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Food, Antibiotics & Pesticides - Food Chain or Profit
Stream?
A lot of confusion reigns when debating the role
of the United States
in feeding the world. The following
review of agriculture production in America will give you many of the
answers you seek.
In a nutshell, we don't feed the world but we
supply a whole lot of the food it needs to maintain the status quo. However, productions only part of the
equation. For instance, how much of the
food we produce is even intended for "human" consumption?
You may be stunned by the result.
For example, the United States produces 32% of the world's corn crop. About 20% of all USA corn production is exported out
of the country. Sounds like quite a lot
of corn but it is the largest single crop grown in the world.
Yet 80% of the corn grown annually is used for
animal feed for domestic and foreign livestock, poultry, and fish production. I did say 80% of all production goes to feed animals and not the two-legged
kind.
Numbers can be deceiving. You need to hear the numbers, and the facts
behind the numbers so you can fairly assess what is going on in this world.
We know 1.6 billion humans rely on local, family
type farms for their food supply in which the farmers save their own seeds
rather than buy them from the new farmers coop, the monolithic, multi-national,
agricultural biotech corporations.
The very agricultural economy Germans brought to America
in the 1800's is what is saving much of the world from starvation today.
Ironic isn't it?
We have evolved beyond the self-sufficient family farms of the turn of
the last century. As late as 1900 most
American farmers were of German ancestry because they were widely regarded as
the best husbandmen in the land.
Today those family farms in America have
been largely replaced by corporate farms in the form of livestock feedlots,
massive chicken complexes, fish farms and GMO driven field crops.
What drove this evolution of corporate farming
and near extinction of the family farm since 1900? Well, no matter what high and mighty public
service is being gained by the destruction of family farms, I tend to be a
little more jaundice in my analysis of this cultural shift.
To me behind all the "holier than thou"
justifications bantered about there are two underlying realities called "antibodies"
and "pesticides" combined with corporate America's insatiable obsession with
greed.
It's no accident "greed" is one of the
Cardinal sins or Seven Deadly sins of the Christian teachings.
Penicillin was the first antibiotic,
discovered by Alexander Fleming in 1929, but it was not until the early 1940s
that its true potential was acknowledged and large scale fermentation processes
were developed for the production of antibiotics.
A few decades ago the owners of this
multi-billion dollar industry realized they were destroying the immune system
with the massive amounts of antibiotics being pumped into us through medicine
and they needed a new market to sell the profit-rich drugs.
How about we take all the cows into feedlots,
chickens into giant barns and fish into fish farms and forever change the face
of agriculture. In order for these
critters to survive in such an unnatural environment we can use the antibiotics
on the cows instead of the people, thus creating a massive new market.
Today 80
percent of the antibiotics sold in the United States goes to chicken, pigs,
cows and other animals that people eat, yet producers of meat and poultry are
not required to report how they use the drugs — which ones, on what types of
animal, and in what quantities.
By 2011 antibiotic sales for human use totaled
7.7 million pounds in America
while animal use sales topped 29.9 million pounds. Projected sales of antibiotics worldwide
exceed $65 billion for 2014.
Like antibiotics pesticides exploded on the scene
around World War II. As you will note
from the following list of types of pesticides there is something for everyone
in this global market now worth $45 billion a year.
The major classes of pesticides are as follows:
Type of Pesticide - Target
Pest Group
Acaricide - Mites,
ticks, spiders
Antimicrobial - Bacteria, viruses, other microbes
Attractant - Attracts pests for monitoring or killing
Avicide - Birds
Fungicide - Fungi
Herbicide Weeds
Insecticide - Insects
Molluscicide - Snails and slugs
Nematicide - Nematodes
Piscicide - Fish
Predacide - Vertebrate predators
Repellent - Repels pests
Rodenticide - Rodents
Synergist - Improves
performance of another pesticide
In the United States, pesticides are used
on 900,000 farms and in 70 million households. Herbicides are the most widely
used type of pesticide. Agriculture uses 75% of all pesticides, but 85% of all U.S. households
have at least one pesticide in storage, and 63% have one to five stored. A Minnesota survey 5 found
that on a per-acre basis urban dwellers use herbicides for lawn care at rates
equal to those used by farmers for food production.
