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| Taking soil samples for the manure injection project |
Our weekly discussion this week was about critical thinking related to food production and food waste. Food production and human health are always connected, and some of the issues in our current food system make that apparent. Food insecurity and food deserts in impoverished areas for example, less healthy food means less healthy people and an imbalanced society. Some issues with the food system, such as food insecurity, stem from stereotypes and redlining while others stem from within the production system itself. One of the driving forces behind the green revolution was to grow as much food as possible to feed the expanding population. The rush to produce food has been taking a toll on the environment as the industrial food system runs rampant. In his book, The Sheer Ecstasy of Being a Lunatic Farmer, Joel Salatin critiques the modern food system. Salatin claims that the current food system is so focused on generating maximum profit that farmers forget the underlying purpose of their work, growing something to eat. The fast food industry is a prime example of this. The goal of modern fast food isn’t to make food that is enjoyable or healthy, the primary goal is to generate profit from people's desire for convenience.
Now, I could keep going on about problems in the food system, but the real issue is finding ways to fix these problems. During the discussion, we were asked about solutions to the issues in the modern food system. As a part of the ETE program of College Park scholars, I have already been a part of generating solutions to issues related to our modern food system. Many of the solutions we generated were related to government policy and community action, So it was interesting to hear of different scientific approaches being used to solve these problems. One example of this is Dr. Lansing’s food waste project. The idea of turning manure into energy was never something that I would’ve ever thought of on my own, and I’m sure many more unique ideas like it are left to be explored.
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| Flerd Grazing at WMREC |
After the weekly discussion, I helped with weighing the animals at WMREC. One of the issues at WMREC was that sheep seemed to find gaps through their enclosure, so I helped find ways to prevent the sheep from escaping. On Thursday, I met with Kelly at the Montgomery County office to help with crop scouting and checking moth traps. We found a couple of different moths that were difficult to identify because they lacked distinct markings. The corn earworm trap was the most interesting to work with because many of the captured moths (and other bugs) were still alive. Friday started early with a grain marketing meeting in Westminster and ended with taking samples for the Pre-sidedress Nitrate Soil Test (PNST) part of the manure injection project.
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