Page 213, second paragraph starts with the sentence, “Take the issue of scale”. I think that this idea of quality over quantity is important throughout Pollan’s essay and hits close to the other essays we have looked at this semester. The idea is that the chicken farm is running in a cycle in which if any part is altered, the entire process will suffer. This cycle could be greatly expanded, however changes would have to be made that ruin the unwritten morals of this farm. The idea of managed grazing is connected greatly to the scientific side of “Can the earth feed 10 billion people” in the sense that sometimes less is more. The fact that this farm is fully functional and incorporates systems that are replicated via pharmaceuticals in most other farms is a good example of how living cleanly can be seen as an investment. Pollan talks about positives and negatives of industrialization of agriculture and we can see both the scientific side from “Can earth feel 10 billion people” and the realistic side of agriculture from Pollan.
Page 219, top paragraph is the continuation of talking about the mutilation of pigs in large scale industrial farming. At the end of the day, industrial farming is about one thing, money. In the interest of money, these pigs are taken from their mothers earlier than wild pigs would wean away from parental care. This leaves the pigs with lifelong instabilities that then have to be corrected, in interest of time and money of course. The connection between this section of Pollan’s paper and “what the crow knows” is along the same ideological lines. The fact is that these animals are more than what we think they are, furthermore more than just a way to make money. Pollan shows his quality over quantity ideals again, when talking about how he feels about the pig tails remaining intact. Pollan writes about the recognition of depression in these pigs because they are intelligent animals, supporting Ross Anderson’s views.
Page 208, first paragraph highlights the structural system of this essay. When looking at the structure of the essays we have read, they all have very similar structure to them that was highlighted in Pollan’s essay. I have found that all the essays we have written always start off with descriptive writing, describing scenery is one example from Pollan’s essay. Then much like in Lizzie Widdecomb’s essay, “Can earth feed 10 billion people ” and Pollan’s writing, the writing begins to break down the posed issue within science. I find it interesting how each one of these essays flows into and out of these different styles of writing. It seems to me like each paragraph is written with a different style and I thought it was worth writing about as I can mimic this style of writing in my future writing.
Pollan does a great job of setting the scene for the rest of the story here. “The Thick June Grass” description really set the stage. I can see myself at a farm somewhere. I feel like it makes the rest of the reading easier to follow after it sets it up. He then talks about how this beautiful landscape is getting damaged. This makes as the reader feel a certain way because it talks about the destruction of such a nice place.
Pg. 315 P.3
Here they explain the theory of Egg-mobile. It talks about how birds will follow herbivores to eat the insects that fly on them. They both benefit from the action, as the herbivores get away from the parasites the bird gets a meal from the flys . This is an extremely symbolic example to life. You try to help out people that can help you. These are the people you want to form alliances with and work towards a common goal.
Pg.319 P4
In this paragraph Pollen talks about the dark nature behind raising pigs. Specifically why they cut off pig’s tails. Cutting off these pigs tails young leaves them premature, so they have the urge to suck and chew the rest of their life. This leads them with more of an urge to eat and get as fatty as possible. When reading this it made me feel uncomfortable. The pigs only purpose in life from life to death is to get as fat as possible so we can kill them and eat them. I couldn’t even imagine if the scenarios were flipped upside down, and we treated humans how we treat the farm animals. The closest thing you. could compare this to is prison, and even that is not as extreme as getting forced to get as fat as possible to be killed, and then have your owners kill you and be used as a profit for their personal gain.
Page 317, the fourth and fifth paragraphs of the essay talk about the major differences between industrial-style farming and the type of farming that Polyface does. I think this is one of the main topics of the essay. Industrial farms focus on making money and being efficient, but it has a major impact on the animals and the environment. Polyface farm uses a different style of farming that is more similar to their natural ecosystems. I think that Pollan wanted to highlight this major difference in farming practices to show both the positive and negative aspects of both. He wanted to show that the animals raised on the Polyface farm are treated like animals, not just like objects that make money. I think this section of the essay is closely related to Borlaug and Vogt and their perspectives. The essay shows the pros and cons of a farming style that is more technology and machinery based as well as one that is more traditional and environmentally friendly.
The second important passage is on page 320 in the second and third paragraphs. These talk about the treatment of pigs while at industrial farms. I think this is an important part of the essay because it shows how little industrial farms care about the animals’ well-being and how much they focus on making a profit. These types of farms focus on efficiency, and it impacts the quality of life of the animals. For example, taking away a pig from its mother at a very young age because they don’t gain weight fast enough. Another example clubbing a sick pig to death instead because it takes too much to treat it. Other types of farms choose to focus on the animal’s well-being instead of its ability to bring a profit.
Another important passage is on pages 322, paragraph 7, and 323 paragraphs one and two. This section of the essay focuses on explaining the importance of forests for farms. Pollan goes into detail about the many positive impacts trees have on farmlands and animals. He explains how the water supply of the farm is dependent on the forests holding in the moisture, but he also talks about how the shade that trees provide impacts the pigs and their stress levels, that live in the savanna. I think it is really important to understand that farms are not all grass and soil and that without the benefits that trees provide, farms would erode, dry up, and be a poor environment for animals to live in.
