Reinventing the Wheel - The Best Thing Since Sliced Bread

By x356039 - August 12, 2013

Disclaimer: The views expressed here are not the official position of the IWW (or even the IWW’s EUC) and do not necessarily represent the views of anyone but the author’s.

In the discussions of climate change one item often overlooked is one of the most surprisingly obvious: food. Without any doubt the modern industrial food system is incredibly destructive to the environment. The carbon emissions, runoff from feedlots, use of pesticides and other toxins, and the impact of genetically manipulated frankenfood on ecosystems are all proven environmental consequences of factory farming. In spite of these factors industrialized food is often very far down on the list of mainstream environmental activists' priorities.

The relative lack of emphasis is not surprising. When it comes to climate change the first targets of efforts are usually the fossil fuel industry and rightfully so. It is thanks to their activities we are facing a climate crisis in the first place. On top of that agribusiness and their supporters have for decades made the case their methods are what the world needs to keep everyone fed. These claims often go unchallenged with food activists focusing more on the health consequences and nutritional benefits of natural, organic food over factory food. Thanks to these factors the mainstream discourse is not whether or not we should ditch fake food but seeking the best balance between factory food & real food.

This status quo suit agribusiness just fine for a very simple reason. Contrary to their most strident claims organic farming can not only feed the entire world, In some cases it can do it better. According to a report released by the United Nations FAO in 2007 organic farming techniques, when implemented in a comprehensive fashion, are capable of yielding as much in terms of crops as “traditional” factory farming. Quite contrary to the claims by more moderate voices it is very possible to do this without the use of any chemical fertilizers, pesticides, genetically mutilated crops, or any of the other dubious hallmarks of fossil fuel farming. Even more impressively organic farming performs up to 60% better in drought-prone areas like Ethiopia than high cost, high maintenance, highly destructive factory farming.

The connection and impact of replacing factory farms with real farms would immediate, substantial, and enduring. Factory farms today are major sources of greenhouse and toxic gases making factory farms responsible for 18-20% of all greenhouse gas emissions. While on its own this is not enough to halt climate change it would certainly help fix the problem before one goes into the damage done by factory farm toxins to local environments. Halting industrial agribusiness and replacing it with ecologically sound, organic agriculture would halt the damage done to the world's soil by these destructive, environmentally unsound methods. In many cases the damage done is so severe the vast majority of industrial food operations depend on dirty, unnatural fossil fuel fertilizers to grow anything at all. On top of this would be the halt of further poisoning of local environments with the unnecessary waste produced by factory farms, leading to a genuinely nutritious food supply and cleaner, healthier ecosystems the world over.

One of the greatest benefits is at the point of production. On top of the consequences of back-breaking physical labor farm workers suffer from substantially higher rates of tuberculosis, bronchitis, diarrhea, and other infectious diseases than the general population. This is thanks to the use of toxic pesticides and breathing any one of the many toxic chemicals permeating the atmosphere of CAFOs like ammonia, methane, nitrous oxide, carbon dioxide, and hydrogen sulfide. Organic farming, by contrast, recycles much of its waste into compost which feeds the soil taking all of these toxic chemicals off the table. This stands in stark contrast with the obscene wastefulness of CAFOs which the Humane Society estimates American operations produce three times as much raw waste as the entire human population of the United States.

When the facts are laid out, examined, and understood the verdict is clear: industrial agriculture is not only unnecessary it is actively harmful to society and the biosphere. The damage done to lives, communities, and habitats the world over has already reached intolerable levels and shows no sign of slowing down. The only sustainable, humane solution is to immediately transition away from the factory farm and back to organic, natural farming. Yet we must remember such a transition will not be unopposed. Agribusiness rakes in a lot of money. Our current food system is a product of their desire to maximize their bottom line as much as possible no matter the cost or consequences. On top of this the fossil fuel industry is heavily invested in the food status quo thanks to their role in supplying the corn & CAFO lords with the life-leeching fertilizers that make their operations possible. If the end desire is to establish a genuinely humane, sustainable way of feeding the world the method by which the food is grown is not the only thing that must be changed. Meeting people's needs must be central to how and why such a system operates otherwise the outcome is already known and assured: we're living it.