The Farm Guide

 

As I gaze through the glass-front cooler at the rows of plastic bottles, the polite, young cashier breaks the silence with a simple request: "What would you like to drink?" She probably wonders what's taking me so long. It had taken me no time I place my food order: "pizza half cheese (for the kids), half anchovies (for me)." I can't seem to find my tongue. I'm flustered by the ramifications of my choice. I know what's there: soda, which I dislike; juice, which doesn't go with my meal; and, bottled water, which infuriates me for its incredible waste and doesn't taste half as good as most of our local water sources.

I'm instinctively irritated by frivolous and irresponsible waste. "Wealth porn" is how one writer summed it up. The idea of a couple of dollars for a bottle of water is an affront to my senses, especially when most of us have plenty of great fresh water right at our faucets. The production and disposal of all those bottles, even if they are recycled, is colossal squander of resources.

Agriculture has changed dramatically, especially since the end of World War II. Food and fiber productivity soared due to new technologies, mechanization, increased chemical use, specialization and government policies that favored maximizing production. These changes allowed fewer farmers with reduced labor demands to produce the majority of the food and fiber in the U.S.

Although these changes have had many positive effects and reduced many risks in farming, there have also been significant costs. Prominent among these are topsoil depletion, groundwater contamination, the decline of family farms, continued neglect of the living and working conditions for farm laborers, increasing costs of production, and the disintegration of economic and social conditions in rural communities.