Has Farming Become Too Efficient?
In the effort to produce more, have we lost flavor and nutrition and created health challenges?
It is amazing to note how much farm efficiency has changed in the last 50-60 years. According to the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), total farm production nearly tripled between 1948 and 2017. Farmers can produce more food and fewer acres and with less nutrient inputs. In 1962, one farmer fed 25.8 persons. Fifty years later, a farmer fed 155.
To get to this point, we genetically modified plants to manage pests, instituted integrated pest management programs; bred plants to allow higher planting density; adopted precision planting equipment; came up with better fertilizer formulations and application techniques; developed larger, faster, and more efficient cultivation tools (tractors, combines, etc.); used plant genome mapping to speed breeding; developed faster and more accurate ways to test soil; and developed smaller, more productive plant varieties.
While the productive improvements are amazing, one has to wonder if there might be a dark side to the productivity gains. According to a recent survey by MDVIP, about 2/3 of Americans are living with gut issues. Only recently have we learned that poor gut health can have an impact on heart attacks, strokes, dementia, etc. This has led to many questions like does spraying crops with glyphosate shortly before harvest impact digestion? Is the body able to properly digest the genetically modified crops?
One also has to wonder how the move toward efficiency has impacted taste. I remember my grandfather using special grains and grasses in the feed he provided his dairy cows to change the flavor. Now this customization is almost completely gone and all the milk tastes about the same. Also, instead of the milkman delivering the milk to your house it is pasteurized (heated) and homogenized (fat bonds are broken) so it can look uniform and sit for weeks before it is consumed. Concern is now being expressed about how homogenization impacts health.
Recently there has been some talk about moving to more sustainable (and health friendly) farming models. What would these models look like? Could the margins be higher for small farmers. Would we stop the rush toward consolidation? Would the risks to the farmer be less and the need for government insurance less necessary?And would be quality of the food be healthier and better?
It’s funny you call it food since it’s a commodity that we’ve had to find creative ways to get rid of. About 10% is turned into human food, half of which is corn syrup which contributes to our obesity problem. Ethanol serves no purpose outside of making a few people lots of money, and the rest is animal feed, which is not good for them. There are many other ways to produce actual food that we aren’t embracing because it would take money out of a few pockets, lest we forget the subsidies being the largest welfare program in the United States since 1939. This useless commodity is wrought with negative consequences but for whatever reason, we just buy into the propaganda.
South Dakota Voice Response: Robert, thank you for joining the conversation.
Email from RS: "Just pour the chemicals on and watch it grow. Why do you think there is so much cancer."