I suspect the need to protect and expand the
combined market of $110 billion for antibiotics and pesticides as much as
anything explains the push for packaged food products and expanded requirements
for preservatives.
Add to that the fact chemical company patents on
major drugs in these categories are expiring and the real market is already
saturated and it seems "bottom line profit" is the greatest incentive
for flooding the human and animal market with more stuff that is bad for us,
for our immune system, and for our environment.
Major Crops Grown in the United States
In round numbers, U.S. farmers produce about $ 143
billion worth of crops and about $153 billion worth of livestock each year.
Production data from the year 2011 for major agricultural crops grown in this
country are highlighted in the following:
Major
agricultural crops produced in the United States in 2011
(excluding
root crops, citrus, vegetable, etc.)
Corn
(grain) 84 million harvested acres $63.9
billion
Soybeans 73.8 million harvested acres $37.6 billion
Hay 55.7 million harvested acres
$6.7 billion
Wheat 45.7 million harvested
acres $14.6 billion
Cotton
9.5 million harvested acres $8.3 billion
Sorghum
3.9 million harvested acres $1.3 billion
Rice
2.6 million harvested acres $2.9 billion
Source:
U.S. USDA. National
Agricultural Statistics Service. Crop Production. March 8, 2013.
Corn: The United States is, by far, the
largest producer of corn in the world, producing 32 percent of the world's corn
crop in the early 2010s. Corn is grown on over 400,000 U.S. farms. The
U.S. exports about 20
percent of the U.S.
farmer's corn production. Corn grown for grain accounts for almost one quarter
of the harvested crop acres in this country. Corn grown for silage accounts for about two percent of
the total harvested cropland or about 6 million acres. The amount of land
dedicated to corn silage production varies based on growing conditions. In
years that produce weather unfavorable to high corn grain yields, corn can be
"salvaged" by harvesting the entire plant as silage. Additionally,
corn farming has become exponentially more efficient. If U.S. farmers in
1931 wanted to equivalently yield the same amount of corn as farmers in 2008,
the 1931 farmers would need an additional 490 million acres!
According to the National Corn Growers
Association, about eighty percent of all corn grown in the U.S. is
consumed by domestic and overseas livestock, poultry, and fish production. The
National Corn Growers Association also reports that each American consumes 25
pounds of corn annually. The crop is fed as ground grain, silage,
high-moisture, and high-oil corn. About 12% of the U.S. corn crop ends up in foods
that are either consumed directly (e.g. corn chips) or indirectly (e.g. high
fructose corn syrup). Cornhas a wide array of industrial uses including
ethanol, a popular oxygenate in cleaner burning auto fuels. In addition
many household products contain corn, including paints, candles,
fireworks, drywall, sandpaper, dyes, crayons, shoe polish, antibiotics, and
adhesives.
Sources:
National
Corn Grower's Association 2013 Report. N.p., 11 Feb. 2013. Web.
U.S. USDA. Economic
Research Service. Corn: Trade. N.p. Web.
Soybeans: Approximately 3.06 billion
bushels of soybeans were harvested from 73.6 million acres of cropland in the U.S. in 2011.
This acreage is roughly equivalent to that of corn grown for grain (84 million
acres in 2011).Soybeans rank second, after corn, among the most-planted field
crops in the U.S.
Over 279,110 (2007 Census of Agriculture) farms in the U.S. produce soybeans making the U.S. the
largest producer and exporter of soybeans. , accounting for over 50% of the
world's soybean production and $3-4 billion in soybean and product exports in
the late 2000s. Soybeans represent 50 percent of world oilseed production.
Soybeans are used to create a variety of
products, the most basic of which are soybean oil, meal, and hulls. According
to the United Soybean Board, soybean oil, used in both food manufacturing and
frying and sautéing, is the number one edible oil in the U.S.
Currently, soybean oil represents approximately 65 percent of all edible oil
consumed in the United
States, down from about 79 percent in 2000
due to controversy over trans-fat. Soybean oil also makes its way into products
ranging from anti-corrosion agents to Soy Diesel fuel to waterproof cement.
Over 30 million tons of soybean meal is consumed as livestock feed in a year.
