Industrial Agriculture:
Corn
Where does our food come from?
• Fruits and Vegetables--easy to trace
• Meat--more complicated
• Processed foods--very complicated
Corn
• Corn is used in animal feed
• This means that many animal products essentially
contain corn
• Corn is also used in human food directly and under
other names including:
– Lecithin, mono-, di, and triglycerides, high-fructose corn syrup
(HFCS), modified and unmodified starch, glucose syrup,
maltodextrin, crystalline fructose, ascorbic acid, dextrose, lactic acid,
lysine, maltose, MSG, polyols, carmel color, xanthan gum, etc..
• Corn is even used in non-food products
- Wax, pesticides, wallboard, linoleum, fiberglass, adhesives, etc..
• The average American consumes a ton of corn a year
Corn
• A.k.a. Zea mays
• A grass native to Central America
• Corn was recognized by settlers for its ability to produce
the most food per area in the New World
• Genetic variability allowed it to adapt to many regions
• Due to its husked ear, corn is dependent on humans for
survival and is completely domesticated
• Humans have cultivated corn and saved seeds for
thousands of years
• Modern industrial corn has been engineered so that
farmed corn cannot reproduce successfully and farmers
must buy seeds to plant each year.
• Modern industrial corn is essentially inedible and requires
extensive processing
Corn
• Corn is often genetically modified to increase yields
• Current corn productivity is often 10 times 1920’s
levels
• Increased productivity results from increased
tolerance of crowding
• The only other cultivated organism to have such an
increase in productivity is the Holstein cow
• Corn now lives in dense corn cities and has stronger
stalks and roots to live in such conditions and tolerate
mechanical harvesting
Soy Beans
• Second leg of
industrial food
system
• Feeds livestock and
is in 2/3 of all
processed foods
• Grown alternatively
with corn to fix
nitrogen by some
farmers
Changes in Farms
• Family farms used to be less dense and included other
crops and livestock (e.g., cattle, chickens, hogs, apples,
hay, oats, potatoes, cherries, etc…)
• This lead to cultivation for a larger portion of the year and
the production of directly consumable foods
• The high profitability of corn led farmers to gradually
produce more and more of it and less of other products
• Overproduction of corn led to a decrease in price, which
led to more production to maintain profits
• This led to corn being very cheap and resulted in it being
incorporated into many new foods and processes
Fertilizer
• Chemical fertilizers were first spread on crops as a way to
use left-over ammonium nitrate from WWII
– War military machine  peacetime industrial machine
• (Nitrogen in fertilizers is also found in explosives.)
• Corn rapidly consumes nutrients and fertilizer due to its
fast-growing productivity
• Without synthetic fertilizers it is estimated that 2 out of 5
individuals today would not be alive
• For this reason, chemical fertilizers are arguably the most
important invention of the 20th century
Nitrogen
• Nitrogen is necessary for amino acids (the monomers
of proteins) and nucleic acids (the monomers of DNA)
• The atmosphere is 80% N2
• Nitrogen must be “fixed” to become usable to life
• Nitrogen is naturally fixed by soil bacteria in the roots of
legumes
• Nitrogen is artificially fixed for chemical fertilizers (and
explosives) by the Haber-Bosch process:
N2(g) + 3H2(g)  2NH3(g), Ho = -92.4 kJ/mol
Nitrogen Cycle
Nitrogen and Oil
• Synthetic fertilizers eliminate the need to rotate crops (legumes are
not needed to fix nitrogen)
• The Haber-Bosch process requires heat and pressure supplied by
electricity
• This electricity is often derived from fossil fuels
– Petroleum  food
• Tractors, pesticide production, corn transportation, and corn
processing all use fossil fuels
• Much of this spread nitrogen leaches and runs-off contaminating
water supplies making them unsafe to drink
• These processes are ecologically expensive, but economically
cheap
• Corn essentially allows us to convert fossil fuels to food. Cattle
then lets us turn this corn into meat. A steer will essentially eat 35
gallons of oil in its lifetime before slaughter
Economics of Corn
• Previously, government farm programs were designed to
limit production and support prices (and therefore farmers)
• Under Nixon, secretary of agriculture Earl Butz
revolutionized American agriculture in response to record
high food prices by driving down prices and vastly
increasing output
– He pushed consolidation and to “get big or get out”
– He removed the floor from the grain market and paid farmers directly
for part of the decrease in price, which encouraged them to sell at
any price
• As a result of low prices, it costs $2.50 to produce a bushel
of corn, which is sold for $1.45 (the government makes up
some of the difference)
• Corn receives a biological subsidy in the form of synthetic
fertilizer and also receives economic subsidies!
