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Originally Posted by Sachita

Since agriculture is my passion I stay tuned to the issues. Since this thread is not specifically about that I will not go into all the details. But I will say that there is a LARGE % of the population who just care not to think about it. If they did we wouldn't supporting the food markets we do. The reality is they will turn a blind eye and people will feed their kids and pets processed foods without even reading the label or researching to see the effects of certain ingredients and GMO's.

But these same people rely on the government and agencies such as the FDA to allow it into our food systems. Are you kidding me? We have a huge fucking financial crisis due to political corruption. Do you think these same people give a rats ass if the FDA is honest or not? Do most people know that in a HUGE part of processed food is after growth of the weed killer Round-up? Corn, soy beans, canola, wheat, just to name a food. All genetically modified seed to to control weeds. its growing in the freaking plant and YOU are consuming it. If they are giving it to cattle as feed its in the beef and in milk.

But the good news is that there has a been a HUGE increase in farmers markets the past ten years. That people are becoming more conscious and wise about choices, HOWEVER we need to act fast. Do something about it. Stop dreaming and giving lip service. (this is people in general) Stop shopping at Walmart or at least not so much. Find your local farms ( www.localharvest.org ) go visit, talk, help, support. Support organics. Yes it cost more because of supply and demand. Shop wisely and eat less if you have to. Stop making excuses. Get together with a few friends one day a week and plants an organic garden together. If you can raise some hens. Find local food coalitions in your area and see how you can help and support. Shop local and stop spending money on unnecessary things. Trade stuff, barter, shop at good will. Be proactive and conscious.

Talk, talk talk, go to an occupy with a group of friends.

We can change the world if we all get on board and stop the fucking insanity.

i actually work in agriculture and am studying some ag in college. i have worked next to migrant workers doing what they do and i've worked with farm owners doing what they do and i've done some consulting (just a little) on some specific farming practices. everything involving food is a passion of mine as well. i'm very passionate about the politics, ethics, practices, cooking, eating, etc of food. so i'm very aware of everything you're mentioning and then some lol!

the complexities i've pointed out involving the hurdles that live within our food supply (and all that that entails) are just a few things that most people simply aren't aware of. and that's ok, it just takes these kinds of conversations to make that happpen. kids aren't taught about food in school anymore. or anything involving ag for that matter. ag programs in colleges teach mechanized and chemical infused farming practices and how to fill out subsidy forms (i'm not kidding). it's amazing to me that my ag professors don't know what allelopathy is. but then they can't understand why grape vines are stunted near certain trees. and they really just don't know. we have become largely disconnected from our food on more than just the consumer level.

wheat is in a big battle right now because the gmo corps want to introduce gmo wheat and the wheat farmers don't want it because then they won't be able to export. i haven't updated myself in a few months on what the status of that fight is because i'm pretty swamped.

generally, but not exclusively, gmo's are a "Round-up ready" seed. so when the farmers spray Round-Up in their fields, the crop is resistant to the spray so that only the weeds die. They do that by taking an e.coli bacteria as a vector and transferring whatever DNA they want (in this case a gene coding that is resistant to Round -Up) into the e.coli and then the e.coli carries the DNA into the plant cells in the lab. additionally, there is a marker gene present in gmo's that are antibiotic resistant. the problem here is that DNA can be taken up by cells in more than one way. so, to have antibiotic resistant DNA litter floating about your body is bad bad bad.

but back to your point about blind eyes and such. i think that's valid. the first thing i hear out of a person's mouth when i say something like....buy organic....is that they can't afford it. and i believe them. i can't really afford it either. so i feel their pain. i recently went through a crisis where we lost everything and i decided when replacing everything in my kitchen to go gmo free and buy as much organic as i can. it was time to put up or shut up, i told myself. after eating cleaner for some time now, i have discovered that cleaner food fills me up faster and for longer. and the whole time i thought i was allergic to bread....i think i'm actually allergic to gmos. so while my grocery bill is a little higher and my grocery bag is a little lighter, it takes LESS clean food for me to feel nourished. and that was a huge thing for me. eating is such an intimate thing for so many people.

i went off on a tangent again. the point i wanted to make is.....the chips on the shelf today are not the chips i grew up on as a kid. the big mac of today is not the same big mac from 30 years ago. our food changed and we didn't. and now our food has made a lot of us sick and dependent on very expensive meds. so of course, when you live on minimum wage and you have diabetes....where are you gonna shop? not Whole Foods that's fo sho. i think it's less of a blind eye and more of an economic issue for lots of folks. not to mention....there are tons of places in America that don't have access to clean foods at all. we are lacking in choices. and it comes back full circle.