Monsanto's Harvest Of Fear Summary

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On December 5, 2012, Daisy Luther, a journalist from Northern California wrote a blog entry on the conspiracy surrounding “certified organic” labels that is claimed by some companies and retailers. She brings up the question of whether these labels being stamped on food can really be verified or are they just a way to empty out the wallets of consumers. In the website The Organic Pepper, the blogger generally gives advice for different problems people encounter on a daily basis. Through her blog entries varying from ways to stay healthy to frugal living, Luther states her opinion of governmental interference on our food supply by citing sources from articles from Natural News and Time Magazine. She first starts out by arguing about how the

Michael Pollan and Bryan walsh have some concerns about what we eat .That concern is “CORN”. there are three different ways they addressed these concerns are: “How Corn Took Over America”, “Getting Real About The High Price Of cheap food”, and “ Fat From Corn”. “How Corn Took Over America” Michael Pollan goes and states really clear in chapter 1 that is what this paragraph is going to be about. The first claim that popped out at me is almost all products we get at the store have some type of corn product in it whether it is (HFCS). Another 1 of his claims is that too many farmers use corn to feed the animals so they will become our food.

In 2008 “Monsanto’s Harvest of Fear” was published in Vanity Fair. Penned by Donald L. Barlett and James B. Steele, this exposition presents acts by Monsanto that may be considered questionable. Acts such as possessing a “shadowy army of private investigators” and the production of “two of the most toxic substances ever known”. The company was established in 1901 as Monsanto Chemical Works.

Nevertheless, with the progress of the times, people will change the rules in order to discover the new and efficient way. Pollan writes, “A coalition of political and business leaders who for various reasons thought America had far too many farmers for her (or at least their) own good” (50). Nowadays, the high technology is capable of using the machines to plant a wide range of yield; therefore, there are less people engage in farm and the owner can get more profits from

The U.S. agricultural industry can now produce unlimited quantities of meat and grains at remarkably cheap prices. But it does so at a high cost to the environment, animals and humans”

It is easy to understand the author’s dilemma through the data and information he provides chronologically. The issue addressed by Paarlberg is vast and cannot be tackled in a few paragraphs, therefore, he subcategorizes his topics in chronological order: “Original sins, Organic Myths and Seeding the future.” This would be one of the biggest strengths that Paarlberg uses to distinguish his ideas from one another. It is also easy for the readers to wrap their minds around the matter being discussed and helps them become aware of the subject that is going to be discussed. For example, in the subsection Original sins, Paarlberg discusses how the development and introduction of high yielding seeds and wheat, along with the Green revolution benefitted the rich farmers from countries such as America, but adversely affected the poor farmers from countries such as India, although they were great achievements at that time.

Nowadays in America, we are encountering problems with our food system. The way it’s being processed is affecting everyone. From youngest to oldest, farmers to lawyers and smallest to biggest animal. Consumers are made to believe that they are buying and eating healthy foods , but the labels that led them to believe that are not completely honest. The essay “Escape from the Western Diet” written by Michael Pollan is an explanation of the theories of the western diet.

In the article entitled Monsanto's Harvest of Fear, Donald L. Barley and James B. Steele demonstrate that Monsanto already dominates the United States food chain with their genetically modified seeds. They are currently targeting milk production which is just as scary as the corporation's legal battles against the small farmers. This situation leads to a history of toxic infections or diseases. There were many disagreements between Gary Rinehart and a stranger about the innovative seeds. They were under surveillance and an investigator came in the picture.

“Today in the United States, by the simple acts of feeding ourselves, we are unwittingly participating in the largest experiment ever conducted on human beings.” Jeremy Seifert certainly knows how to get viewers’ attention, as exemplified by the film blurb describing his 2013 documentary, GMO OMG. The frightening depiction of the food industry is one of many efforts to expose consumers of the twenty-first century to the powerful organizations that profit from national ignorance and lack of critical inquiry and involvement. Seifert effectively harnesses the elements of rhetoric throughout his phenomenal argument against remaining complacent about the food industry’s act of withholding of information about genetically modified organisms from

Michael Pollan’s alternative to Factory farming has given a huge insight into a better ethics on food. In “The Animals: Practicing Complexity” Michael Pollan writes about a polyface farm and how it works. The goal of a polyface farm is to emotionally, economically, and environmentally enhance agriculture. Everything on a polyface farm has the potential to be helpful to something else on the farm. Pollan states “The chicken feed not only feeds the broilers but, transformed into chicken crap, feeds the grass that feeds the cows that, as I was about to see, feeds the pigs and the laying hens” (Pollan 345).

Explain why Pollan has a problem with the way the American government subsidizes farms, particularly those that grow corn. Pollan does not agree with how the government is just paying off the farmers and not helping the situation of subsidies and falling prices. Pollan does not like how the farmers are treated different from any other food processors or exporters in the food business. The farmers are the ones that are taking the beating with the bad economy and instead of fixing it; the government just pays them off. 4.

He again proved this while he was at Salatin’s farm because the pigs were just so “happy” while rooting around in the cow manure searching for fermenting corn that was mixed in. Pollan definitely suggests that the reader should carefully consider what they are eating and the impact it is having on the environment. He believes that the industrial food chain is harming the ground in more ways than imaginable and that it is not considering all the costs. Pollan is leaving out a great deal about how impractical it is to raise animals or crops organically. It takes much longer to raise animals due to little to no corn in their diets.

The farms are apt to adopt the monoculture in order to maximize profits. Under the mono farming method, the major environment threat is vanishing species. Pollan takes George Naylor’s farm as an example to illustrate the noticeable ecological change under corn subsidy. George’s farm used to be diverse and practiced crop rotation farming method. However, the situation changed from the 1950s, farmers accepted government subsidies to grow corn.

As Patel himself states, we need to get inside the hourglass and make the food system work for all of us, as farmers, producers, distributers, and consumers as a whole. Regardless of the confusion a first time reader may run across, this book does one thing undoubtedly right: it makes you think long and hard about everything you thought you knew about food. It goes far past GMOs and RoundUp, way beyond HFCS and the overproduction of soybeans, over and above those who are stuffed and those who are starved. Throughout the span of the novel, Patel not only helps you realize that there are many issues in our food economy, but also makes you feel how vital it is to take back what we did not even realize had long been