Our modern system of industrial agriculture is the essence of “unsustainability,” and has already begun to breakdown, according to New York Times contributing writer Michael Pollan in
Our Decrepit Food Factories.He highlights how the hallmark of industrial agriculture -- to maximize production and keep food as cheap as possible -- is pushing natural systems and organisms to their limit, forcing these living creatures to function as machines.
Of course, “whatever we may gain in industrial efficiency, we sacrifice in biological resilience,” he says.
Case in point, a new and more virulent strain of MRSA -- an antibiotic-resistant strain of Staphylococcus bacteria that once only existed in hospitals -- is showing up in the community, and killing otherwise healthy people.
No one knows for sure how this strain evolved, but both common sense and scientific studies are pointing to the vast amounts of antibiotics fed to animals living on factory farms. Recent studies have found that confinement pig operations in Europe and Canada have become “reservoirs of MRSA,” and since these Canadian pigs move freely to the United States, MRSA may also be present on American pig farms.
Also indicative of the downfall of our food system is the massive decline of honeybees. Bees, which are responsible for pollinating a vast amount of the food you eat, have been stricken with a strange illness known as Colony Collapse Disorder. Nobody knows how or why honeybees are disappearing in record numbers, but again experts have pointed out that the way the bees are raised was a disaster waiting to happen.
Honeybees are trucked across the country, and in some cases flown in from Australia, to pollinate almond trees in California. This direct assault to the bees’ natural, cyclical lifestyle is known to leave them stressed and vulnerable to any new infectious agents that come along.
Both of these stories illustrate the unexpected consequences of a truly unsustainable food system.
As Pollan says, “The question is not whether systems this brittle will break down, but when and how …”