Farm Subsidies

In looking at the debate on farm subsidies, I would have to say that they are not a bad idea. The bad thing is that they are not being used as they were inteded to be used. They should be better regulated and help those in need not just those who are big and powerful. The problem does not lie with the subsidies themselves, it lies with the people who are put in control of regulating the subsidies. I feel that these subsidies should be there for the farmers when they need them. In my opinion they are necessary, when a crop is devastated by insects or other natural disasters. There are two farm subsidy acts that continue to increase subsidies, but they are given mainly to large farms and agribusinesses. These acts are the House's Farm Security Act of 2001 (H.R. 2646) and the Senate's Agriculture Conservation and Rural Enhancement Act (S. 1731). This abuse of what could be a good program, that does not need to cost tax payers the extreme amount it does, is a prime example of how a good thing can be turned bad.

The Diversity of Food

In my research, I have found a couple of plants that could be used for human food. These plants are the dandelion and the cattail. The leaves, roots and yellow parts of the flowers, of the dandelion, can all be used and are highly nutritious. The cattail is one of the most important wild foods that can be found almost anywhere there is water. The cattail can be identified by the brown furry tops that will be left from the year before and they are much taller than their look-alike's. They are very tasty, highly nutritious, and easy to harvest. The shoots and pollen can be used and a starch can be pounded from the washed and air dried rhizomes. There are also many medicinal uses for both of these plants. Cattails can also render organic pollution harmless and fix atmospheric nitrogen putting it back into the soil. To find out more about these and many other edible wild plants you can go to www.wildmanstevebrill.com .
Some implications of having minimal diversity in the human diet on the environment/society are that soil nutrients are depleted from growing crops in the same field, year after year and many people do not get the required nutrients they need without fortification of many of the foods we eat. With minimal diversity, society becomes reliant on the crops that are commonly grown for their food supply and when these crops fail, there can be devastation and starvation in many areas.
Some implications of relying on three primary annual crops are the need for food storage that can be lost due to insects, rot, and disease, which can cause famine and higher prices. With these crops being annuals, a number of natural disasters can wipe out the crops that are relied on for consumption by humans and for animal fodder. The recent production of fuel from corn is not only depleting the soil where these crops are grown, but is also causing the price of corn to skyrocket in some areas. To paraphrase a news broadcast by President Bush, it is great for the corn growers, but bad for the hog farmers because the corn growers receive more for their crops and hog farmers are having to pay more to feed their hogs.
I believe that we should expand our diversity of food crops because it is not safe or environmentally friendly to rely on 3 main crops to provide food for a growing economy.

"Worst Mistake"

When I first started reading "The Worst Mistake in the History of the Human Race", I thought the author was out of his mind. After reading the entire opinion, I had to agree with him on many things he had said. I had never stopped to think about the way agriculture had changed our lives. I think many peoples lives would be better if they grew all of their own food and I imagine there would be less spreading of diseases. It is very important for people to have a varied and balanced diet and it has been proven that it is better for a persons health. I have to agree strongly with the part about gross social and sexual inequality. If you are a man of high social standing, you have the best food , clothes, and consumer goods that money can buy. However, if you are of a lower social class rather you are male or female you may not be able to afford the healthiest foods. Some of the people that live in poverty can't afford much food at all and they are lucky if they have clothes on their backs or a roof over their heads. Now that I have had a chance to think about all of this, I find it very disturbing. I don't believe that there is any way to go back and most of the people I know don't want to give up any of their creature comforts even if it is better for them. The only way I see to go back is to be forced to do so by a natural disaster or something of that nature. I do believe that the ones that survive a catastrophic event and have to hunt and gather their food will be better off.

Nutritional Extremes

I think what is needed here is education and balance. It seems to me that there are many people that need educated about nutrition and many that need to have balance in there diet. There is enough food in this world to feed everyone and keep them healthy, but it comes down to the haves and have nots. It seems that there are a lot of haves and many of them don't care about the have nots. I think that if communities would just come together and help each other then we could really help the undernurished and malnurished in our country. In my small isolated community in the Sierras, most of us help each other and if one household has a surplus of something it is passed on to those who need it or if someone needs something that one of us produces (like eggs, milk, veggies, etc.) all they have to do is ask and it is provided for them. As for those in other countries, I believe that they need to be educated about nutrition and maybe taught about the foods with the highest nutritional value that will grow in their climates. When they have this knowledge, then we need to get together and provide them with the seeds and tools to produce their own food. It seems to me that in America when everyone farmed there was not such a high level of obesity and although there were still diseases there were not as many and they were different from the ones most people suffer from today. I believe that technology and commercialized food production are major factors in the increase in obesity, as well as heart disease, stroke and cancer, just to name a few. My question is with all our advances, are we really making a better life for ourselves and the world in general?