This passage is important to Pollans essay because it explains a process that is beneficial to a farm in multiple ways. It starts with using chicken pens in a checkered pattern across the land and every day you alternate them. Each day the chicken can eat the grass and bugs while also fertilizing the ground and soil. This allows the chickens to be fed and fattened up by the time they are butchered for poultry as well as keeping the grass fertilized and growing. Usually with a normal free-range chicken yard, all the grass is quickly eaten and their manure is so nitrogenous that it makes the ground hard since they are repeatedly producing manure on the same spots. With the alternating technique, the chickens only produce manure in those spots for one day which allows a good amount of nitrogen to help fertilize the soil. This process only requires the purchase of chicken feed and some greensand to give the grass the calcium it lacks.
Page 315, para 3 and 4
These passages are important to Pollans essay because they explain how simple it can be to run a low cost yet highly effective and healthy farm. We were introduced to the Eggmobile, Joel’s proudest innovation. This wagon holds hundreds of laying hens that can lay their eggs in a nest but allows easy access from the outside to be collected. Joel invented this tool as a way to maintain the symbiotic relationship, for example, “The egret perched on the rhinos nose, the pheasants and turkeys trailing after the bison,” meaning the birds eat the insects that bother the herbivore or even pic insects and parasites out of manure to break the cycles of diseases. Joel uses the Eggmobile to transport the chickens to the cattle fields where they can eat the cows’ manure and flies that bother the cows. This allows the hens to add large amounts of protein to their diet, which results in rich and tasty eggs, for no extra money.
Page 318, para 4
This passage is important to Pollans essay because it gives yet another example to how his processes contribute to and highly benefit his farm on an agricultural and financial level. This passage explains the process he uses of moving a “feathernet,” a paddock outlined by portable electric fencing, in which his turkeys follow and use the feathernet to rest under it during the day and roost on top of it throughout the night. The turkeys play a role in eating the grass that’s too big for the chickens to eat and they do a better job at keeping crops undamaged. This process results in healthy turkeys, rich soil to help crop growth, a nutrient rich pasture used to refeed these farm animals over and over again all while having minimum purchases to maintain the process. Joel explained the “beauty of stacking” within this technique as well. To summarize, Joel explained that he keeps the amount of turkeys in this area at 70% as well the spacing of grapevines at 70% of what’s standard because you will get more out of both crops being at 70% than you would at 100%, and to mention its all done without the extra cost of fertilizer, pesticides, or weeding.
In Pollan’s essay, he describes his time at Polyface farm, a farm that, as described on page 316, paragraph 4, is creating an ecological system, not an industrial one. With an ecological system, everything is connected to each other, and feeds off each other. If an imbalance were created in one place in the farm, the rest of the farm would suffer, and massive changes to the whole farm would need to be undertaken to fix that one problem. Instead, he moves his chickens around so that they don’t destroy the soil in one area, as well as gets them to extract nutrients from the manure, much as it would be like in nature. As such, it keeps the farm in a delicate yet natural and sustainable balance. As he goes on to say, the farm is “more like an organism than a machine”, and as such has a certain operating scale and parameters that it can exist within.
Another passage in the essay is one regarding the notion of efficiency, as it relates to the ecosystem of the farm. As referenced on page 317, paragraph 3, efficiency is the main driving force and defense of large scale farms. With their superiorly efficient practices, they can outpace any and all smaller farms, making those smaller farms seem impractical and inefficient. But Polyface farm employs a different type of efficiency, the efficiency that makes up the world around us and keeps the natural order of things the way they are. As such, both styles are primarily concerned with reducing waste and keeping their efficiency at maximum function, but as opposed to having a massive waste disposal problem like large industrial farms do, Polyface instead recycles the natural waste of everything back into the farm, further perpetuating the ecosystem while being more sustainable and just as efficient as industrial farms are, and still solving the same exact problems. A final passage that is central to this idea of the ecosystem of the farm is made on page 320, in paragraph 2. In the previous paragraphs, Pollan describes the action of docking a pig’s tail, since the pigs grow stressed and will chew on another pigs tail to the point of infection, and the other pig, being so helpless and depressed, allows for its tail to be chewed on without caring, regardless of the pain it experiences. As a result, pigs on industrial farms have their tails cut off to prevent this action as a matter of course, leaving a little sensitive stump that will cause the pig excruciating pain if another pig were to chew on it, effectively discouraging the action in a way that can only be described as incredibly inhumane. Instead, Polyface farm allows them to, quite simply, live as pigs naturally do, and as the passage says, are allowed to live based on “the pigness of the pig”. As mentioned later in the paragraph, these pigs “too were being exploited” for their flesh as well as making manure, but this system allows the pig to live like a living being as opposed to simply a natural resource that will fit into the confines required of it. This whole essay is reminiscent of the “What the crow knows” essay, as in both essays both see the animals for what they really are: living beings, as opposed to inferior life forms that are simply tools and resources of humans. Perhaps in that way, by treating our animals better, we can learn to understand life a bit more fully, and maybe be kinder to the world around us.
