Industrial Agriculture: Corn

1
Industrial AgricultureCorn
2
Where does our food come from?

• Fruits and Vegetables--easy to trace
• Meat--more complicated
• Processed foods--very complicated

3
Corn

• Corn is used in animal feed
• This means that many animal products essentially
  contain corn
• Corn is also used in human food directly and
  under other names including
• Lecithin, mono-, di, and triglycerides,
  high-fructose corn syrup (HFCS), modified and
  unmodified starch, glucose syrup, maltodextrin,
  crystalline fructose, ascorbic acid, dextrose,
  lactic acid, lysine, maltose, MSG, polyols,
  carmel color, xanthan gum, etc..
• Corn is even used in non-food products
• Wax, pesticides, wallboard, linoleum, fiberglass,
  adhesives, etc..
• The average American consumes a ton of corn a year

4
Corn

• A.k.a. Zea mays
• A grass native to Central America
• Corn was recognized by settlers for its ability
  to produce the most food per area in the New
  World
• Genetic variability allowed it to adapt to many
  regions
• Due to its husked ear, corn is dependent on
  humans for survival and is completely
  domesticated
• Humans have cultivated corn and saved seeds for
  thousands of years
• Modern industrial corn has been engineered so
  that farmed corn cannot reproduce successfully
  and farmers must buy seeds to plant each year.
• Modern industrial corn is essentially inedible
  and requires extensive processing

5
Corn

• Corn is often genetically modified to increase
  yields
• Current corn productivity is often 10 times
  1920s levels
• Increased productivity results from increased
  tolerance of crowding
• The only other cultivated organism to have such
  an increase in productivity is the Holstein cow
• Corn now lives in dense corn cities and has
  stronger stalks and roots to live in such
  conditions and tolerate mechanical harvesting

6
Soy Beans

• Second leg of industrial food system
• Feeds livestock and is in 2/3 of all processed
  foods
• Grown alternatively with corn to fix nitrogen by
  some farmers

7
Changes in Farms

• Family farms used to be less dense and included
  other crops and livestock (e.g., cattle,
  chickens, hogs, apples, hay, oats, potatoes,
  cherries, etc)
• This lead to cultivation for a larger portion of
  the year and the production of directly
  consumable foods
• The high profitability of corn led farmers to
  gradually produce more and more of it and less of
  other products
• Overproduction of corn led to a decrease in
  price, which led to more production to maintain
  profits
• This led to corn being very cheap and resulted in
  it being incorporated into many new foods and
  processes

8
Fertilizer

• Chemical fertilizers were first spread on crops
  as a way to use left-over ammonium nitrate from
  WWII
• War military machine ? peacetime industrial
  machine
• (Nitrogen in fertilizers is also found in
  explosives.)
• Corn rapidly consumes nutrients and fertilizer
  due to its fast-growing productivity
• Without synthetic fertilizers it is estimated
  that 2 out of 5 individuals today would not be
  alive
• For this reason, chemical fertilizers are
  arguably the most important invention of the 20th
  century

9
Nitrogen

• Nitrogen is necessary for amino acids (the
  monomers of proteins) and nucleic acids (the
  monomers of DNA)
• The atmosphere is 80 N2
• Nitrogen must be fixed to become usable to life
• Nitrogen is naturally fixed by soil bacteria in
  the roots of legumes
• Nitrogen is artificially fixed for chemical
  fertilizers (and explosives) by the Haber-Bosch
  process
• N2(g) 3H2(g) ? 2NH3(g), Ho -92.4 kJ/mol

10
Nitrogen Cycle
11
Nitrogen and Oil

• Synthetic fertilizers eliminate the need to
  rotate crops (legumes are not needed to fix
  nitrogen)
• The Haber-Bosch process requires heat and
  pressure supplied by electricity
• This electricity is often derived from fossil
  fuels
• Petroleum ? food
• Tractors, pesticide production, corn
  transportation, and corn processing all use
  fossil fuels
• Much of this spread nitrogen leaches and runs-off
  contaminating water supplies making them unsafe
  to drink
• These processes are ecologically expensive, but
  economically cheap
• Corn essentially allows us to convert fossil
  fuels to food. Cattle then lets us turn this
  corn into meat. A steer will essentially eat 35
  gallons of oil in its lifetime before slaughter

