Animals Practicing Complexity Analysis

With the United States having numerous amounts of health issues and food outbreaks yearly, it is safe to say that we need a hopeful idea for the future to bring healthy and natural foods. Many people believe industrial/factory farming should continue to increase, but it’s quite the contrary, industrial/factory farming needs to be put to end and the only type of farming that should be expanding is the system used in Polyface farm, which is holon farming. In the text, “The Animals: Practicing Complexity”, by Michael Pollan, he discusses Joel Salatins’ Polyface farm and its complex system. All the animals depend on each other and Salatin is basically imitating a natural ecosystem where there is no such thing as waste. However, in the text, “What

If a farm is producing efficiently enough, it determines whether an industrial farm is competent or not. Berry notes, “Today, with hundreds of farm families losing their farms every week, the economists are still saying, as they have said all along, that these people deserve to fail, that they have failed because they are the ‘least efficient producers,’ and that the rest of us are better off for their failure” (105 ). If farms are not producing efficiently enough, they are seen as failing and farmers end up losing their farms. ‘Better off for their failure’ meaning if growers fail then machines will take their place and will be more efficient, producing more products. Pollan asserts, “’Efficiency’ is the term usually invoked to defend large-scale industrial farms, and it usually refers to the economies of scale that can be achieved by the application of technology and standardization” (377). The procedure of how food is made does not come into concern, only the results do. That is how large industrial farms are accepted, because they provide proficiently. The outcome of industrial farms outweighs the negative impacts, at least to industrial farmers. Pollan responds to Berry’s statement by agreeing with him on the issue of the current industrial model being acceptable to some consumers, only due to the fact that

Although they agree on the negative impacts of industrial farming, they have different reasons for it. Holon farming, which Pollan discusses, creates a balance in the world, eliminating the need for any pesticides or chemicals. Holon farming is a lot of work and as Berry and Pollan both agreed upon; human beings are becoming lazier since there are effortless ways to complete the work. No one wants to work harder when they know they can do a task in a smoother way. Industrial farmers do not see the negative impacts of factory farming because all that seems to matter to them is the products manufactured. Industrial farms can make more products than traditional farms and that may be the reason why industrial farms are given more spotlight to and are gradually expanding while other farms are moderately deteriorating. Pollan is more understanding of the technological advances which Berry is not. Berry and Pollan agree and concur at times on the same issues of how the industrial model of agribusiness is