M. Current alternatives to the industrial food system

Chapter 13 Summary

This chapter is about two alternatives to the industrial food system suited to a discussion about New York City: Urban Agriculture as well as Organic and Local Production. While we have seen the costs and benefits of the industrial food system, it is becoming increasing apparent that there are viable alternatives to this mass production industry. We come to this issue in the context of land degradation and shifting population densities towards cities over rural areas, both factors which place increasing emphasis on the new kinds of efficiency provided by these alternatives.
The first chapter will deal with organic agriculture and local production as it relates to animal husbandry. It moves from a discussion of large-scale organic production to small-scale organic and local production around New York City. Using the United States Department of Agriculture’s definition of organic agriculture, and the definition of J. I. Rodale, the organic movement’s founder, the two systems are compared. It’s survey finds the major local farms, farms which are not organically certified, more completely fulfilling USDA organic standards than organic industrial farms. Overall, the survey finds the two systems competitive both with each other, and with the industrial norm.
The second chapter in this section addresses the innovating issue of urban agriculture, farming within city regions as a way to decrease reliance on rural areas for food production. The technological advances of utilizing metropolitan regions, as effectively a food production system through the development of vertical farms is a practical solution to the depletion of land resources worldwide. By studying the past negative determents caused through industrial mass production as well as the present developments within the urban agricultural sector, we can visualize the future intentions of metropolis growth. Through envisioning Brookdale dormitories as a hypothetical vertical farm and documenting its’ projected cropped yield based on USDA 2009 reports, we can successfully scale a global environmental issue into a communicable one for the academic community at Hunter College.
In conclusion, from our collected data, we argue that it is necessary to transition from the industrial food system to more viable, current alternatives in order to sustain current populations and future generations.

Chapter 13 PDF Sources

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