Know the Facts
Did you know that the food we put into our
mouths travels an average of fifteen hundred miles
from where it is grown, changing hands at least six
times before reaching your table?
Americans waste more than 40% of the food we purchase, the equivalent of throwing away over $100 billion in food over one year
By providing incentives to the agribusinesses to produce higher quality food, and to waste less of it -- instead of encouraging them to produce less expensive food.
By providing incentives to the agribusinesses to produce higher quality food, and to waste less of it -- instead of encouraging them to produce less expensive food.
Since 1994, Farmers Markets in the U.S. have grown from 1,755 in 1994 to 7,175 in 2011
What is Monocrop Farming?
Mono-crop Farming is an agricultural practice that has a farm focus on growing a large amount of a certain crop year after year on the same plot of land, instead of rotating crops. This type of farming is favored by huge corporations.
This type of farming encourages the massive use of pesticides, and is usually irregation-intensive (uses large amounts of water). Not to mention monocrop farming depleates the soil faster than rotational farming.
This type of farming encourages the massive use of pesticides, and is usually irregation-intensive (uses large amounts of water). Not to mention monocrop farming depleates the soil faster than rotational farming.
Almost 96% of the commercial vegetable varieties available in 1903 are now extinct.
The Organic Myth
Just because your food is labeled as Organic, doesn't mean it is local. Organic means that the food was produced without the use of synthetic pesticides, insecticides, herbicides, fungicides, hormones, fertilizers or other synthetic or toxic substances. Organic food lacks artificial colors or flavors and are not genetically modified. However, your organic food can come from the farm next door or a farm out in California - food miles can still be attached to that Organic label! Organic is the better choice, but when given a choice local farms produce the most environmentally friendly food.
Meat can be labeled as organic if the animal eats organic feed during its life; but it does not mean the animal was treated in a humane way. Organic and free-range animals are killed in the same filthy slaughterhouses as animals from factory farms, so their flesh is subject to the same potential for bacterial contamination from unsanitary conditions.
Meat can be labeled as organic if the animal eats organic feed during its life; but it does not mean the animal was treated in a humane way. Organic and free-range animals are killed in the same filthy slaughterhouses as animals from factory farms, so their flesh is subject to the same potential for bacterial contamination from unsanitary conditions.
Something Smells Fishy
Bluefin Tuna are one of the most
overfished
species in the world
Today, more than 70% of the world's commercial marine fish stocks are either fully exploited or overfished.
Most of the fish that we commonly eat today - salmon, tuna, cod, swordfish - will be gone in the next fifty years if current fishing trends continue
Most of the fish that we commonly eat today - salmon, tuna, cod, swordfish - will be gone in the next fifty years if current fishing trends continue
Currently between 100 and 120 million tons of sea life a killed by fishing each year; and animal populations cannot reproduce fast enough.
Huge amounts of water are wasted on industrial farms
70% of the world’s freshwater is being diverted to irrigation-intensive agriculture.