First, I’m not very clear with some of the terms I use in regards to this issue. When I refer to “factory” or “industrial” agriculture, I’m referring to the commodity based system currently in use in the US as well as the “factory farming” meat production. As I understand it, Borlaug’s (and other’s) advances allowed a productivity explosion in commodity crops (wheat, corn, soybeans, etc) which caused the bottom to drop out of the agricultural market. Due to Nixon’s agricultural policy, the only possible way that farmers could stay afloat was to continue to flood the market with commodity crops, which, in turn, continued to lower prices. This cycle is what eliminated the family farm, gave rise to agribusiness, etc.

In the interview, Borlaug also defends the use of fertilizers. While he is right that the amount of animal waste is fairly impractical on the scale that commodity crops are grown currently, he ignores the harmful impacts of runoff nitrogen.

In the end, Borlaug, and the industrial food industry as a whole, places quantity and price over any other consideration, whether it is for the farmer, for the animal, for the land, or for the quality of the product.

Also, I did not mean to draw a one-to-one comparison of sweatshops and feedlots. My point was simply to say that in other industries, ethical problems are considered part of the equation. In food, it is only the “hippies” and “treehuggers” that care about the ethics of the production process. I was only trying to say that ‘how something is made’ is a valid reason for determining its acceptability.

One thing that i think should be pointed out is that Borlaug was defending genetically engineered crops like his famous dwarf wheat and not factory type farming.

I agree with most of what you’re saying. Both extremes (as in most cases) are wrong. The problems of the status quo aren’t being closely examined because of the strength of the agricultural lobby in washington. That is good for one except the big agriculture itself.

However, i disagree with the moral equivalence of sweatshops and industrial cattle feedlots. I’ll never be able to take the organic movement seriously because of these types of comparisons. People are people. Animals are animals. If it produces a safe and more affordable food, animal treatment shouldn’t take precedent.