“The Animals: Practicing Complexity” by Michael Pollan was a very well-written piece that I found very easy to read. Pollan uses very descriptive writing to put the readers in the scene with him. This essay had pretty much the same theme throughout the whole of the essay, which was industrial farming. On page 315 paragraph 2, Pollan brings up Joel’s now “contraption,” the Eggmobile. He went into detail about how this invention worked and how it would feed the chickens the grubs from the cow manure. It seems that Joel based this invention on natural ecosystems when he said “‘In nature, you’ll always find birds following herbivores.” His contraption basically just collects the cow manure, since it contains fly larvae, and waits a few days until the larvae grow large enough to be able to feed the chickens large grubs, which are packed with protein. The “industrial farm” that Pollan is observing seems to be much different than any other industrial farm. They seem to base this farm around a natural ecosystem and reuse natural materials for other farm animal habitats. Polyface farm isn’t simplifying tasks like other industrial farms by replacing everything with a machine. They continue to do all of the work and more by creating contraptions that will benefit the farm animals in the end. Pollan gives us an inside look at Polyface farm by putting us in the scene with his writing alone. By using descriptive writing he makes the reading smooth and fast and puts the readers in Polyface farm.
(pg. 316, para. 4): Pollan explains Joel’s conception that if one thing is to change in the system, then all things in the system must change as well. The significant connection that each and every aspect involved in the overall system can be both positive and negative. From my understanding Joel wants everything to be connected in order to maintain sustainability in this new way of thinking for agriculture. However, what is going to happen when there is an unexpected situation, which happens more often than not? In that situation changes will be forced upon the owner, and because everything is interconnected, rather than solving one problem, you have to go and solve a variety of other problems all because of one inconvenience. As much as I understand the usefulness and possible betterment of agriculture through this method, I have to ask myself whether or not the risk is worth the reward. The amount of work it would take to solve every problem at once instead of fixing one singular thing involved in the process makes me wonder if it is worth it.
(pg. 320, para. 4): Pollan opens this passage “Tuesday Afternoon” by complaining about the workload given to him. Obviously, Pollan is not used to/accustomed to farm life, but still what bothered me was his complaining about his workload based on what the animals were doing for him. Pollen says something along the lines of the animals are doing most of the work, but there still seems to be much to do around the farm. Reading this made me think “is he being serious?”. Having the animals do so much around the farm already would make me view my work as sort of a team effort. I would not be complaining about the work I have to do, especially when the animals are doing work for me that would be much more tedious and grueling. Pollen was simply moving hay bales that he described as weighing only fifty pounds. To me it makes no sense for anyone to complain about the work they have to do, when all the other work is already being done. In this case its I do my part, and the animals do their part; simple as that.
(pg. 315, para. 4): In this passage some of Joel’s farming methods are shared with us. While reading this paragraph I couldn’t help but admire how Joel goes about his farming. He is very meticulous and thorough in his work in order to ensure that everything on the farm is going as it should be. Farming is no easy job, and the effort that Joel puts into his work greatly reflects on his success. In the paragraph Pollan provides a quote from Joel which basically shows his understanding of the farm and his animals. His attention and understanding of farming almost makes me want to learn more about it just by the way he talks about it. If we had more farmers/agricultural workers with the same ideas and comprehension about farming that Joel has the quality, as well as the quantity of groceries for the rest of society would increase. Knowing that there are agriculture workers out there like Joel makes me feel safer about what I consume, and what I don’t consume.
Michael Pollan’s Essay expresses many main points. The essay focuses on Joel Satalin who owns Polyface farm; an environmentally friendly farm that uses all organic techniques. Joel Satalin is passionate about the way his farm works; using no chemicals and all natural resources to manage and maintain the farm. Joel discusses the fact that most farmers would rather use industrialized techniques for efficiency, opposed to caring about the health of the land and the animals. “My guess is that there aren’t too many farmers today who are up for either the physical or mental challenge of this sort of farming, not when the industrialization promises to simplify the job.” (page 321, para 2) This passage highlights the main point as it dwells on the unnecessarily tactics used in industrialization. Joel expresses that modern techniques of farming do not consider anything about the conservation of the environment. This passage can relate in conversations to other essays such as “What the Crow Knows.” Jainism, which is discussed in this passage, is a religion that sees all Earth creatures as equal; animals, humans, plants. Joel also sees animals as an extremely important contribution to Earth. Joel’s opinion that everything is ecologically connected reminds me of Jainism because they are so one with the Earth. Another connection to that is how Joel speaks about the careless treating of animals due to the selfishness of humans. “You don’t see much of this sort of problem solving in agriculture today, not when so many solutions come ready-made in plastic bottles.” (page 321 paragraph 2) He is addressing Pesticides; which make organisms grow faster but cause detrimental damage to the overall ecosystem. This is an important point made as the essay also demonstrates cause and effect with human actions and consequences. Joel is taking action to use an environmentally friendly plan to farm. His efforts to do this have greatly improved the state of his land, animals, food quality, etc.The author exclaims many times throughout the essay how happy the animals look. They aren’t being forced to adapt to the abusive tactics. An example of one of these tactics is Tail docking. At large industrialized farms pigs tails were snipped off causing constant pain. This is just one small example of farms treating animals wrong. Joel did quite the opposite, as Micheal Pollan observed Joels efforts to let the animals live their best lives. “Polyface honors—- and exploits—- ‘ the innate distinctive desires of a chicken’ which include pecking in the grass and cleaning up after herbivores. (page 318 paragraph 1) The quality of life these animals have is significant due to ones at unconvnentional farms. Relating this to “Consider the Lobster” and “What the Crow Knows” I believe that Joel considers the thoughts and feelings of animals. “Considering the Lobster ” focuses on if the lobster can feel pain, and it can. Just like how pigs can feel their tails getting cut off. In Jainism, they believe that the psychological processes of animals are almostt identical to ours, and have many similarities. Most of “What the Crow knows” discusses the debate of animals’ psychological abilities which is something Joel makes sure to take into mind. Other farms, like some the author speaks about, use damaging tactics that hurt all parties. The Effect of that is the hurtful impact on the environment and animals. Joel has found ways to keep his land, animals, and customers happy by doing what he does.
