they have their farming tools, no chemicals. That sounds pretty good to me. But theres just to much food to grow and too little time for the traditional farm to make money off of meat and fruit. I guess their food is the truly organic meal.
Alex,
ReplyDeleteMissing some chapters here.
I asked you to write a "precis", "gems", and "thoughts & questions" and to label each. You didn't do this.
Relatedly, your thinking and writing seems a bit sloppy to me. You get the main idea, but the presentation lacks elegance and the thoughts lack precision. For instance, "They don't need any gas, no manure, they have their farming tools, no chemicals. That sounds pretty good to me. But theres just to much food to grow and too little time for the traditional farm to make money off of meat and fruit."
You will note the lack of precise language - instead you do casual language "sounds pretty good to me" - and "theres just to much" instead of "There's just too much".
And also please note that your claim in that last sentence is flatly wrong. Polyface Farm IS profitable. That's part of what the chapter is about. So the more interesting question (why don't other farmers adopt these profitable methods) never gets asked.
Good luck on writing and reading and thinking more precisely.