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Christian Diltz Comp 1 Local Food Movement 18 May 2011 What Is The World Coming To There is much controversy over whether or not the local food movement is beneficial to the environment and economy of cities world-wide; the fact of the matter is, yes the local food movement is the solution to many of the problems the world is faced with today. Now granted the local food movement can have a negative impact on the large factory farms of the world, it will mainly benefit local cities economies by increasing the financial and agricultural value of resident farms. Factory farms and large food processing corporations are tearing up the roadways, depressing local economies monetary value, putting strange chemicals and steroids into our food, and depleting the nutrients in the soil farmers use to grow their crops. Supporting the local food movement can only better the welfare of communities and the citizens within them. Our streets and highways are starting to show the wear and tear from all the years of constant traffic. The roads are bad enough now, but we keep on tearing them apart when we support the companies who send out their semi-trucks full of processed food to one of our local grocery stores. According to American Association of State Highway and Transit Officials the excess bulk cargo shipping trucks carry inflicts as much road destruction as 9,600 cars. That is a lot of damage to be caused by a single truck. Many food items that come from large factories travel more distance than they even should have to. Many companies send their products somewhere else in the world to have them packaged; the goods are then sent back to the company to be shipped to a grocery store. The miles our food travels are so unnecessary, and its ruining

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our roads. A study conducted by Iowa State Universitys Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture in July of 2003 discovered that food grown locally travels an average of 56 miles from its origin to market, while processed food from companies travels an average of 1,494 miles from factory to market. Local economies are giving away money by purchasing food products from large grocery stores. Farmers from around the cities area could use our help a lot more than factory farms do. If the people start buying their food locally, then that money will stay in their community and help their economy; however, when people buy food from big food retail companies, the money is sent to their large factories to help produce more food. Not only are single groups of people supportive of the local food movement, but resident farmers have also been contacted by nearly 1,200 schools all over the United States in hopes to provide garden-fresh food to students. Factory farms are expected to produce high yield rates of the same crop year-round, this is called using a monoculture method; doing this causes the soil that the plants rely on to lose much of their nutrients, in turn causing farmers to add more chemicals to the plants in order to reach the same outcome as a field that has been practiced with a polyculture method. These chemicals are not always healthy for us as humans to ingest. When factory farms rely solely on a certain crop, they use many pesticides to keep bugs from infesting their plants; these chemicals also are extremely unhealthy for the human body. Food processing plants are also consequently adding in chemicals and bacteria to our food just by allowing the food around constant machinery. For example, if a single crop has salmonella bacteria in it and it is brought into a food processing factory, the bacteria is spread to the majority of food inside the plant; making it nearly impossible to find the source of the bacteria. It is factories like this that send out large shipments of bacteria infested food products, only to find out

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about the bacteria and diseases they carry when it is too late and many people have become very ill or even dead from viruses caused by the bacteria. In order to get the largest crops and cattle possible, factory farms are using numerous types of steroids and chemicals to enhance the size and yield of their products. The world today relies mostly on food that comes from large factory farms, which means that the majority of the world is also consuming the same chemicals and steroids put into our food. We have yet to see major negative side-effects from these chemicals; but whos to say that its okay for companies to put them into our food? Many processed food has a lot of additives in it such as salt, this can cause high blood pressure in the foods consumer. Overall, factory farms and food processing plants cause nothing but trouble. The local food movement isnt a poor attempt by the small town farmers to get a financial gain in the world, but a plea from the worlds citizens for a better life. Support factory farming and encourage the use of drugs and chemicals in our meat, ruin our highways, kill our soil, give them all our money; or support the local food movement and help your communitys economy, eat organic chemical-free food, enjoy a steroid-free steak, and be a healthier person. It only makes sense to advocate the local food movement; what can go wrong?

Works Cited

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"Follow That French Fry: Food Miles and Roadway Damage." The Local Food Movement. Amy Francis. Detroit: Greenhaven Press, 2010. At Issue. Gale Opposing Viewpoints In Context. Web. 11 May 2011. "Local Farmers Need Protection from Excessive Regulation." Food Safety. Ed. Judeen Bartos. Detroit: Greenhaven Press, 2011. At Issue. Gale Opposing Viewpoints In Context. Web. 11 May 2011. "The Distance Food Travels Is Damaging to the Environment." The Local Food Movement. Amy Francis. Detroit: Greenhaven Press, 2010. At Issue. Gale Opposing Viewpoints In Context. Web. 11 May 2011. "The Local Food Movement." Opposing Viewpoints Online Collection. Gale, Cengage Learning, 2010. Gale Opposing Viewpoints In Context. Web. 18 May 2011. "The Local Food Movement Benefits Farms, Food Production, Environment." The Local Food Movement. Amy Francis. Detroit: Greenhaven Press, 2010. At Issue. Gale Opposing Viewpoints In Context. Web. 11 May 2011