Even the hulls are used as a component of cattle feed rations.
Sources:
U.S. USDA.
ERS. Characteristics and Production Costs of U.S. Soybean Farms. N.p., Mar.
2002. Web.
U.S. USDA.
ERS. Soybeans and Oil Crops: Background. Web. Accessed 4 Apr. 2013. <
U.S. USDA.
ERS. Soybeans and Oil Crops: Trade. Web. Accessed 4 Apr. 2013.
United Soybean Board. New QUALISOY Efforts Reach
out to Educate Soybean Value Chain. March 2013. Web.
Hay: Hay production in the United States
exceeds 119 million tons per year. Alfalfa is the primary hay crop grown in
this country. U.S.
hay is produced mainly for domestic consumption although there is a growing
export market. Hay can be packaged in bales or made into cubes or pellets. Hay
crops also produce seeds that can be used for planting or as specialized
grains.
Wheat: Over 160,810 (2007 Census of Agriculture)farms
in the United States
produce wheat and wheat production exceeds 2.27 billion bushels a year. The U.S. produces
about 10% of the world's wheat and supplies about 25% of the world's wheat
export market. About two-thirds of total U.S.
wheat production comes from the Great Plains (from Texas
to Montana).
Wheat is classified by time of year planted,
hardness, and color (e.g. Hard Red Winter (HRW)). The characteristics of each
class of wheat affect milling and baking when used in food products. Of the
wheat consumed in the United
States, over 70% is used for food products,
about 22% is used for animal feed and residuals, and the remainder is used for
seed.
Cotton: Fewer than 18,605 (2007 Census of Agriculture)
farms in the United States
produce cotton (2007 Census of Agriculture). Cotton is grown from coast-to-coast,
but in only 17 southern states, concentrated in California,
Texas, and
the Southeast. According to the National Cotton Council of America, farms in
those states produce over 30% of the world's cotton with annual exports of more
than $7 billion. The nation's cotton farmers harvest about 15 million bales or
7.3 billion pounds of cotton each year.
Cotton is used in a number of consumer and
industrial products and is also a feed and food ingredient. Most of the crop
(75 percent) goes into apparel, 18 percent into home furnishings and 7 percent
into industrial products each year. Cottonseed and cottonseed meal are used in
feed for livestock, dairy cattle, and poultry. Cottonseed oil is also used for
food products such as margarine and salad dressing.
Sources:
"World of Cotton." National Cotton Council. N.p., n.d. Web.
04 Apr. 2013.
U.S. USDA. NASS. 2007
Census of Agriculture, Cotton Industry. Web. 27 Jan. 2010.
Grain sorghum: In the United States,
26,242 farms grow grain sorghum. Grain Sorghumis used primarily as an animal
feed, but also is used in food products and as an industrial feedstock.
Industrial products that utilize sorghum include wallboard and biodegradable
packaging materials. Worldwide, over half of the sorghum grown is for human consumption.
Some farmers grow sorghum as a hedge against
drought. This water-efficient crop is more drought tolerant and requires fewer
inputs than corn. Kansas, Texas,
Nebraska, Oklahoma,
and Missouri
produce most of the grain sorghum grown in this country. The U.S. exports
almost half of the sorghum it produces and controls 70% to 80% of world sorghum
exports.
As much as one-third of domestic sorghum
production goes to produce biofuels like ethanol and its various co-products.
With demand for renewable fuel sources increasing, demand for co-products like
sorghum-DDG (dry distillers grain) will increase as well due the sorghum's
favorable nutrition profile.
Sources:
"Biofuels." Sorghum
Checkoff. N.p., Apr. 2012. Web. 04 Apr. 2013.
U.S. USDA. ERS. Feed
Grains: Yearbook Tables; Overview: Web. Accessed 10 Apr. 2013. <
Rice: Just over 6,084 (2007 Census of
Agriculture)farms produce rice in the United States. Those farms are
concentrated in four regions including the Arkansas Grand Prairie, the
Mississippi Delta (parts of Arkansas, Mississippi, Missouri, and Louisiana),
the Gulf Coast (Texas and Southwest Louisiana), and the Sacramento Valley of
California. There are three types of rice grain; long, medium, and short, and
each growing region harvests the type of rice best suited for the land. U.S. rice
production accounts for just under 2% of the world's total, but this country is
the second leading rice exporter with 10% of the world market.
