The modern food system is amazing, especially in the United States. Never before have we fed so many people at such low costs. This efficiency comes with realities that are sensible to some and stupid to others. It has changed how we raise food and the ways animal health pros and their crop health counterparts work with customers and discus issues with the public. The five pieces presented here offer distinct viewpoints of 21st-century farming and livestock production practices.
Source: New York Times Magazine, Super Size The Dizzying Grandeur of 21st-Century Agriculture, October 5, 2016. (paywall, limited free access)
Our industrialized food system nourishes more people, at lower cost, than any other comparable system in history. It also exerts a terrifyingly massive influence on our health and our environment . . . His photographs are all the more remarkable for the fact that so few large food producers are willing to open themselves to this sort of public view.
INSIGHTS: This is a must-see for the photography alone. A big shout-out goes to the producers who shared their operations with the photographer for this important piece. It demonstrates the transparency and leadership needed for agriculture to continually tell its good story. Articles in this issue are also reminders that agriculture’s story is only as good as we are every day, whether we’re involved in conventional, organic or alternative types of meat and crop production. There’s room for us all – even those with unconventional viewpoints.