Pg. 314 par. 4 – This passage is centrally important for the understanding of Pollan’s essay because it introduces the basic paradigm of his farm. It explains the role that chickens play in the system and how this method is more efficient than conventional farming in multiple ways. The theme of exploiting nature for profit is exemplified in this passage, notably with the word “profits” taking up one-third of the title of Joel’s book. This passage also emphasizes the importance of nitrogen. This connects back to Charles C. Mann’s essay, “Can Planet Earth Feed 10 Billion People?”, which illustrates multiple cases where people are finding new ways to exploit the inner workings of soil, in which nitrogen was found to be indispensable. The final sentence of the passage sets up the concept of the participation of one organism directly affecting the other organisms in the encompassing system. Relating back to Mann’s essay again, Joel seems to be following a wizard-esque philosophy by understanding the necessity of knowing how the land he is using works and the duty to give back to it.
Pg. 315 par. 3 – This passage is important to the point of Pollan’s essay by laying out the specific intricacies of the operation that create the symbiotic relationships that are the basis of Polyface’s success. The cows provide grubs to the chickens and trim their grass, and the chickens fertilize the grass that the cows eat. It is evident that Joel put much care and thought into the timing of each sub-system. He knows the exact time frame for grubs to be at the highest standard. He notes how his chickens like their grubs this certain way, which makes it seem like Joel caters to the tastes of his animals, but this can alternatively be viewed as him using this trick to make his eggs as tasty as possible. Although I mentioned previously how Joel exploits his animals for profit, I find it impressive how Joel can increase the quality of his eggs while simultaneously decreasing the price.
Pg. 317 par. 6 – This paragraph goes deeper into the overall morals of Pollan’s essay, which is welcoming environmentally conscious agriculture and rejecting industry. The wording of this passage, such as “he takes advantage”, makes it clear that there is exploitation in all farms, Joel’s included. However, it is possible to both honor and exploit your enterprises, such as Polyface farm does. I appreciate Joel even considering the wants and feelings of his livestock. Industrial farming, on the other hand, completely disregards or abuses their livestock’s natural tendencies for the purpose of “efficiency”. It may be a stretch, but this dichotomy reminded me of the essay “Consider the Lobster” by David Foster Wallace. The argument of if lobsters feel pain or not exists because there is a motive for people to argue against lobsters feeling pain. People want to continue eating lobsters the way they normally do for the sake of their own cognitive consonance as the consumer and for the sake of not having to change their methods of preparation from what they deem most “effective”.
Page 315, paragraph 4 that starts with “Joel climbed onto the tracker.” This paragraph talks about how chickens have many benefits for the farm. They are used in multiple ways to benefit the farm and are not just being used for food for humans. It has multiple benefits for the environment. This reminded me of the “Can planet earth feed 10 billion people” story because it talked about how in our future we do not have enough food for everyone who will be living on earth. They talked about how it was stressful for them to find ways to help with climate change and having food that was more substantial for humans. This relates because it gives us ways that will help humans and our environment.
Page 317, paragraph 2 that starts with “it’s all connected.” This paragraph and the one following it talks about how everything on the farm is connected and each factor has multiple causes and effects. This paragraph also reminded me about the same story of “Can planet earth feed 10 billion people” In that other article it talks about how they are worried for our future survival. How if we feed one of our needs like hospitality, we take away land that we can use to grow food and have a disadvantage of our need to eat. It is all connected because no matter what happens, it will have an effect on all of our needs.
Page 319, paragraph 3 that starts with “Why the corn.” This paragraph talks about how he raises the pigs on his farm. He tries to raise them to be as happy and live their life to the fullest as they can. Instead of just raising them to be killed and eaten. He raises them in an environment that is enjoyable for them to live in. This reminds me of the “What the crows know” story we read because even though there isn’t scientific evidence that the animals on his farm are conscious, he still tries to make them feel safe and happy on his farm.
