People, as omnivores, have a wide array of eating options. Pollan analyzes the ecological and animal well-being impacts of various dietary choices in his 2006 book “The Omnivore’s Dilemma.” For example, the first chapter is titled “One Farmer, 129 Eaters,” in which George Naylor and his family have a farm in Iowa bought by his grandfather in 1919. The area is fertile; when Naylor’s great-grandfather settled there, it generated a diverse range of vegetables and animals that fed his household. Despite planting maize and beans exclusively, George has had enough food to provide for 129 people. Sadly, his wife’s wages and state assistance are the primary sources of money for the farm. Naylor’s farm yields enough grains to sustain 129 people, but his crops are not sold to the general public. He does sell commodity maize that has to be cooked or given to animals before people can consume it. Naylor’s corn is only one of several ingredients in dinners manufactured industrially before reaching clients at the other end of the food supply.
The second part, “Planting the City of Corn,” describes how Pollan is astounded by the technical advances that have made Naylor’s farm significantly more efficient than it might have been during his grandfather’s management. One distinction is that F-1 fertile maize may be planted much closer together than earlier. Since every crop in the F-1 corn species is similar to each other, incredibly close planting is possible. Although genetically modified maize may share resources such as sun, moisture, and land, non-hybrid corn can become weaker due to fighting for natural light.
The third part is titled “Vanishing Species” and demonstrates how farmers have expanded their efforts to aid and accommodate maize growing, resulting in corn becoming increasingly dominating in the environment. Farmers planted more corn when it became increasingly advantageous for them to do so, causing corn prices to plummet. Instead of penalizing farmers, the low cost of grain pushed them to raise their production. This resulted in the cattle business’s industrialization and smaller farmers’ extinction. Destruction of towns in Iowa has resulted from encroaching cornfields, which have driven citizens out.
“There Goes the Sun” is the fourth part, where the reader encounters Fritz Haber. The latter devised the method of “fixing” ammonium, which requires combining nitrogen with hydrogen to make it usable for agricultural output. He used his discovery to increase soil fertility dramatically. Petroleum, which was first poured into cornfields in large amounts to enhance crop yields, is utilized in Haber’s nitrogen-fixing process. For every area of maize cultivated with the new chemical fertilizers and pesticides, gallons of petroleum were consumed, which is highly destructive to the environment but cost-effective as long as maize and energy sources are both readily available.
Next, in “A Plague of Cheap Corn,” Naylor explains to Pollan how grain became so heavily subsidized by the government that fixed pricing for maize was created during the Great Recession. Farmers and officials worked together to keep the price stable. Nonetheless, the government began distasting farmers’ power because they were no longer bound to ordinary price movements. Furthermore, “The Sage of Purdue” is a part narrating how President Richard Nixon’s farming minister sold 30 million tons of American corn to Russia in the hopes of raising prices and reelecting Nixon. On the other hand, landowners were urged to expand output, and the government began subsidizing maize planting so that farm owners could sell it at any market price.
The final section is number seven, “The Naylor Curve,” which begins by depicting farmers who have maintained their increase in output as maize prices have plummeted, worsening the cycle. Only planting maize and soybeans exacerbates the problem because the longer those plants are grown, the faster the soil degrades, and the more toxic fertilizer is necessary. Despite the federal spending billions on grain subsidies yearly, inexpensive corn remains a substantial expenditure. Naylor brings Pollan to a farmer producing more maize but working on a side hustle to cover the equipment’s costs. The neighbor performs better in crop amount, but Naylor seems more successful overall.