"Animal, Vegetable, Miracle" Chapters 11-15

I (being the slow reader that I am), just completed chapters 11-15 of the assigned book and found a number of things very interesting. Here are just a few:

• In 1948 farmers were using about 50 million pounds of pesticides. In 200, they were using 1 billion pounds of pesticides. This extreme over use of pesticides has led to the evolution of many species of weed and bugs. For example, 270 of recently developed herbicides are now completely ineffective.
• The reason that organic foods are so pack with antioxidants is that the plants not sprayed with insecticides are forced to come up with other ways to defend themselves against things such as hornworms. This in turn, causes the plant to produce many disease/pest fighting compounds which are good for human health as well as plant health.
• Some people may ask "How can I really contribute to the organic industry? I eat organic food but can I do more?" Chapter 12 of the book says "YES!" In this chapter, Steven L. Hopp suggests many ways for people to get more involved. He suggests having a garden with herbs and produce. And for Urban organics, he suggest joining a local community garden.
• One of the major things I learned from Chapter 13 was that only 1/3 of our farms are still run by families. The rest are corporate owned.
• There is a Federal Farm Bill that is supposed to aid all farmers but times have changed. It now gives most of its aid to the top 10 producing growers which are obviously not those owned by families. This added benefit to commercial farmers is one of the main reasons that small farms are generally being eliminated.
• Apparently urban areas only cover 2 percent of the earth's surface but consume 75 percent of its resources. Because of this distribution, many countries have stepped up their urban growth game. For example, in Britain, urban growers produce 40 percent of the nation's food supply. Also, in Shanghai over 600,000 acres of garden are tucked into the margins of the city. So if all of these other countries have already stepped up, when will America step up too

These are just a few of the things that I found very interesting while reading the book. I look forward to FINALLY finishing it!
-Katani Ostine-Franklin