Exploration 9

I really felt this film reminded and renstated how I already felt and have learned about agriculture and how America as well as other countries are trying to be more efficient and produce more profit. It is sad that animals are treated as such, as well as that we can't really escape eating this meat, vegetables, and fruit that is contaminated, downgraded, nutrient lacking, and overall not healthy for our bodies because of the unhealthy methods of raising and feeding these animals.

What really disgusted me was how they are feeding meat to cows and other livestock that are herbivores, especially feeding them the remains of their own species, creating a cannibalistic ideal. This is causing mad cow disease and other disease issues. Joel  Salatin has the right idea, "lets  treat a herbivore like a herbivore first, and then the other things will fall into place." This includes giving these animals open spaces, since herbivores are used to grazing, and moving around, eating grass instead of the grain they are feed in these industries. It creates a natural non polutant environment. Especially when animals are moved to different areas, allowing cows to find more grass, and the area that they left to regrow, as well as letting chickens lose to eat fly larvae out of the cow pies. This method eliminates the polution problem of industries who hoard these animals into a tiny tiny area were they are touching eachother and stamping in their own feces all day.

Another thing that struck me is how easily disease spreads when these animals are all cramped together eating already unhealthy contaminated food. Whats crazy is that they feed them many different anti biotics and growing drugs everyday, this I'm sure we are consuming, and not only that but the anti biotics are only knocking out weak strands of a particular disease, making, basically, a more powerful, harder to destroy strand.

This all comes down to, as a farmer states, "Americans fear only one thing, inconvienience." This seems to be the case, for all the fast foods (using low grade meat) are for our convienience and hunger timing. To satisfy us quickly so we can go on about the day. This meat however, is very unhealthy, but many people buy and eat this kind of food simply becuase it's cheap. It is the organic food, made on local farms that are fresh that we should at least be spending ten bucks a week on if we can, to support our farmers.

This society is using a monoculture, which isn't the way of nature, and so eventually, won't work....it's our great grandfather farmers that had the right idea, to work with the land, and to care about the quality of the food.