12
Economics of Corn

• Previously, government farm programs were
  designed to limit production and support prices
  (and therefore farmers)
• Under Nixon, secretary of agriculture Earl Butz
  revolutionized American agriculture in response
  to record high food prices by driving down prices
  and vastly increasing output
• He pushed consolidation and to get big or get
  out
• He removed the floor from the grain market and
  paid farmers directly for part of the decrease in
  price, which encouraged them to sell at any price
• As a result of low prices, it costs 2.50 to
  produce a bushel of corn, which is sold for 1.45
  (the government makes up some of the difference)
• Corn receives a biological subsidy in the form of
  synthetic fertilizer and also receives economic
  subsidies!

13
Corporate Corn

• Cargill and ADM buy around 1/3 of all corn grown
  in America
• These two companies provide the pesticides and
  fertilizers used to grow corn, operate most grain
  elevators, broker and ship most exports, mill the
  corn, produce ethanol, feed livestock and then
  slaughter them, and produce high fructose corn
  syrup
• Such corn refiners secured import tariffs on
  sugar making corn sweeteners cheaper and
  therefore more prevalent in American foods

14
The Feedlotmaking meat
15
Corn-fed Animals

• The tremendous production of corn has led to corn
  being fed to animals that never use to eat it
  before including cows and salmon
• Salmon are actually carnivorous, so this is a
  particularly large change in diet. Neither
  animal is well suited to consume corn, which can
  cause considerable health problems
• This has allowed for the concentration of animals
  into small pens without grass

16
Beef

• Young cattle are raised on grassland ranches
• They are then transferred to a feedlot where they
  are fed corn to quickly gain weight for slaughter
• Furthermore, feedlot cows are fed liquefied fat,
  protein supplements, vitamins, synthetic
  hormones, antibiotics, alfalfa hay, and silage
• Grass-fed cows take 5 years to mature to
  slaughter weight, on corn and steroids like they
  are now, it takes only 14 months!
• The fat is often derived from animals (often
  cattle), which means that these herbivores are
  being turned into carnivores. This is one way
  that mad cow disease (bovine spongiform
  encephalopathy) was transmitted through cattle in
  England

17
Beef

• Feeding cows corn leads to less healthy meatit
  contains more saturated fat and less omega-3
  fatty acids than grass-fed animals
• This meat causes heart disease, cancer, and poor
  digestion in humans
• Cows have evolved to feed on grass, and eating
  grain can cause serious health problemsantibiotic
  s are administered to try to keep the cattle
  alive until slaughter

Sick cattle ? Sick People
18
Antibiotics

• The majority of antibiotics sold in America end
  up in animal feed
• This tremendous administration of antibiotics (to
  all cattlenot just sick ones) promotes the
  development of antibiotic-resistant superbugs
  that can cause human diseases
• Antibiotics would be unnecessary if the cows were
  fed their natural food grass

19
(No Transcript)
20
Feedlot wastes

• Feedlots produce entire lagoons of manure and
  urine
• These wastes contain high levels of nitrogen,
  phosphorous, heavy metals, and hormones
• These wastes are not spread on crops as they
  would kill the plants
• These wastes have been found to cause endocrine
  disruption and other health problems
• Feedlots turn what would be a source of fertility
  into toxic waste!

21
Animal Efficiencies
16 lbs baby 8 lbs flesh

• Cattle 8 lbs food ? 1 lb flesh
• Chickens 2 lbs food ? 1 lb flesh
• Cattle are less efficient and more costly

22
The Processing Plantmaking complex foods
23
Milling

• The industrially grown corn is wet milled and
  processed as it is inedible to humans otherwise
• The corn is separated into its botanical and
  chemical parts for use in other processes and
  products
• Starch from corn is processed into high-fructose
  corn syrup that imitates sucrose (table sugar)
  for use in many products

24
Processed Foods

• Originally, processed foods were produced to
  improve taste and prevent spoiling
• Corn is incorporated in many processed foods
  because of its low price
• Corn provides the carbohydrates in processed
  foods and soy provides the protein, both provide
  fat
• Artificial vitamins and minerals are added to
  replace those lost during processing and give a
  sheen of healthfulness
• Often the ingredients are extraordinarily cheap,
  which means big corporate profits
• 4 corn ? 4 of cereal
• Making food from basic components also allows for
  easy substitution if the price of ingredients
  change

