I have attempted to sit down and write this post a few times... but I knew writing about this topic would take a lot of energy and I honestly just haven't had it in me. If I am going to dive into this topic... I am going to go deep... so LET'S GO!
Food is essential for us to survive and yet it is such an emotional topic. My overarching question for you is, what are we feeding our families? This isn't a simple conversation and my goal is to provide you with some of my food for thought from a person in agriculture.
First off, I hate fear mongering. Not everyone can afford; all organic, cage free, locally sourced, natural, GMO free, label this or label that, products and I don't think we should put shame on someone for their food choices. We live in a society that consumes highly processed foods and I think choosing the organic tomato or the conventional one are both better for our bodies than a bag of hot cheetos (which were my go to in high school by the way, not knocking them for flavor haha).
Okay I am getting ahead of myself. Let's back up and talk about each "hot topic."
GMOs- What is a GMO? A GMO is a genetically modified organism. There are currently only 15 approved GMOs on the market (corn, canola, soybean, cotton, papaya, potato, apple, sugar beet, alfalfa, squash, pineapple, tobacco, rice, sugarcane, plum).
What is the science of a GMO? Genetics have been selectively chosen for thousands of years. Most of us know about Mendel and how he took advantage of this property to produce true-breeding pea lines: he self-fertilized and selected peas for many generations until he got lines that consistently made offspring identical to the parent (mid 1800s). Selectively breeding for certain traits is time consuming but eventually you can see traits through the phenotype (physical) that were selected overtime. We then evolved to crossbreeding, hybrids, etc.
GMOs can speed up the process by allowing us to choose desired traits in the genotype (genetic) stage. A GMO can be achieved through a few different methods.
A. shutting off a gene- the arctic apple doesn't brown because the GMO shuts of the browning enzyme. This can decrease food waste and make our food more appetizing.
B. Adding a gene- an example of the roundup ready gene. This makes it so farmers have a little more control when they have so many uncontrollables (we will chat about the use of chemicals down below). Another example of this is golden rice. Scientists took rice and added biosynthesize beta-carotene, a precursor of vitamin A, to help children in developing countries receive an adequate amount of vitamins. Children are going blind and are malnourished and rice is a staple in their diets. By growing golden rice, families could have easier access to essential nutrients.
C. Rearranging genes is also a way to make a GMO. The phenotype will show a different outcome based on the arrangement of genes.
My thoughts: I think there are a lot of great opportunities with GMOs but I also question how far do we take it? Is there a point when we should let nature do its thing? From a christian's perspective, I question if we are playing God but I also believe that he gave us a brain to use and he gave us science to help us when we need it. He said, "I will give you the tools but you have to pick up the hammer." Our climate continues to change and we are seeing extreme weather. GMOs can help farmers with controlling a few aspects that are typically uncontrollable. GMOs can help with drought and rain tolerance, pest control, weed pressure, diseases, etc. They can actually help us spray less chemicals. For example, cotton has a GMO that makes it resistant to the bollworms.
****When I see negativity surrounding our food system, I always ask the question, how did we get here? We had to get here somehow. Did we get here because of necessity? Convenience? Demand? Environmental change?
Here is a prime example, the most popular cultivar of bananas, Cavendish, are being attacked by a disease called the Panama disease which is caused by the strain Tropical Race 4 (TR4). The Cavendish cultivar is a clone, meaning all of the Cavendish banana plants are genetic clones of one another. If the disease spreads too far it could wipe out the banana industry. But why are all of the plants genetically the same? Well... consumer demand. We want bananas where we don't grow bananas. We want the flavor that we have come to expect. We want the convenience of going to the store and buying bananas whenever we want to make a banana split. Shoppers vote with their dollars and we got here because the consumers have a certain expectation.
A GMO could save the banana industry.
Do I think we need more testing on the effect that GMOs could potentially have in the environment and within our bodies? YES!! They have only been around for the last 30 years, which isn't a very long to prove that they are 100% safe, but I don't think just because Europe says no to GMOs that it is automatically off the table. I think there are a lot of pros and I think we need them to feed our growing population, especially with climate change and the unpredictability of farming.
We can have a conversation about GMOs but I think the real conversation is BIG FOOD.
Who is producing our food and what is their motive? According to https://sentientmedia.org/big-food/, "There are a few major players that make up Big Food. These companies tend to have products in every aisle of the supermarket; Kelloggs, Associated British Foods, General Mills, Coca-Cola, etc."
What is their motive? $$$$ They want consumers to come back and purchase the product again and again.
Again, I go back to how did we get here? Supply and Demand. The demand was there, these big food companies saw a gap in the market, and they filled the demand with supply. Take the 90s for example, we saw a huge increase in the demand for convenience. Our day to day lives sped up and we wanted food when we wanted it.
We also want our food to be cheap. Last year, the share of household budgets devoted to food was 7.1% in the US; it was higher in European countries like the UK (9.4%), Germany (11.7%), France (15%), Spain (15%), and Italy (16.5%), and yet I complain about my grocery bill every week. We want convenience and we want cheap. We may say we want healthy food but we vote with our dollars. We continue to come back to our favorite processed foods.
Now let's talk about the ingredients on these processed foods. Our food is full of sugars, dyes and chemicals. These ingredients keep consumers coming back because they are added to increase the addictive nature. Also one thing to note, a lot of ingredients are added as fillers. Because we want cheap, food companies are adding empty calories to make the product go further. For example, I saw a graphic on Facebook that was comparing America oreos to Europe oreos. The America oreos had a lot more ingredients but ours was also a lot cheaper. We can't have both. Europe is voting with their dollar. I think we will continue to see a trend towards healthier options as we demand it.
