K.U.E.L Keep Us Eating Local
The Beginning of Agriculture
Many think that the rise of agriculture through the neolithic revolution (also called the agricultural revolution) thousands of years ago was the greatest accomplishment in human history. Agriculture has created a way for human beings to have access to fresh food, while spending less energy trying to obtain it. It allows humans to grow many different varieties of plant, and leaves almost no carbon footprint on the Earth.
The agricultural revolution brought with it a completely new way of life. It firmly placed human beings at the top of the food chain, and got rid of the uncertainty of food security that previous ways of obtaining food left.
Agriculture Today
Many farmers today have probably been touched by the hardships that GMOs carry with them. Since their invention, organic farms have dwindled, and species varieties of plants have disappeared. Because of the appealing nature of GMOs to large corporations today, 8.25 million farmers grow genetically modified crops (Simonelli). With the sudden growth of mass quantities of industrialized crop, local and sustainable farms haven't been able to keep up. Their profits have dropped immensely, and as a result, most farms now are owned by large corporations and are forced to grow plants containing GMOs. This terrible business only came up because of powerful people trying to get the most money possible, while not caring one bit about hard working people who make their living off of farming.
Right now in the USA, there are approximately 2 million farms. Of them, about 80% are small farms, and a big chunk of even those are family owned farms (family). Over the past couple of decades, these farms have moved to selling their products directly to the public, via farmers markets, road-side stands, etc.
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The Evolution of Agriculture
Over the many years that have passed since the neolithic revolution, agriculture has undergone many enormous changes.
Through the late 1900's, a competition broke out amongst agricultural companies about who could produce the most crop, while reducing the risk of natural disturbances such as weather and pests (Simonelli). Through this competition came the invention of genetically modified organisms, or (GMOs) in the early 1990s.These plants had had their DNA altered so that they could be resilient, and so that they would produce seeds that would grow in almost any condition, and as fast as possible. The leader in this struggle for money and power is Monsanto; an agricultural organization that specializes in genetic modification.Many could say that because of Monsanto, their farms have been completely destroyed.