10 thoughts on “JOURNAL # 10”
Page 213, second paragraph starts with the sentence, “Take the issue of scale”. I think that this idea of quality over quantity is important throughout Pollan’s essay and hits close to the other essays we have looked at this semester. The idea is that the chicken farm is running in a cycle in which if any part is altered, the entire process will suffer. This cycle could be greatly expanded, however changes would have to be made that ruin the unwritten morals of this farm. The idea of managed grazing is connected greatly to the scientific side of “Can the earth feed 10 billion people” in the sense that sometimes less is more. The fact that this farm is fully functional and incorporates systems that are replicated via pharmaceuticals in most other farms is a good example of how living cleanly can be seen as an investment. Pollan talks about positives and negatives of industrialization of agriculture and we can see both the scientific side from “Can earth feel 10 billion people” and the realistic side of agriculture from Pollan.
Page 219, top paragraph is the continuation of talking about the mutilation of pigs in large scale industrial farming. At the end of the day, industrial farming is about one thing, money. In the interest of money, these pigs are taken from their mothers earlier than wild pigs would wean away from parental care. This leaves the pigs with lifelong instabilities that then have to be corrected, in interest of time and money of course. The connection between this section of Pollan’s paper and “what the crow knows” is along the same ideological lines. The fact is that these animals are more than what we think they are, furthermore more than just a way to make money. Pollan shows his quality over quantity ideals again, when talking about how he feels about the pig tails remaining intact. Pollan writes about the recognition of depression in these pigs because they are intelligent animals, supporting Ross Anderson’s views.
Page 208, first paragraph highlights the structural system of this essay. When looking at the structure of the essays we have read, they all have very similar structure to them that was highlighted in Pollan’s essay. I have found that all the essays we have written always start off with descriptive writing, describing scenery is one example from Pollan’s essay. Then much like in Lizzie Widdecomb’s essay, “Can earth feed 10 billion people ” and Pollan’s writing, the writing begins to break down the posed issue within science. I find it interesting how each one of these essays flows into and out of these different styles of writing. It seems to me like each paragraph is written with a different style and I thought it was worth writing about as I can mimic this style of writing in my future writing.
Pg.314 P.3
Pollan does a great job of setting the scene for the rest of the story here. “The Thick June Grass” description really set the stage. I can see myself at a farm somewhere. I feel like it makes the rest of the reading easier to follow after it sets it up. He then talks about how this beautiful landscape is getting damaged. This makes as the reader feel a certain way because it talks about the destruction of such a nice place.
Pg. 315 P.3
Here they explain the theory of Egg-mobile. It talks about how birds will follow herbivores to eat the insects that fly on them. They both benefit from the action, as the herbivores get away from the parasites the bird gets a meal from the flys . This is an extremely symbolic example to life. You try to help out people that can help you. These are the people you want to form alliances with and work towards a common goal.
Pg.319 P4
In this paragraph Pollen talks about the dark nature behind raising pigs. Specifically why they cut off pig’s tails. Cutting off these pigs tails young leaves them premature, so they have the urge to suck and chew the rest of their life. This leads them with more of an urge to eat and get as fatty as possible. When reading this it made me feel uncomfortable. The pigs only purpose in life from life to death is to get as fat as possible so we can kill them and eat them. I couldn’t even imagine if the scenarios were flipped upside down, and we treated humans how we treat the farm animals. The closest thing you. could compare this to is prison, and even that is not as extreme as getting forced to get as fat as possible to be killed, and then have your owners kill you and be used as a profit for their personal gain.
Page 317, the fourth and fifth paragraphs of the essay talk about the major differences between industrial-style farming and the type of farming that Polyface does. I think this is one of the main topics of the essay. Industrial farms focus on making money and being efficient, but it has a major impact on the animals and the environment. Polyface farm uses a different style of farming that is more similar to their natural ecosystems. I think that Pollan wanted to highlight this major difference in farming practices to show both the positive and negative aspects of both. He wanted to show that the animals raised on the Polyface farm are treated like animals, not just like objects that make money. I think this section of the essay is closely related to Borlaug and Vogt and their perspectives. The essay shows the pros and cons of a farming style that is more technology and machinery based as well as one that is more traditional and environmentally friendly.
The second important passage is on page 320 in the second and third paragraphs. These talk about the treatment of pigs while at industrial farms. I think this is an important part of the essay because it shows how little industrial farms care about the animals’ well-being and how much they focus on making a profit. These types of farms focus on efficiency, and it impacts the quality of life of the animals. For example, taking away a pig from its mother at a very young age because they don’t gain weight fast enough. Another example clubbing a sick pig to death instead because it takes too much to treat it. Other types of farms choose to focus on the animal’s well-being instead of its ability to bring a profit.
Another important passage is on pages 322, paragraph 7, and 323 paragraphs one and two. This section of the essay focuses on explaining the importance of forests for farms. Pollan goes into detail about the many positive impacts trees have on farmlands and animals. He explains how the water supply of the farm is dependent on the forests holding in the moisture, but he also talks about how the shade that trees provide impacts the pigs and their stress levels, that live in the savanna. I think it is really important to understand that farms are not all grass and soil and that without the benefits that trees provide, farms would erode, dry up, and be a poor environment for animals to live in.
