week 7 commodity crops and cafos
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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