The Bastard Crop

Currently, the United States has a third of its agricultural market devoted to corn, accumulating about 89 million acres of devoted land. As of 2013, only about 15% of the supply is exported to international countries, still leaving the U.S. as a provider of half of the corn supply in the world market. America’s got a lot of corn. Today, we focus the surplus of maize for technological advances; testing of ethanol, renewable energy, forms of biodiesel for both refineries and industry development, as well as miscellaneous uses such as medicinal research. The majority of our livestock is also fed on a corn-based diet, a nutritional and plentiful alternative to cereals and other grains. Regardless of the surplus, a substantial amount of corn remains close to home—constantly begging the idea of possible wealth growth as a result of looser exportation laws.

So why is that? Why is a crop who is knows for its high photosynthetic efficiency accumulates the most bushels in a country who needs it the least?

Corn is a staple food that has the ability to thrive in different climatic regions. It has high nutritional value as well as a high yield, it’s simple to store, cultivate and process. In fact, King Corn gained extensive popularity within the New World. The colonies appropriated the crop well into their diet and monopolized the agriculture behind maize. Apart from sugar and tobacco, corn dominated the early Americas.  Corn was the colonizer. Being able to grow at any part of the year, farmers favored the easy crop—incorporating the food into their daily diet. Because of the lack of meats and wholesome grains, the colonial population succumbed to Pellagra: a disease associated with low niacin (Vitamin B3) in the system. The crop thereafter was favored primarily by poor developing countries that relied on cheap foodstuff in order to survive. Corn shifted its value from a primary food source to a wealthy crop.

As the industrial revolution grew in the Americas, a small number of aristocratic landowners urged to keep the exportation laws strict in order to ensure a high value for corn. This would keep the cost of rent high and higher profits would emerge from the agricultural and manufacturing industries.  But capitalism prevailed, encouraging the idea of a free trade system, which would assert a low price on corn, thereby increasing production and immediate profit as a result of lower wages. This inevitably created the ideal market of a typical capitalist economy: cheap labor, overpriced goods and services, and profitable financial results. Corn’s impact on the capitalism economy defined its “bastard” character.

Apart from a capitalist assertion, the crop affected ecological standards of social and economic importance worldwide. Socially, the poor became dependent on the import of corn as a necessary food source, wedding themselves to the unstable prices of the capitalist influence.  While the American Agriculture Machine pumped tons of corn and utilized the surplus for feeding cattle, the world market and international countries depended on our willingness to share in the magnitude of this prodigious food source. “The overabundance of corn in the united states contrasted sharply with the state of the corn supply in the rest of the world very especially with the availability of corn in those countries where it served as the primary staple food “(Warman, 181).

There was always a perpetuation of inequality. Within the north we fed it (plentiful) to our animals, and overseas we up-charged to feed our starving neighbor.

A reminder of perpetual inequality:

Worthy Links :

• http://www.agriculture.com/markets/analysis
• http://www.ers.usda.gov/topics/crops/corn/trade.aspx#.UurSfGRdU2I
• http://www.thehandthatfeedsus.org/farming_america_the-miracle-of-corn.cf

> And apart from class; this is a great documentary about the production of corn and how it influences the nation's food source.

>http://www.hulu.com/watch/255609

//capitalism

       

Capitalism- n. an economic & political system in which a country's trade and                                            industry are controlled by private owners for profit, rather than by the state.

"The forces in a capitalist society, if left unchecked, tend to make the rich richer and the poor poorer."

Capitalism is simple. You buy a product for five dollars and sell it for ten. Why? Exchange value. You decide to hire someone to make the product. You buy it for five, pay them one - and you still make profit. Production value. Capitalism is fool-proof system where as long as there is a demand for newer and better, a demand for competition, the economy flourishes. 

Consider monopolies. A corporation is funded through a cluster of rich stock holders, with the heavy players seeking an immediate return. Investments are used to purchase material, location, employees and every other aspect contained within the production process. In order to turn a wide margin, companies allocate the production to cheap, fast labor. This labor is generally gathered in China, India, Indonesia, Mexico and other poor countries where workers rights, unionized wages and tariffs can be legally avoided. The managerial seat of large industry competitors seeks the cheapest labor in order to advance investments of existing stockholders. If cheap labor is not demanded, then the company up-charges for their product and prepares for bankruptcy against an available competitor with cheaper production rates.  

Social justice does not exist in a world-market with a capitalist stronghold. Workers are often times abused with harsh regulations: no bathroom breaks, expectations for overtime and silence throughout the work day. Earning 54 cents an hour, sweatshop employees are required to exhaust their full work day without any opposition.

May 8th, 2013- 112 die in a factory fire in Bangladesh. The majority were children who are expected the same skill-set  as their parents, working side by side. The incident gathered sweatshop opposition worldwide, but a bigger headlining story was released a week later: 2,500 Americans laid off, Starving.

Social justice cannot exist due to the priorities of a profit. Investors seek return and companies seek cheap labor in order to compensate that return. The production process does not concern the investor, nor the company, nor the consumer. Yes, cheap labor creates social disadvantages, problems, health concerns, union opposition and workers oppression- but it creates profit. And to the big boys with the cash, thats the priority. 

When people argue the ideology and social aspects of Capitalism- how to destroy it or make it better, people often turn to the "cause". Money. Theorists, economic analysts and critics argue that if it was not for money, then capitalism could not persist. However accurate that presumption, the easiest  would be a shift from a consumer based society. A society where companies dig for opportunities for every individual, where they appeal to every customer, every possibility. 

And that starts with us.



Reference links and interesting reads.

• http://faculty.plattsburgh.edu/richard.robbins/legacy/chap_2_intro.html
• http://www.uwyo.edu/sustainable/recent-research/docs/global%20consumer%20culture%20arnould.pdf
• http://www.pearsonhighered.com/assets/hip/us/hip_us_pearsonhighered/samplechapter/0205407412.pdf