Corporate Corn
• Cargill and ADM buy around 1/3 of all corn
grown in America
• These two companies provide the pesticides
and fertilizers used to grow corn, operate most
grain elevators, broker and ship most exports,
mill the corn, produce ethanol, feed livestock
and then slaughter them, and produce high
fructose corn syrup
• Such corn refiners secured import tariffs on
sugar making corn sweeteners cheaper and
therefore more prevalent in American foods
The Feedlot:
making meat
Corn-fed Animals
• The tremendous production of
corn has led to corn being fed
to animals that never use to
eat it before including cows
and salmon
• Salmon are actually
carnivorous, so this is a
particularly large change in
diet. Neither animal is well
suited to consume corn, which
can cause considerable
health problems
• This has allowed for the
concentration of animals into
small pens without grass
Beef
• Young cattle are raised on grassland ranches
• They are then transferred to a feedlot where they are fed corn
to quickly gain weight for slaughter
• Furthermore, feedlot cows are fed liquefied fat, protein
supplements, vitamins, synthetic hormones, antibiotics, alfalfa
hay, and silage
• Grass-fed cows take 5 years to mature to slaughter weight, on
corn and steroids like they are now, it takes only 14 months!
• The fat is often derived from animals (often cattle), which
means that these herbivores are being turned into carnivores.
This is one way that mad cow disease (bovine spongiform
encephalopathy) was transmitted through cattle in England
• Feeding cows corn
leads to less healthy
meat—it contains more
saturated fat and less
omega-3 fatty acids
than grass-fed animals
• This meat causes heart
disease, cancer, and
poor digestion in
humans
• Cows have evolved to
feed on grass, and
eating grain can cause
serious health
problems—antibiotics
are administered to try
to keep the cattle alive
until slaughter
Beef
Sick cattle  Sick People
Antibiotics
• The majority of antibiotics
sold in America end up in
animal feed
• This tremendous
administration of antibiotics
(to all cattle—not just sick
ones) promotes the
development of antibioticresistant superbugs that
can cause human diseases
• Antibiotics would be
unnecessary if the cows
were fed their natural food:
grass
Feedlot wastes
• Feedlots produce entire lagoons
of manure and urine
• These wastes contain high
levels of nitrogen, phosphorous,
heavy metals, and hormones
• These wastes are not spread on
crops as they would kill the
plants
• These wastes have been found
to cause endocrine disruption
and other health problems
• Feedlots turn what would be a
source of fertility into toxic
waste!
