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Monsanto's Harvest Of Fear Summary

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The three essays assigned this week had several common threads running through them. The strongest core theme is the rapid change in the food cycle in America and the vast changes that have taken place in the way by which we grow, produce, and process the food that average Americans eat. The food we eat now is drastically different from what our grandparents grew up eating and the three essays each examine that in a different way. Another theme is the loss of knowledge by the average consumer about where their food comes from, what it is composed of, and what, if any, danger it might pose to them. “Monsanto’s Harvest of Fear” by Donald L. Barlett and James B. Steele is a harsh look at the realities of food production in a country where large corporations, like Monsanto, have been allowed to exploit laws and loopholes to bend farmers and consumers to their …show more content…

Most people do not realize how many things are made from corn products and Pollan does a great job of breaking down what types of products contain corn. It is obvious that Pollan has a sort of admiration for corn, it’s hardiness, it’s versatility, but at the same time he understands that total dependence on one crop can be dangerous. However, the thesis of the essay is not really corn, but rather the fertilizer we use to grow it, specifically nitrogen right products such as ammonium nitrate. Pollen’s essay is a really interesting look at the history of how nitrogen-based fertilizers came to be so predominant in America and around the world. He discusses both their benefits and incredible dangers, such as the runoff pollution which boosts growth of algae causing the death of ocean life (903). Pollan’s powerful essay ends with a paragraph that reads almost as a plea to farmers to consider changing their habits and reducing their dependence on these types of fertilizers which are so

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357 Words | 2 Pages

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.

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271 Words | 2 Pages

On the off chance that there's anything you read – or offer – let this be it. The substance of this article can possibly drastically move the world in an assortment of positive ways. Furthermore, as Monsanto would love for this article to not become famous online, whatever we can ask is that you share, offer, share the data being exhibited so it can reach however many individuals as could be expected under the circumstances.

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220 Words | 1 Pages

In the article, “The Green Monster: Could Frankenfoods Be Good for the Environment?”, by James E. McWilliams, GMO’s are thoroughly discussed and examined in recent history and current events. This paper will discuss the author, his past and present, his credentials, and otherwise relevant information, as well as the GMOs themselves and the flurry of activity surrounding their controversial existence. James E. McWilliams, an author and professor of history at Texas State University, hails from San Marcos, which is thought to be one of the longest inhabited lands in the Americas, as well as a foundry for culture and history, which might explain his choice of study when he pursued higher education. After attending Georgetown, where he majored

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225 Words | 1 Pages

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.

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315 Words | 2 Pages

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).

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497 Words | 2 Pages

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.

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495 Words | 2 Pages

He continues the rest of the chapter talking about how most foods have traces of corn in them, by following the industrial food chain. All foods by the FDA must have their ingredients posted on the wrapper, so buyers know exactly what they are eating. Michael Pollan knows he has to look at the wrapper and see where all those ingredients are from to really see where the food he is about to came from. 2. Pollan describes American farmers today as “the

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1434 Words | 6 Pages

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.

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565 Words | 3 Pages

Monsanto and farmers have very conflicting opinions on the G.M. Seeds that Monsanto sells and Monsanto as a company. In “Monsanto's Harvest of Fear” the author says, “Like it or not, farmers say, they have fewer and fewer choices in buying seeds.” and that “Whoever provides the world's seeds controls the world's food supply.” These two quotes alone show the impact that Monsanto has on American farmers, the agricultural economy, and on food consumption by showing that what Monsanto is doing has a chain effect. As Monsanto buys out more conventional seed companies, it gives farmers almost no option but to buy from Monsanto which allows its company to begin controlling the seed's cost, production, and use which in term allows it to control what everyday Americans put on their tables

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1660 Words | 7 Pages

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

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1200 Words | 5 Pages

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.

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1426 Words | 6 Pages

He spends 120 pages explaining how corn goes from the field to the elevator, to a feedlot or processing plant to the consumer through so many products and fast-food. Pollan is very much against the Industrial food chain. He believes that it is hurting the earth because of all the inputs such as chemicals and the problems that farmers have with erosion. He was also quite angry that he was not allowed to go through a food processing plant such as Cargill or ADM and so they were obviously hiding something. He did not like the fact that cattle were raised in feedlots where they were pumped full of corn which they were not made to digest, they had to be adapted to because grass is their normal food.

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1540 Words | 7 Pages

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

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799 Words | 4 Pages

“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

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706 Words | 3 Pages

Robert Kenner’s “ The Food Inc.” argues that american’s do not know where their food comes from because the food industry keeps them in the dark. Our industrial base is made from corn. People are eating food that is causing them to be sick. The beef that people are eating is being washed with ammonia to kill the bacteria on the beef. American’s are getting obese.

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