25
Eating Corn

• Americans eat 1 ton of corn a year, most of which
  is not in corn form (e.g., we eat 160 lbs of
  corn syrup)
• Even our cars eat ethanol from corn
• Corn accounts for most excess calories consumed
  in America

26
A McDonalds Meal

• Soda (100 corn)
• Milk Shake (78 corn)
• Salad dressing (65 corn)
• Chicken nuggets (56 corn)
• Cheeseburger (52 corn)
• French fries (23 corn)
• (And, of course, this is true of most fast-food
  chains)

27
A Republic of Fat

• Because of our diets
• 3/5 of Americans are overweight
• 1/5 is obese
• 1/3 chance of developing diabetes
• Type II diabetes rates in children have increased
• Life expectancy shorter than previous generation,
  which is the first time this has ever happened in
  modern public health

28
or
29
Changing Practices

• McDonalds is actually working to change the
  fast-food industry
• Organic coffee, Newmans products
• Changing packaging biodegradable cups
• Antibiotic leadership
• Leader of positive change

30
Changing Practices
31
Food chain

• In the processes of living and growing, much of
  the energy in corn is lost by converting it to
  meat
• Further processing (e.g., into soda) uses
  additional energy
• If we ate lower on the food chain, we could feed
  more people

32
Is Corn Really Cheap?

• Although the actual price of corn may be cheap,
  it doesnt take into account the public health
  concern of antibiotic resistance, obesity, and
  hormone disruption, farm subsidies, or any
  environmental costs
• There are a great many externalities, and corn is
  actually costing us a lot
• Full cost accounting cost to society, cost to
  ecosystem, cost to future generations

33
So what should we eat?
34
Sustainable farming

• Places emphasis on environmental stewardship,
  farm profitability, and prosperous farming
  communities
• Sustainable agriculture refers to the ability of
  a farm to produce food indefinitely, without
  causing irreversible damage to ecosystem health
• Often avoids monoculture
• Often imitates natural processes

35
No Waste Necessary
Produces
Feed to
Feeds

• By imitating natural processes, waste can be
  eliminated or at least minimized
• For example
• Cows eat grass in a pasture
• Chickens eat the insects from cow waste and the
  grass in the field
• The chickens prevent cow infections and the
  wastes from both animals fertilize the land
  growing more grass
• Eggs, chicken, beef, and milk can all then be
  sustainablely harvested from these animals
• In nature there is no waste problem

Fertilize
36
Alternative sustainable practices

• Geese are used as an organic form of weed control
• Chickens and turkeys can consume other pests

37
Efficiency

• Large-scale industrial farms are efficient in
  that they use economies of scale and apply
  technology and standardizations to produce large
  amounts of food
• Sustainable farms are efficient in a natural
  senseno waste is produced as a result of
  coevolutionary relationships and reciprocal loops
• While industrial farms specialize in
  simplification, monoculture, and mechanization,
  sustainable farms are based on complexity and
  interdependence
• Which is better? It depends on how you define
  efficiency

38
Industrial Organic

• Organic refers to products made without the use
  of conventional pesticides or artificial
  fertilizers
• Livestock are reared without the routine use of
  antibiotics and without the use of growth
  hormones
• Much of the organic food bought in the
  supermarket is produced industrially (e.g.,
  Earthbound and Grimmway Farms in California
  dominate the organic produce market)
• This can make organic food cheaper and more
  available, but also sacrifices community and
  stewardship idealsis this an acceptable
  trade-off?

39
Food safety
40
In the NewsTomatoes Salmonellosis Outbreak

• Salmonella is a type of bacterium.
• Fruits and vegetables that come into contact
  with Salmonella may become contaminated with it,
  causing illness if eaten.
• Salmonella lives in the intestinal tracts of some
  animals, and can live in soil and water for
  months.
• The Salmonellosis outbreak in May/June of 2008
  sickened hundreds and resulted in Tomatoes being
  pulled from store shelves and restaurants