1: How many farmers remain in America? How people must each farmer feed? (1 farmer per 129 people)
there are about 12 million farmers in America each one feeds about 129 people
2: Why is George Naylor’s farm considered to be a food desert? (pg. 34)
Because there is no water to keep his plants alive
3: Pg. 35- Which two crops are rotated on George Naylor’s farm? Explain why.
Corn and soybeans, because it is vey important now and is in almost all processed foods
4: Pg. 36- Why are farmers who are using Monsanto’s products not reaping the benefits of their greater yield?
The grater yield of this product buy more GMO's and there is little profit from using these products
5: Pg. 37- What does it mean that hybrid corn is “high yield”? What are the benefits of using this hybrid variety?
It means that they can be planted together.You get to have more room to plant corn
6: Pg. 38-39- What did planting more and more corn do the biodiversity in Iowa? Why was this biodiversity so helpful?
It made it more monocultured, It wasn't very helpful because there was only one type of plant
7: Pg. 40- “Growing corn is just riding tractors and spraying”. Explain this quote.
What this quote says is that corn is growing because it is always being sprayed with pesticides
8: Pg. 41- Ammonium Nitrate is an artificial fertilizer- The U.S. Government starting using this as a fertilizer because? What was it used for before this?
to convert their explosives department/war machines into peacetime purposes.
9: Pg. 42- How did the introduction of artificial nitrogen fertilizer affect the nitrogen cycle on farms and nearby lands?
They didn't have to wait for the fertilizer to be fixed they were able to use it immediately
10: Pg. 43-44: Why is the Haber-Bosch process considered to be the most important invention of the 20th century?
Because without the fertilizer a lot of people wouldn't be born
11: Pg. 45- “Instead of eating exclusively from the sun, humanity now began to sip petroleum”. Explain this quote.
Because the plants aren't naturally being grown by the sun but with fertilizer made out of petroleum
12: Pg. 45- How much “oil” does it take to create a bushel of industrialized corn?
1/4 of a gallon of oil
13: Pg. 46- What happens to the hundred pounds of synthetic nitrogen that Naylor’s corn does not take up?
It goes to the atmosphere and makes acid rain
14: Pg. 47- What does it mean when they have “blue baby alerts”? What happens when babies are exposed to too many nitrites?
It is an alert that warns parents when the water might be contaminated. It will make it harder for the blood cells to carry oxygen to the brain
15: Pg. 48- If there’s so much corn being grown in America today that the market won’t pay the cost of producing it, then why would any farmer in his right mind plant another acre of it?
Because they would get more money out of it
16: Pg. 49- What was one strategy of the New Deal Farm Program?
the government makes a target price and if the price drops farmers can borrow money and then pay back when the prices recover
17: What is “a plague of cheap corn”? What happens if we have too much corn produced? Summarize the politics of being a corn farmer.
When the government leaves farmers with no money and they sell cheap corn. there will be a less demand for corn, Farmers grow more corn and with more corn and not enough people buying it the less money they have, with more corn being grown the less the corn will cost and then farmers will still not get enough money.
there are about 12 million farmers in America each one feeds about 129 people
2: Why is George Naylor’s farm considered to be a food desert? (pg. 34)
Because there is no water to keep his plants alive
3: Pg. 35- Which two crops are rotated on George Naylor’s farm? Explain why.
Corn and soybeans, because it is vey important now and is in almost all processed foods
4: Pg. 36- Why are farmers who are using Monsanto’s products not reaping the benefits of their greater yield?
The grater yield of this product buy more GMO's and there is little profit from using these products
5: Pg. 37- What does it mean that hybrid corn is “high yield”? What are the benefits of using this hybrid variety?
It means that they can be planted together.You get to have more room to plant corn
6: Pg. 38-39- What did planting more and more corn do the biodiversity in Iowa? Why was this biodiversity so helpful?
It made it more monocultured, It wasn't very helpful because there was only one type of plant
7: Pg. 40- “Growing corn is just riding tractors and spraying”. Explain this quote.
What this quote says is that corn is growing because it is always being sprayed with pesticides
8: Pg. 41- Ammonium Nitrate is an artificial fertilizer- The U.S. Government starting using this as a fertilizer because? What was it used for before this?
to convert their explosives department/war machines into peacetime purposes.
9: Pg. 42- How did the introduction of artificial nitrogen fertilizer affect the nitrogen cycle on farms and nearby lands?
They didn't have to wait for the fertilizer to be fixed they were able to use it immediately
10: Pg. 43-44: Why is the Haber-Bosch process considered to be the most important invention of the 20th century?
Because without the fertilizer a lot of people wouldn't be born
11: Pg. 45- “Instead of eating exclusively from the sun, humanity now began to sip petroleum”. Explain this quote.
Because the plants aren't naturally being grown by the sun but with fertilizer made out of petroleum
12: Pg. 45- How much “oil” does it take to create a bushel of industrialized corn?
1/4 of a gallon of oil
13: Pg. 46- What happens to the hundred pounds of synthetic nitrogen that Naylor’s corn does not take up?
It goes to the atmosphere and makes acid rain
14: Pg. 47- What does it mean when they have “blue baby alerts”? What happens when babies are exposed to too many nitrites?
It is an alert that warns parents when the water might be contaminated. It will make it harder for the blood cells to carry oxygen to the brain
15: Pg. 48- If there’s so much corn being grown in America today that the market won’t pay the cost of producing it, then why would any farmer in his right mind plant another acre of it?
Because they would get more money out of it
16: Pg. 49- What was one strategy of the New Deal Farm Program?
the government makes a target price and if the price drops farmers can borrow money and then pay back when the prices recover
17: What is “a plague of cheap corn”? What happens if we have too much corn produced? Summarize the politics of being a corn farmer.
When the government leaves farmers with no money and they sell cheap corn. there will be a less demand for corn, Farmers grow more corn and with more corn and not enough people buying it the less money they have, with more corn being grown the less the corn will cost and then farmers will still not get enough money.