The Meat of the Matter

This week we've covered a lot of ground regarding conventional and alternative modes of agricultural production. First we read from Omnivore's Dilemma and Fast Food Nation about meat production in chapters that took us from a South Dakota cattle ranch, to a Colorado feedlot, to one of the country's largest slaughterhouses. The questions these readings raised for students centered around gains and costs of efficiency-centered food production, whether people are willing to pay more for sustainably-produced food (and what that term means to begin with), where responsibility lies (with consumers, producers, the government, or elsewhere), and whether technology will provide solutions to whatever problems arise out of our current system.

The discussion that ensued in class was lively and class was over before we could address all of the questions students raised. My main response to the reading and the discussion that followed is that the purpose of these readings--and my intention for the course overall--is to have us take a step back from our role as individuals and look at the larger social structure within which we carry out our daily lives. In this particular context, we're talking about food, but the questions we raise can be (and no doubt have been) adapted to almost any situation. What is the role of the individual consumer in our food system? How are our food choices shaped by that system, and how do we in turn shape it when we buy food? It is impossible to isolate and examine any single actor or component without looking at the larger social context within which it is operating. This no doubt complicates things and makes it harder to come to simple conclusions, but these are complex issues and have no easy answers.

The readings by Michael Pollan and Eric Schlosser are meant to raise concerns about the externalities that arise out of a singular focus on efficiency, concentration and consolidation within the food system, and our increasing reliance on technology to solve social problems. Particularly with the latter two, a serious implication of these situations is that we centralize power into the hands of the few and rely on others far removed from ourselves to act in our best interests. How's that going for us so far? Clearly, it depends on who you ask. One of the things I love most about teaching is learning from the variety of responses to questions such as these.