January 25, 2010

"For though this farm might feed 129, it can no longer support the four who live on it," this statement caught my attention while reading The Omnivore's Dilemma because of its apparent unjust distribution and the implied competitive nature of farming. These characteristics force families, such as the Naylor's, to sell their entire yield in order to break even, or earn only a slight profit, and they are required to rely on other sources of income for their physiological needs. Likely being one of those 129 people, I started to feel very guilty about consuming the amount of food I do and being an agent of the Naylor's inability to run a self sufficient farm. However, removing myself from the other 128 consumers would not help the Naylor's in anyway, because it would either cause them to loss money or another omnivore would replace my position, continuing the cycle. I was pondering the ways I could assist the Naylor's and other farmers in America with the same issue, when I realized there really ways nothing I could personally do, but that it is up to the government to help these farmers and prevent them from abandoning this profession entirely and hindering the United States economy greatly.