Blog Response 1: Omnivore's Dilema ch 2

Decades ago, when the first settlers planted the fields of produce in Iowa and other parts of America, farmers were not only able to feed their families with the crops they grew, but one out of four Americans lived on a farm. (Pollan 34) Present day things have shiften drastically. Now only a measly 2 million farmers continue to plow the land in America, and those families typically gain their [small] income from the cash crop corn. Farmers are growing more and more corn, because it is the only way they can bring in any kind of income to support their families. Essentially farms are no longer places where multiple crops are grown and dozens of animals are raised, but instead corn is king.

I feel that the farmers of America (and those in countries far and wide) are between a rock and a hard place. While they would love to grown plants that could sustain their family and provide a substantial income, it is almost impossible for them to do this. Corn is in so many products that to stop growing it, would result in financial ruin. This does nothing to help with the plight Pollan believes us to be in, of consuming and producing to much corn. While the solution to this problem would be extremely difficult to implement, I believe the only way corn production can be scaled down, is to have federal regulations limiting the production and use of corn in products that don't need corn. With this would come a whole new set of problem since corn is cheap and goes into so much, but it is something that needs to be done if we wish to have food diversity.