Page 314, para 5
This passage is important to Pollans essay because it explains a process that is beneficial to a farm in multiple ways. It starts with using chicken pens in a checkered pattern across the land and every day you alternate them. Each day the chicken can eat the grass and bugs while also fertilizing the ground and soil. This allows the chickens to be fed and fattened up by the time they are butchered for poultry as well as keeping the grass fertilized and growing. Usually with a normal free-range chicken yard, all the grass is quickly eaten and their manure is so nitrogenous that it makes the ground hard since they are repeatedly producing manure on the same spots. With the alternating technique, the chickens only produce manure in those spots for one day which allows a good amount of nitrogen to help fertilize the soil. This process only requires the purchase of chicken feed and some greensand to give the grass the calcium it lacks.
Page 315, para 3 and 4
These passages are important to Pollans essay because they explain how simple it can be to run a low cost yet highly effective and healthy farm. We were introduced to the Eggmobile, Joel’s proudest innovation. This wagon holds hundreds of laying hens that can lay their eggs in a nest but allows easy access from the outside to be collected. Joel invented this tool as a way to maintain the symbiotic relationship, for example, “The egret perched on the rhinos nose, the pheasants and turkeys trailing after the bison,” meaning the birds eat the insects that bother the herbivore or even pic insects and parasites out of manure to break the cycles of diseases. Joel uses the Eggmobile to transport the chickens to the cattle fields where they can eat the cows’ manure and flies that bother the cows. This allows the hens to add large amounts of protein to their diet, which results in rich and tasty eggs, for no extra money.
Page 318, para 4
This passage is important to Pollans essay because it gives yet another example to how his processes contribute to and highly benefit his farm on an agricultural and financial level. This passage explains the process he uses of moving a “feathernet,” a paddock outlined by portable electric fencing, in which his turkeys follow and use the feathernet to rest under it during the day and roost on top of it throughout the night. The turkeys play a role in eating the grass that’s too big for the chickens to eat and they do a better job at keeping crops undamaged. This process results in healthy turkeys, rich soil to help crop growth, a nutrient rich pasture used to refeed these farm animals over and over again all while having minimum purchases to maintain the process. Joel explained the “beauty of stacking” within this technique as well. To summarize, Joel explained that he keeps the amount of turkeys in this area at 70% as well the spacing of grapevines at 70% of what’s standard because you will get more out of both crops being at 70% than you would at 100%, and to mention its all done without the extra cost of fertilizer, pesticides, or weeding.
In Pollan’s essay, he describes his time at Polyface farm, a farm that, as described on page 316, paragraph 4, is creating an ecological system, not an industrial one. With an ecological system, everything is connected to each other, and feeds off each other. If an imbalance were created in one place in the farm, the rest of the farm would suffer, and massive changes to the whole farm would need to be undertaken to fix that one problem. Instead, he moves his chickens around so that they don’t destroy the soil in one area, as well as gets them to extract nutrients from the manure, much as it would be like in nature. As such, it keeps the farm in a delicate yet natural and sustainable balance. As he goes on to say, the farm is “more like an organism than a machine”, and as such has a certain operating scale and parameters that it can exist within.
Another passage in the essay is one regarding the notion of efficiency, as it relates to the ecosystem of the farm. As referenced on page 317, paragraph 3, efficiency is the main driving force and defense of large scale farms. With their superiorly efficient practices, they can outpace any and all smaller farms, making those smaller farms seem impractical and inefficient. But Polyface farm employs a different type of efficiency, the efficiency that makes up the world around us and keeps the natural order of things the way they are. As such, both styles are primarily concerned with reducing waste and keeping their efficiency at maximum function, but as opposed to having a massive waste disposal problem like large industrial farms do, Polyface instead recycles the natural waste of everything back into the farm, further perpetuating the ecosystem while being more sustainable and just as efficient as industrial farms are, and still solving the same exact problems. A final passage that is central to this idea of the ecosystem of the farm is made on page 320, in paragraph 2. In the previous paragraphs, Pollan describes the action of docking a pig’s tail, since the pigs grow stressed and will chew on another pigs tail to the point of infection, and the other pig, being so helpless and depressed, allows for its tail to be chewed on without caring, regardless of the pain it experiences. As a result, pigs on industrial farms have their tails cut off to prevent this action as a matter of course, leaving a little sensitive stump that will cause the pig excruciating pain if another pig were to chew on it, effectively discouraging the action in a way that can only be described as incredibly inhumane. Instead, Polyface farm allows them to, quite simply, live as pigs naturally do, and as the passage says, are allowed to live based on “the pigness of the pig”. As mentioned later in the paragraph, these pigs “too were being exploited” for their flesh as well as making manure, but this system allows the pig to live like a living being as opposed to simply a natural resource that will fit into the confines required of it. This whole essay is reminiscent of the “What the crow knows” essay, as in both essays both see the animals for what they really are: living beings, as opposed to inferior life forms that are simply tools and resources of humans. Perhaps in that way, by treating our animals better, we can learn to understand life a bit more fully, and maybe be kinder to the world around us.
