week 7 commodity crops and cafos

Week 8Commodity Crops and Politics –

From Corn to CAFOs

What Do All 3 of These Have in Common?

CORN

We Are Made of Corn!

The carbon we are made of (unless you eat primarily organic food) originates from corn plants

Citric and lactic acid; glucose; fructose; maltoxdextrin, ethanol, sorbitol, and mannitol, and xanthan gum; modified and unmodified starches; dextrins and cyclodextrins and MSG… form of corn

Corn on the Label

Corn – It’s what's for Dinner!

Corn – It’s what's for Dinner!

Corn – Household Products Too!

1/5th of the corn from elevator travels to a wet milling plant

Wet milling - very energy intensive way to make food

5 gallons of water to process a bushel of corn

Dent corn – high fructose corn syrup, food starch, ethanol and animal feed

Waxy corn – stabilizers, thickeners, and emulsifiers for food industry

The Processing Plant

What if the corn crop fails?We are omnivores and need many different

nutrientsA lot of energy is used to produce corn in the

first place

Why is it dangerous to primarily be eating corn?

EVENTSWhat happens?

What is generallyUNSEEN PATTERNS & TRENDS

What’s been happening?What are the trends?

What changes have occurred?

UNDERLYING STRUCTURES, ORGANIZATIONS

What influences the above patterns?

MENTAL MODELS:Assumptions, values...

What assumptions do people have about the above?

LEARNING

Iceberg Model – What’s below the surface?

Hybrid corn is “greediest of plants” – needs high N

50 gallons of oil per acre of corn (pesticides, fertilizers, tractors, transportation…)

Bushel of corn is ~ $1 beneath the true cost of growing it

Corn Politics

BEFORE 1970 – New Deal Farm Program

Actually supported prices and limited production

Target price based on corn productionIf prices dropped – farmers could take

out a loan, use corn as collateral, store grain until prices recovered

Farmers give up corn OR pay back loan

Ever-normal granary – averted overproduction; kept the market from further weakening

Prices climbed – gov’t sold corn from granary – helped pay for farm program

Corn Politics

TODAY (AFTER 1970)Big Ag (Food processors and

grain exporters) profit from overproduction and low crop prices

Earl Butz – The Shift to Cheap Corn!

Replaced New Deal System with a direct payment to farmers (commodities) = removed the floor under the price of grain

New subsidies encouraged farmers to sell their corn at any price since gov’t would make up the difference

CHEAP “JUNK” FOOD

Corn Politics

Farm income has steadily declined along with corn prices - forcing millions of farmers deeper in debt

Perpetual downward cycle – farmers destroy the land trying to squeeze a few more bushels from the soil yet the bushels each farmer produces lowers the price of corn

Demand for food isn’t elastic – people don’t eat more because food is cheap

Elevator is the only buyer in town - only pays for corn and soybean – not broccoli or lettuce… The market tells farmers to grow corn and soybeans

Subsidy checks represent half of the net farm income today – treasury is really subsidizing the buyers of the cheap corn (Cargill, Coca-Cola, Archer…)

Biggest Issues:

OVERPRODUCTION…Need to find people

and animals to consume it

Cars to burn itNew products to

absorb itOther nations to

import it

Moving Mountains of Corn

Factory farmsIndustrialization of our food

systemObesity epidemicPrevalence of food

poisoningMexico loosing their farms

because of imported corn (cheaper and flooding in from the north)

Consequences of Surplus…

Paradox – “Getting rid” of corn surplus could contribute to both

obesity and hunger.

Provide the pesticide and fertilizerOperate most of the grain elevatorsBroker and ship most of the exportsPerform the wet and dry millingFeed the livestock / slaughter the

corn-fattened animalsDistill the ethanolManufacture HFCS Help write the many rules that govern the whole

game = considerable influence over US Ag. policiesTrue beneficiaries of the “farm” subsidies that keep

the river of cheap corn flowing

BIG AG Guides Corn’s Path

Most Meat Processed in the US comes from CAFOs

GOOD READ!

A gathering of animals to feed on cheap cornVegetation and grasses absent from animal

dietsAnimals confined for 45 days or more a year

What is a CAFO?

CAFO Map - Colorado

Animals living in CAFO’s typically do not have enough room turn around

Dense populations of animals required de-beaking and de-tailing to prevent animals from causing injury to others

Farmers must also introduce antibiotics into animal diets in order to prevent

spread of disease in the CAFO

CAFO animals fed non-heritage feed in order to promote quick growth

Animal Monoculture – a tendency toward using single adapted breeds destroys biodiversity and creates less resilient

populations

We inhabit the same microbial ecosystem as the animals we eat

New strains of resistant bacteria that will someday infect us may withstand the drugs we depend on to treat that infection

Whatever happens to this system happens to us

Unnaturally rich diet of corn undermines the health of the humans who eat it

Super Bug is on his Way…

Each cow requires 150 gallons of water a day for drinking and the removal of waste

Water Pollution – ammonia, phosphorous, pathogens and parasites, bacteria, viruses, algae blooms, apoxia…

Air pollution – respiratory diseases, nitrogen, odors

Creation of new super virusesContaminated drinking waterContaminated cropsLoss of property value

CAFO Environmental Issues

The Scoop on The Poop

Old Fashioned“Mixed "Farms

CAFO /Animal Feedlots

Manure =Dead Zones

Industrial vs. Pastoral

CAFO Vs. Agrarian

CAFO Vs. Agrarian

CAFO Vs. Agrarian

CAFO Vs. Agrarian