For example, I heard on a podcast that pickles have dyes in the... LIKE WHAT??? Why do we need dyes in pickles? Well consumers tend to buy the pickles that have more of a vibrant and full color. At the end of the day, these large food companies are trying to get you to buy their product over the competitors. Let's buy the pickles that don't have dyes in them.
Money is a huge factor for how consumers shop. I think we need choices, but I think we need someone in office who is going to help fix our economy/food system. Should food suppliers be able to market their products to kids? Should we glorify cereals based on what celebrity is endorsing them? But... on the other hand, we live in a free country and businesses should be able to market how they see fit.
Ultimately, I think it is up to us as consumers to look at the ingredients and to buy food that will fuel our families. It is up to us as the consumer to buy what meets our nutritional and budget needs.
With all that being said, I think it is important to not fall into fear mongering on social media. As a mom, I want to feed my children to the best of my ability and sometimes that means homemade bread and sometimes that means frozen chicken nuggets. Food is food and everything in moderation. I think the best thing we can do is add variety to our diets and limit processed foods/sugars.
***Again back to the GMO/conventional conversation. Is it GMOs that are the problem or is it that we use corn and soy oil in EVERYTHING? We should be consuming things in moderation and yet corn oil or syrup is in literally everything. Maybe our conversation should begin there.
Antibiotics: This is a huge marketing scheme. There are NO antibiotics in any animal products. Farmers must follow a withdrawal period to ensure the medicine has left the animal's body. Inspectors will randomly test meat or milk for antibiotics.
Do you give your family members medicine when they are sick? I would rather know that the animal was well taken care of verses an animal that was processed while it was sick. If you see the label "never administered antibiotics," this means that the animal was never given antibiotics. If you choose to spend money on antibiotic free meat, that is your choice and I love that for you! ***Antibiotics have to be prescribed by a vet. Farmers are not pumping their animals with antibiotics.
Hormones: We implant our steers with a small dose of hormones. This is to replace the hormones that decreased when they were fixed. To put it into perspective, there are more hormones in a head of lettuce than there are in the implant that we give the steers. It just gives them a little boost to help them put on muscle mass. We don't do this with heifers or cows. This is also administered by a vet. Inputs are way too expensive to waste and it always bugs me when I hear that farmers are pumping their animals with something... how would that make financial sense?
Spraying chemicals: we just had a discussion about organic vs conventional farming in class. My 8th graders asked some great questions. I often get asked what my stance is as the ag teacher. I think we need all types of farms. I think we need big, small, organic and conventional. I don't know if I love the idea of spraying but I totally get it. Farmers face so many uncontrollables and diseases/pests can wipe out a crop in a matter of days or weeks. Your whole lively-hood could be at risk.
Organic and conventional are not things but instead a method of farming. Organic farmers can not spray synthetic chemicals or utilize GMO technology. Even though organic farmers can't spray synthetic chemicals, they can spray natural chemicals/fertilizers. There is no evidence that the nutrients are better in one practice verses the other.
Pros and Cons:
Conventional:
Pros- High yields, more uniformity, grown for being transported, shelf-life increased, control, less weed/disease/pest pressure, less food waste, cheaper to buy at grocery store
Cons- input costs, pollinator habitats, super weeds, environment impact, health
Organic:
Pros: Less synthetic chemicals, heirloom varieties, more diversity of crops, environmental protection, no preservatives
Cons: Costs more, more tilling=erosion, more weed/disease/pest pressure, difficult to get certified, may spoil faster
***Side note, sprays are diluted with water. For example, 24 oz of roundup would be mixed with water to spray an entire acre. The spray that you see being applied is mostly made up of water.
According to Google AI, "some organic pesticides can be more toxic than synthetic pesticides (this doesn't mean that all organic farmers are using these but food for thought, just because it says natural doesn't mean it is automatically better"
Rotenone
This pesticide is more toxic by weight than many synthetic pesticides.
Lime-sulfur solution
This organic fungicide carries a DANGER signal word and should be used with extreme caution.
Copper sulfate
This natural pesticide is used to kill bacteria and fungi that infect crops, and can be quite toxic.
Mineral oil
This organic pesticide can have a significant impact on the environment because it requires large amounts to be applied to plants.
Pesticides from both natural and synthetic sources can range from low to high toxicity. The pesticide label will always have a “signal word” that indicates the level of toxicity."
I don't share this to scare you but to just bring up the fact that there are two sides to every story and the conversation isn't always black and white. JUST WASH YOUR PRODUCE! An organic apple and a conventional apple are still both better choices than cosmic brownies!
Let's go back to the basics- whole foods people... sorry I am getting a little sassy haha. It just bugs me when I always hear that organic is automatically better. Not always!
Our population is expected to increase to 10 billion people by 2060. We will need more food but we will have less land to produce it on. We want to know where our food comes from and yet less than 2% of our population is involved in production ag. We want small farms and yet farmers can't make money unless they diversify or expand. We want local food but we also want grapefruits in Iowa.
We can't have cake and eat it too. We got here for a reason and I think we need to step back and make our own informed choices. I think we vote with our dollars and I think we make change with our consumption.
I try to live by the 80/20 rule. We eat healthy 80% of the time and we treat ourselves 20%. I try to shop for whole foods (protein, veggies, fruit, dairy, whole grains, etc.). I am also always learning. I listen to podcasts, read articles, watch YouTube videos and I don't just fall for the first thing I see on social media.
If you are interested in this topic, I encourage you to check out the Discover Ag Podcast. Natalie and Tara do a wonderful job breaking down hot topics.
If you made it all the way to the end, THANK YOU FOR READING. What are your thoughts?
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