http://www.apcaem.org/crisis-and-opportunity-sustainability-in-american-agriculture Fri, 18 Jun 2010 16:16:23 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 http://www.apcaem.org/crisis-and-opportunity-sustainability-in-american-agriculture/comment-page-1#comment-85 Michael Emmett Brady Fri, 01 Jan 2010 15:17:05 +0000 http://www.apcaem.org/crisis-and-opportunity-sustainability-in-american-agriculture#comment-85 Ikerd has done an excellent job of demonstrating that the current factory farm approach to farming is simply not economically sustainable or environmentally sound in the long run.It has TWO Achilles heels .The first is that it relies completely on petroleum based chemicals,fertilizers,pesticides,fungicides,and herbicides that, cumulatively, are contributing to significant soil erosion and top soil loss in order to produce and harvest various grain crops throughout the world.Increases in the price of a barrel of oil automatically translates into higher and higher food prices inall countries.Third world countries are especially impacted negatively .The second involves the factory farm extension to meat production.This approach requires the use of massive amounts of antibiotics to deal with/prevent the periodic outbreaks of contagious diseases that can spread through animal populations' crammed together like sardines in a can.These antibiotics also make the animals fatter,thus generating a higher profit per animal sold.Unfortunately,the social costs of such animal factory farms are passed down to the consumer.The consumer develops a resistance to the antibiotics contained in the meat products as he consumes more amd more meat over time.More and more germs are developing such resistance to a wide range of antibiotics. The doctors of sick patients discover all too often that the antibiotics do not work . Rating: 5 / 5 Ikerd has done an excellent job of demonstrating that the current factory farm approach to farming is simply not economically sustainable or environmentally sound in the long run.It has TWO Achilles heels .The first is that it relies completely on petroleum based chemicals,fertilizers,pesticides,fungicides,and herbicides that, cumulatively, are contributing to significant soil erosion and top soil loss in order to produce and harvest various grain crops throughout the world.Increases in the price of a barrel of oil automatically translates into higher and higher food prices inall countries.Third world countries are especially impacted negatively .The second involves the factory farm extension to meat production.This approach requires the use of massive amounts of antibiotics to deal with/prevent the periodic outbreaks of contagious diseases that can spread through animal populations’ crammed together like sardines in a can.These antibiotics also make the animals fatter,thus generating a higher profit per animal sold.Unfortunately,the social costs of such animal factory farms are passed down to the consumer.The consumer develops a resistance to the antibiotics contained in the meat products as he consumes more amd more meat over time.More and more germs are developing such resistance to a wide range of antibiotics. The doctors of sick patients discover all too often that the antibiotics do not work .
Rating: 5 / 5

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