Omnivores Dilemma A Natural History of Four Meals by Michael Pollan Chapter #2: The Farm Directions: Respond appropriately

to each of the following quotes or questions. 1: How many farmers remain in America? How people must each farmer feed? (1 farmer per 129 people) There are less than 2 million farmers. Each farmer feeds 129 people. 2: Why is George Naylors farm considered to be a food desert? (pg. 34) It is a food desert because the crops growing on it cannot be used for humans themselves. 3: Pg. 35- Which two crops are rotated on George Naylors farm? Explain why. The two crops are soybeans and corn because these two are the most popular in the food industry. 4: Pg. 36- Why are farmers who are using Monsantos products not reaping the benefits of their greater yield? The money made from the greater yield is used to cover the premium for the seed. 5: Pg. 37- What does it mean that hybrid corn is high yield? What are the benefits of using this hybrid variety? It means that there can be more planted on one acre compared to before. The benefits are being able to grow more without resource stress. 6: Pg. 38-39- What did planting more and more corn do the biodiversity in Iowa? Why was this biodiversity so helpful? It created more biodiversity that kept soil, livestock, and humans alive and flourishing. 7: Pg. 40- Growing corn is just riding tractors and spraying. Explain this quote.

This means that all the farmers do are just plant while riding the tractors and spraying water. 8: Pg. 41- Ammonium Nitrate is an artificial fertilizer- The U.S. Government starting using this as a fertilizer because? What was it used for before this? They use ammonium nitrate because there was a huge amount of it leftover. It was used for explosives. 9: Pg. 42- How did the introduction of artificial nitrogen fertilizer affect the nitrogen cycle on farms and nearby lands? It allowed the fixing of nitrogen to happen instantly by inventions. 10: Pg. 43-44: Why is the Haber-Bosch process considered to be the most important invention of the 20th century? It has allowed the human population to grow by providing more for people. 11: Pg. 45- Instead of eating exclusively from the sun, humanity now began to sip petroleum. Explain this quote. It means that humanity has now applied fixed nitrogen to corn. 12: Pg. 45- How much oil does it take to create a bushel of industrialized corn? It takes 50 gallons of oil. 13: Pg. 46- What happens to the hundred pounds of synthetic nitrogen that Naylors corn does not take up? It goes to acid rain, into the groundwater, and goes to the Raccoon River. 14: Pg. 47- What does it mean when they have blue baby alerts? What happens when babies are exposed to too many nitrites?

It means that children cannot be given tap water to drink. When they are exposed to too many nitrites, they can have less oxygen going into the brain. 15: Pg. 48- If theres so much corn being grown in America today that the market wont pay the cost of producing it, then why would any farmer in his right mind plant another acre of it? It is because corn is a good crop and the government decided to support its expenses. 16: Pg. 49- What was one strategy of the New Deal Farm Program? It would let the farmer choose to put the corn into the market or take a loan out that could let him save the grain until prices raised. 17: What is a plague of cheap corn? What happens if we have too much corn produced? Summarize the politics of being a corn farmer. A plague of cheap corn is the common practice of corn being planted in industrialiazed farms. IF we have too much corn produced, then the price of corn will lessen and its value will drop. Corn farms, according to the book, have a big use of farm tools that can further help them in their corn business. However, they are not rewarded as much as the companies using the corn they crop. Corn farmers are now the modern farmer with their tools and knickknacks that hold them to corn.