It’s almost dinnertime! You put down your book and head to the kitchen to get the chicken out of the refrigerator for your mom. There it is, neatly wrapped in plastic wrap on a foam tray. Your brother elbows past you to grab the green beans out of the freezer. They’re already washed and cut, just waiting to be tossed into the microwave or steamer. As your brother sets the table, your dad pours glasses of cold pasteurized milk from a plastic jug.
You know that the food you’re about to eat didn’t just come like that. In order to reach you, that food travels a long way, and undergoes a series of changes. This whole process starts with the farmer.
Farming, or agriculture, is one of the oldest jobs in history. At first, people only grew enough crops to provide for their own needs. As time went on, however, farmers produced enough food to support others, who were then able to take on other jobs.
In many parts of the world today, a relatively small group of farmers produce enough food for everyone else. Agriculture has become a huge business in modern countries like the United States. Food is produced in one location and shipped far away to many others. Frequently, you don’t even know how, or where, the food you’re eating was produced.
The agricultural process takes a lot of work. Farmers can’t just drop any seeds they want into the ground and, months later, return to collect their harvest. Many factors determine what can and can’t grow.
One of these factors is the location of the farm. Different crops grow in different climates and soils. This is why you won’t find pineapples growing in New York, or cucumbers growing in the tropical rainforest. Some plants thrive in dry heat, while others need cooler temperatures and moisture. Farmers are limited to what they can grow in their area.
pasteurized: food that has been heated to destroy harmful bacteria.
agriculture: production of food through farming.
climate: average weather patterns in an area over a period of many years.
livestock: animals on a farm that produce food like milk and eggs, or products like wool.
produce: fruits and vegetables.
Crops aren’t the only thing farmers raise. They also keep livestock. These are animals such as sheep, cows, and pigs that are used to produce food such as milk and meat, or other important products, such as wool. Animals on the farm can also serve as a source of labor, by pulling plows or carrying heavy loads. On larger farms, however, most animals have been replaced by machines.
Some farms specialize in less traditional livestock. They raise creatures like ostriches, llamas, or buffalo. Today, more consumers are interested in new meats that may be healthier alternatives to beef.
Imagine that you’re walking in a peach orchard. You’re hungry, and pick a peach to eat. Which peach would you rather have: one that’s soft and juicy, or one that’s hard as a rock?
Grocery stores know that most people prefer soft and juicy. That’s why they try to stock their bins with produce that’s either at its peak of ripeness or just about to reach it. However, think about that trip from farm to market. As quick as businesses try to make it, there’s still going to be some delay. This means that many crops are picked before they’re actually ripe, so that they are just ripening as they reach stores.
A hard-boiled ostrich egg takes 40 minutes to cook! One ostrich egg is equal to two dozen chicken eggs.
Back in the late 1930s, the first “farm to market” road was finished in Texas to bring crops from the farm to the market as fast as possible. These “FM” (for “farm to market”) roads connected rural areas to more populated ones. Today, most produce is shipped by land, air, and sea to its markets.
Most fruits and vegetables that are ready to ripen produce ethylene gas. The gas triggers enzymes to start the ripening process—usually making the fruit or vegetable less green, softer, and often sweeter. The riper it gets, the more gas it produces. If the fruit or vegetable keeps ripening and making ethylene, it will eventually start to rot.
Keeping fruits and vegetables cool in your refrigerator will slow down ripening. Since refrigeration doesn’t completely stop ethylene production, you still need to eat produce before it goes bad.
Apricots
Avocado
Bananas
Cantaloupe
Kiwi
Peaches
Pears
Plums
Apples
Cherries
Grapefruit
Grapes
Oranges
Pineapple
Strawberries
Watermelon
For centuries, farming employed more people than any other industry. But in the late 1700s, machines began to change things. Farms didn’t need people as much because machines could work faster than humans or animals.
Some people resist this type of farming, calling it “mega-farming.” They say that it harms the land by stripping it of its natural nutrients. The pesticides and herbicides used to protect the crops can damage the environment and pose health risks to people who eat this food.
Some people also argue that “mega-farming” has negatively affected the variety of crops grown today. For example, it’s easier to mass-produce a single type of tomato than many types, because each may have different needs.
ethylene gas: a natural ripening agent produced by many fruits and vegetables.
enzyme: a natural chemical that causes a reaction.
commercial: large businesses producing large quantities.
pesticides: chemicals used to kill or control insects.
herbicides: chemicals used to kill unwanted plants like weeds.
environment: a natural area with plants and animals.
Consumers tend to want produce that looks perfect. Today’s produce also has to survive the long journey from farm to market.
With farmers trying to make the most profit by producing super-resilient and attractive foods, many have turned to genetic engineering. This involves manipulating plants to produce crops with the qualities farmers and consumers want. Hardier plants can also decrease the amount of herbicides and pesticides that need to be used.
But there’s a flip side. Genetically enhanced plants or animals can interfere with natural processes. They can outcompete natural species and disrupt ecosystems. They can acquire weaknesses as well as strengths, and even pose a risk to the humans that eat them.
Partially in response to the use of genetic engineering, many small farmers are growing heirloom plants. These are descendants of plants that a group of people has passed down over many years. They reproduce naturally and are spread through hand cuttings.
genetic engineering: manipulating genes to alter appearance and other characteristics.
heirloom plants: plants that were grown earlier in human history.
In this activity you can see how the ethylene produced by fruit speeds ripening.
1 Place a banana and a piece of unripened fruit out in the open air. Do not place them near each other. This will be your “control” fruit, the pieces that you aren’t doing anything to, and thus your basis for comparison.
2 Place one banana in a paper bag by itself. Place one banana in a paper bag with one of the pieces of unripe produce.
3 Leave all of the fruit for 2-3 clays, and then check them out. Which banana ripened fastest? Which peach ripened fastest? Did the banana have a significant impact on the ripening of the other produce?
4 Don’t eat anything that’s rotted. Put it out in the compost bin instead.
With the invention of the refrigerated railroad car and the development of commercial canning, farmers were able to ship their produce farther than their local marketplace. Large-scale commercial farming grew quickly, especially in states with long growing seasons like California.