The Shadow
There has been a shadow over the food industry for a long time now, something that has been debated on and hidden until recently, factory farms. These farms have been a curse for the food business for a while now. If we can shine a light onto this shadow, I feel we wont like what we see. Factory farms not only treat the livestock poorly, but they continue to distribute sometimes dangerous and infected food. This mindset of “efficiency” has created a trend that shouldn’t exist in out food world. The fact is that even though this way is cheaper and more bountiful, it wouldn’t take much more to turn to local, organically grown food.
Quicker isn’t always easier or better, more often the fast-paced ways recoil the hardest. But if we look at the economic side of things, there are pluses to factory farms. Though they look greedy and corrupt, they still help those who desire cheap food to feed themselves. Not to mention they bring a lot to the table when it comes to employment. Factory farms also do reach out to the community, like Tyson. They sponsor and sell in stadiums and donate money to charity. Though it is argued that it’s a misdirection to make them look good. I believe there are big food corporations out there that mean to do good but they sometimes don’t see what they are doing. They really do bring a lot of good things to the economy and are more efficient than those who are distributing locally. But I don’t believe that is the path we should be going down in the food world. In our battle of economics vs. ethics choosing the right side often takes some deeper thinking and searching.
The shadow over our food, we see but don’t explore. Some light has to be shined on this shadow. We wont like what we see, but what we see will be the truth. Its hard to find out where our food is coming from today. In many states across America, it is becoming illegal to take pictures of factory farms thus making the shadow darker and bigger. The truth of the matter is that this shadow is growing, more and more factory farms are popping up. Monocultures, global warming, animal cruelty, and excess use of hazardous inputs to our food are just some parts of the shadow that have stayed hidden from the world. Those who have shined the light have found nothing but disappointment and disgust. Our food system has been going downhill because of the growing technology, dulling our minds into machines. If we can go back to our roots and make food natural the way it used to be I think our food world would be better than ever.
Though it looks bad I still believe in our food system or still have faith for it; only time will help change how we look at, treat, and make food. But people are starting to open their eyes to the flaws of factory farms as more and more health groups are coming out to express the dangers of factory farms. Soon the addiction to efficiency and profit will fade. I believe when that happens we will have gained something great for our food system. I still believe that consumers have the most power here and some are afraid to see it when facing a large corporation. But people change and ideals change, it will just take time.