“The Animals: Practicing Complexity” by Michael Pollan was a very well-written piece that I found very easy to read. Pollan uses very descriptive writing to put the readers in the scene with him. This essay had pretty much the same theme throughout the whole of the essay, which was industrial farming. On page 315 paragraph 2, Pollan brings up Joel’s now “contraption,” the Eggmobile. He went into detail about how this invention worked and how it would feed the chickens the grubs from the cow manure. It seems that Joel based this invention on natural ecosystems when he said “‘In nature, you’ll always find birds following herbivores.” His contraption basically just collects the cow manure, since it contains fly larvae, and waits a few days until the larvae grow large enough to be able to feed the chickens large grubs, which are packed with protein. The “industrial farm” that Pollan is observing seems to be much different than any other industrial farm. They seem to base this farm around a natural ecosystem and reuse natural materials for other farm animal habitats. Polyface farm isn’t simplifying tasks like other industrial farms by replacing everything with a machine. They continue to do all of the work and more by creating contraptions that will benefit the farm animals in the end. Pollan gives us an inside look at Polyface farm by putting us in the scene with his writing alone. By using descriptive writing he makes the reading smooth and fast and puts the readers in Polyface farm.
(pg. 316, para. 4): Pollan explains Joel’s conception that if one thing is to change in the system, then all things in the system must change as well. The significant connection that each and every aspect involved in the overall system can be both positive and negative. From my understanding Joel wants everything to be connected in order to maintain sustainability in this new way of thinking for agriculture. However, what is going to happen when there is an unexpected situation, which happens more often than not? In that situation changes will be forced upon the owner, and because everything is interconnected, rather than solving one problem, you have to go and solve a variety of other problems all because of one inconvenience. As much as I understand the usefulness and possible betterment of agriculture through this method, I have to ask myself whether or not the risk is worth the reward. The amount of work it would take to solve every problem at once instead of fixing one singular thing involved in the process makes me wonder if it is worth it.
(pg. 320, para. 4): Pollan opens this passage “Tuesday Afternoon” by complaining about the workload given to him. Obviously, Pollan is not used to/accustomed to farm life, but still what bothered me was his complaining about his workload based on what the animals were doing for him. Pollen says something along the lines of the animals are doing most of the work, but there still seems to be much to do around the farm. Reading this made me think “is he being serious?”. Having the animals do so much around the farm already would make me view my work as sort of a team effort. I would not be complaining about the work I have to do, especially when the animals are doing work for me that would be much more tedious and grueling. Pollen was simply moving hay bales that he described as weighing only fifty pounds. To me it makes no sense for anyone to complain about the work they have to do, when all the other work is already being done. In this case its I do my part, and the animals do their part; simple as that.
(pg. 315, para. 4): In this passage some of Joel’s farming methods are shared with us. While reading this paragraph I couldn’t help but admire how Joel goes about his farming. He is very meticulous and thorough in his work in order to ensure that everything on the farm is going as it should be. Farming is no easy job, and the effort that Joel puts into his work greatly reflects on his success. In the paragraph Pollan provides a quote from Joel which basically shows his understanding of the farm and his animals. His attention and understanding of farming almost makes me want to learn more about it just by the way he talks about it. If we had more farmers/agricultural workers with the same ideas and comprehension about farming that Joel has the quality, as well as the quantity of groceries for the rest of society would increase. Knowing that there are agriculture workers out there like Joel makes me feel safer about what I consume, and what I don’t consume.
Michael Pollan’s Essay expresses many main points. The essay focuses on Joel Satalin who owns Polyface farm; an environmentally friendly farm that uses all organic techniques. Joel Satalin is passionate about the way his farm works; using no chemicals and all natural resources to manage and maintain the farm. Joel discusses the fact that most farmers would rather use industrialized techniques for efficiency, opposed to caring about the health of the land and the animals. “My guess is that there aren’t too many farmers today who are up for either the physical or mental challenge of this sort of farming, not when the industrialization promises to simplify the job.” (page 321, para 2) This passage highlights the main point as it dwells on the unnecessarily tactics used in industrialization. Joel expresses that modern techniques of farming do not consider anything about the conservation of the environment. This passage can relate in conversations to other essays such as “What the Crow Knows.” Jainism, which is discussed in this passage, is a religion that sees all Earth creatures as equal; animals, humans, plants. Joel also sees animals as an extremely important contribution to Earth. Joel’s opinion that everything is ecologically connected reminds me of Jainism because they are so one with the Earth. Another connection to that is how Joel speaks about the careless treating of animals due to the selfishness of humans. “You don’t see much of this sort of problem solving in agriculture today, not when so many solutions come ready-made in plastic bottles.” (page 321 paragraph 2) He is addressing Pesticides; which make organisms grow faster but cause detrimental damage to the overall ecosystem. This is an important point made as the essay also demonstrates cause and effect with human actions and consequences. Joel is taking action to use an environmentally friendly plan to farm. His efforts to do this have greatly improved the state of his land, animals, food quality, etc.The author exclaims many times throughout the essay how happy the animals look. They aren’t being forced to adapt to the abusive tactics. An example of one of these tactics is Tail docking. At large industrialized farms pigs tails were snipped off causing constant pain. This is just one small example of farms treating animals wrong. Joel did quite the opposite, as Micheal Pollan observed Joels efforts to let the animals live their best lives. “Polyface honors—- and exploits—- ‘ the innate distinctive desires of a chicken’ which include pecking in the grass and cleaning up after herbivores. (page 318 paragraph 1) The quality of life these animals have is significant due to ones at unconvnentional farms. Relating this to “Consider the Lobster” and “What the Crow Knows” I believe that Joel considers the thoughts and feelings of animals. “Considering the Lobster ” focuses on if the lobster can feel pain, and it can. Just like how pigs can feel their tails getting cut off. In Jainism, they believe that the psychological processes of animals are almostt identical to ours, and have many similarities. Most of “What the Crow knows” discusses the debate of animals’ psychological abilities which is something Joel makes sure to take into mind. Other farms, like some the author speaks about, use damaging tactics that hurt all parties. The Effect of that is the hurtful impact on the environment and animals. Joel has found ways to keep his land, animals, and customers happy by doing what he does.