Animal Efficiencies
• Cattle: 8 lbs food  1 lb flesh
• Chickens: 2 lbs food  1 lb flesh
• Cattle are less efficient and more
costly
16 lbs baby
= 8 lbs flesh
The Processing Plant:
making complex foods
Milling
• The industrially grown corn is
wet milled and processed as
it is inedible to humans
otherwise
• The corn is separated into its
botanical and chemical parts
for use in other processes
and products
• Starch from corn is
processed into high-fructose
corn syrup that imitates
sucrose (table sugar) for use
in many products
Processed Foods
• Originally, processed foods were
produced to improve taste and prevent
spoiling
• Corn is incorporated in many processed
foods because of its low price
• Corn provides the carbohydrates in
processed foods and soy provides the
protein, both provide fat
• “Artificial” vitamins and minerals are
added to replace those lost during
processing and give a sheen of
healthfulness
• Often the ingredients are extraordinarily
cheap, which means big corporate profits
4¢ corn  $4 of cereal
• Making food from basic components also
allows for easy substitution if the price of
ingredients change
Eating Corn
• Americans eat 1 ton of
corn a year, most of which
is not in “corn” form (e.g.,
we eat 160 lbs of corn
syrup)
• Even our cars “eat”
ethanol from corn
• Corn accounts for most
excess calories consumed
in America
A McDonald’s Meal
• Soda (100% corn)
• Milk Shake (78% corn)
• Salad dressing (65% corn)
• Chicken nuggets (56% corn)
• Cheeseburger (52% corn)
• French fries (23% corn)
(And, of course, this is true of most
fast-food chains)
A Republic of Fat
• Because of our diets:
3/5 of Americans are overweight
1/5 is obese
1/3 chance of developing
diabetes
Type II diabetes rates in children
have increased
Life expectancy shorter than
previous generation, which is
the first time this has ever
happened in modern public
health
or
Changing Practices
McDonald’s is actually
working to change the
fast-food industry
• Organic coffee,
Newman’s products
• Changing packaging:
biodegradable cups
• Antibiotic leadership
Leader of positive
change
Changing Practices
Food chain
•In the processes of living and growing, much of the energy in
corn is lost by converting it to meat
•Further processing (e.g., into soda) uses additional energy
•If we ate lower on the food chain, we could feed more people
Is Corn Really Cheap?
• Although the actual price of corn may be
cheap, it doesn’t take into account the
public health concern of antibiotic
resistance, obesity, and hormone
disruption, farm subsidies, or any
environmental costs
• There are a great many externalities, and
corn is actually costing us a lot
• Full cost accounting: cost to society, cost
to ecosystem, cost to future generations
Sustainable farming
• Places emphasis on
environmental stewardship,
farm profitability, and
prosperous farming
communities
• Sustainable agriculture refers to
the ability of a farm to produce
food indefinitely, without
causing irreversible damage to
ecosystem health
• Often avoids monoculture
• Often imitates natural
processes
Produces
No Waste Necessary
• By imitating natural processes, waste can be
eliminated or at least minimized
• For example:
– Cows eat grass in a pasture
– Chickens eat the insects from cow waste and the grass
in the field
– The chickens prevent cow infections and the wastes
from both animals fertilize the land growing more grass
– Eggs, chicken, beef, and milk can all then be
sustainablely harvested from these animals
• In nature there is no waste problem
Feeds
Fertilize
Feed to
Alternative sustainable practices
• Geese are used as
an organic form of
weed control
• Chickens and
turkeys can
consume other
pests
Efficiency
• Large-scale industrial farms are “efficient” in that
they use economies of scale and apply technology
and standardizations to produce large amounts of
food
• Sustainable farms are efficient in a natural sense—
no waste is produced as a result of coevolutionary
relationships and reciprocal loops
• While industrial farms specialize in simplification,
monoculture, and mechanization, sustainable
farms are based on complexity and
interdependence
• Which is better? It depends on how you define
“efficiency”
Industrial Organic
• “Organic” refers to products made
without the use of conventional
pesticides or artificial fertilizers
• Livestock are reared without the
routine use of antibiotics and without
the use of growth hormones
• Much of the organic food bought in
the supermarket is produced
industrially (e.g., Earthbound and
Grimmway Farms in California
dominate the organic produce
market)
• This can make organic food cheaper
and more available, but also
sacrifices community and
stewardship ideals—is this an
acceptable trade-off?
Food safety
In the News:
Tomatoes Salmonellosis Outbreak
• Salmonella is a type of bacterium.
• Fruits and vegetables that come
into contact with Salmonella may
become contaminated with it,
causing illness if eaten.
• Salmonella lives in the intestinal
tracts of some animals, and can live
in soil and water for months.
• The Salmonellosis outbreak in
May/June of 2008 sickened
hundreds and resulted in Tomatoes
being pulled from store shelves and
restaurants