Industrial Agricultural Quotes

“Me and the folks who buy my food are like the Indians -- we just want to opt out. That's all the Indians ever wanted -- to keep their tepees, to give their kids herbs instead of patent medicines and leeches. They didn't care if there was a Washington, D.C., or a Custer or a USDA; just leave us alone. But the Western mind can't bear an opt-out option. We're going to have to refight the Battle of the Little Big Horn to preserve the right to opt out, or your grandchildren and mine will have no choice but to eat amalgamated, irradiated, genetically prostituted, barcoded, adulterated fecal spam from the centralized processing conglomerate.”
― Michael Pollan, The Omnivore's Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals

“Industrial medicine is as little interested in ecological health as is industrial agriculture. (Health Is Membership, pg. 98)”
― Wendell Berry, Another Turn of the Crank: Essays

“And much of the diverse agriculture that remains is to be found at the margins - in the mountains, remote places, deserts, forests or jungles of the world; in places where isolation, poverty, lack of development, type of climate, altitude, latitude, soil type, disease risks or duration of the growing season mean that intensive agriculture doesn't dominate and hasn't swept away traditional farming practices. Such landscapes are full of special varieties of domesticated plants or heritage breeds of domestic animals. This is because for over 10,000 years human beings have had to try out different methods in all kinds of places through trial and error. In the global 'library' of farming there can be found a whole range of solutions to millions of different local challenges and problems.”
― James Rebanks, Pastoral Song: A Farmer’s Journey