Pg. 314 par. 4 – This passage is centrally important for the understanding of Pollan’s essay because it introduces the basic paradigm of his farm. It explains the role that chickens play in the system and how this method is more efficient than conventional farming in multiple ways. The theme of exploiting nature for profit is exemplified in this passage, notably with the word “profits” taking up one-third of the title of Joel’s book. This passage also emphasizes the importance of nitrogen. This connects back to Charles C. Mann’s essay, “Can Planet Earth Feed 10 Billion People?”, which illustrates multiple cases where people are finding new ways to exploit the inner workings of soil, in which nitrogen was found to be indispensable. The final sentence of the passage sets up the concept of the participation of one organism directly affecting the other organisms in the encompassing system. Relating back to Mann’s essay again, Joel seems to be following a wizard-esque philosophy by understanding the necessity of knowing how the land he is using works and the duty to give back to it.
Pg. 315 par. 3 – This passage is important to the point of Pollan’s essay by laying out the specific intricacies of the operation that create the symbiotic relationships that are the basis of Polyface’s success. The cows provide grubs to the chickens and trim their grass, and the chickens fertilize the grass that the cows eat. It is evident that Joel put much care and thought into the timing of each sub-system. He knows the exact time frame for grubs to be at the highest standard. He notes how his chickens like their grubs this certain way, which makes it seem like Joel caters to the tastes of his animals, but this can alternatively be viewed as him using this trick to make his eggs as tasty as possible. Although I mentioned previously how Joel exploits his animals for profit, I find it impressive how Joel can increase the quality of his eggs while simultaneously decreasing the price.
Pg. 317 par. 6 – This paragraph goes deeper into the overall morals of Pollan’s essay, which is welcoming environmentally conscious agriculture and rejecting industry. The wording of this passage, such as “he takes advantage”, makes it clear that there is exploitation in all farms, Joel’s included. However, it is possible to both honor and exploit your enterprises, such as Polyface farm does. I appreciate Joel even considering the wants and feelings of his livestock. Industrial farming, on the other hand, completely disregards or abuses their livestock’s natural tendencies for the purpose of “efficiency”. It may be a stretch, but this dichotomy reminded me of the essay “Consider the Lobster” by David Foster Wallace. The argument of if lobsters feel pain or not exists because there is a motive for people to argue against lobsters feeling pain. People want to continue eating lobsters the way they normally do for the sake of their own cognitive consonance as the consumer and for the sake of not having to change their methods of preparation from what they deem most “effective”.
Page 315, paragraph 4 that starts with “Joel climbed onto the tracker.” This paragraph talks about how chickens have many benefits for the farm. They are used in multiple ways to benefit the farm and are not just being used for food for humans. It has multiple benefits for the environment. This reminded me of the “Can planet earth feed 10 billion people” story because it talked about how in our future we do not have enough food for everyone who will be living on earth. They talked about how it was stressful for them to find ways to help with climate change and having food that was more substantial for humans. This relates because it gives us ways that will help humans and our environment.
Page 317, paragraph 2 that starts with “it’s all connected.” This paragraph and the one following it talks about how everything on the farm is connected and each factor has multiple causes and effects. This paragraph also reminded me about the same story of “Can planet earth feed 10 billion people” In that other article it talks about how they are worried for our future survival. How if we feed one of our needs like hospitality, we take away land that we can use to grow food and have a disadvantage of our need to eat. It is all connected because no matter what happens, it will have an effect on all of our needs.
Page 319, paragraph 3 that starts with “Why the corn.” This paragraph talks about how he raises the pigs on his farm. He tries to raise them to be as happy and live their life to the fullest as they can. Instead of just raising them to be killed and eaten. He raises them in an environment that is enjoyable for them to live in. This reminds me of the “What the crows know” story we read because even though there isn’t scientific evidence that the animals on his farm are conscious, he still tries to make them feel safe and happy on his farm.