About 50 - 60% of the rice consumed in the U.S. is for
direct food use; another 18% goes into processed foods, 10-12 percent goes into
pet food, and most of the rest (about 10 percent) goes into beer production.
Source:
U.S.
USDA. ERS. Rice: Trade. Web. Accessed 4 Apr. 2013.
GMO corn, soybeans dominate US market
Jun 04, 2013 by
Veronique Dupont
The discovery of
unauthorized genetically engineered wheat growing on a farm in the US state of Oregon has cast a spotlight on agricultural
biotechnology and the debate about its safety.
The discovery of unauthorized genetically
engineered wheat growing on a farm in the US
state of Oregon
has cast a spotlight on agricultural biotechnology and the debate about its
safety.
While genetically engineered or genetically
modified (GM) wheat has not been approved for commercial planting, GM corn
and GM soybeans already reign supreme on American farms.
By 2012, 88 percent of corn (maize) and 94
percent of soy grown in the United States
were genetically modified, according to the US Department
of Agriculture.
And with the US
market now well saturated, seed firms are eying China
and South America to spur growth and profits.
The main players are US firms Monsanto, DuPont and Dow
Chemical, as well as Germany's
Bayer and Syngenta of Switzerland.
Since their introduction in the 1990s, GM
products have conquered agriculture in the US and hold a
large share of the food on Americans' plates.
Though most genetically modified organisms
(GMOs) are not directly involved in human
consumption, "60-70 percent of processed foods have ingredients
derived from GMOs," said Bill Freese of the Center for Food Safety, an
anti-GMO organization.
Besides corn and soybeans, GM crops
grown in the US
include cotton, sugar beets and rapeseed.
In addition, a genetically engineered
growth hormone, recombinant bovine growth hormone, is widely injected in cows
to boost milk production.
The US government vouches for the
safety of GM products. The industry is regulated by the Department of
Agriculture, for farm biotechnology, and the Food and Drug Administration, which governs
food and food ingredients.
But the developers of the GM products are
deeply involved in certifying their safety. The FDA, for instance, depends on a
consultative process with developers who voluntarily present their plans to the
agency before marketing the products.
Doubts are strong in Europe, where a
number of countries, including France,
have banned GM crops.
US farmers, though paying more to buy GM seeds, find them worthwhile.
Corn and soybeans have been modified to improve resistance to weeds and
insects, for example, to help farmers boost productivity.
"If by planting a GMO variety your
yield increases faster than it would if you didn't, your future rewards are
going to increase," said Bill Nelson, a soybean analyst at Doane Advisory
Services.
And the structure of some government crop
insurance programs favor that productivity, giving farmers even more incentive
to plant GM seeds rather than traditional seeds.
For Freese, a science policy analyst at
the Center for Food Safety, GM seeds' very dominance is promoting their use.
"It's become harder and harder for
farmers to even find conventional seeds," Freese said.
"The big players bought up
conventional seed companies," he said, "and the university public
sector breeders which used to produce most of the seeds that farmers used have
seen their funding reduced."
Freese noted that cross-pollination of
conventional fields by GMO strains has become so widespread it is difficult to
produce "pure" seeds that are not contaminated.
Some organic seed developers grow their
seeds in South America because they cannot find sources to buy pure seeds in
the US,
he said.
Yet the seed giants are facing a growing
opposition to GM products in the US, with some consumers calling for
GM product labeling.
Ben & Jerry's, the activist ice-cream
maker, said in April it would stop using GM-sourced ingredients, which make up
20 percent of its products by volume, by the end of the year.
Whole Foods Market, the upscale natural
and organic supermarket chain, announced in March that all its products in its US and Canadian
stores would be labeled if they contain genetically modified organisms by 2018.
Meanwhile, the outlook for the seed giants
remains bright outside the US,
especially in rapidly growing South America and China.
With China's expanding middle class and
appetite for meat, the Asian powerhouse will need to import huge quantities of
soybeans and corn for animal feed, Nelson said.
"That can't happen without the
majority being GMO."
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