The Omnivore's Dilemma Rhetorical Analysis

A red barn, with green pastures and cows roaming around happily; this is what enters most our minds when we think of farms, which is naïve. The truth is 90% of our food is industrially grown, where we feed cows through plastic tubes and give them antibiotics by the pint and corn is doused with chemicals. Michael Pollan, through “The Omnivore’s Dilemma,” tries to open the eyes of the American people to understand this and to question what we are eating. Similarly, artist Nathan Meltz and the Reuters article “Monsanto replacing GMO canola seed in Canada” work to answer this all-important question by further analyzing our food production. Together, these various sources let the readers comprehend conventional agriculture through multiple lenses …show more content…
Corn’s journey starts after World War II when “the government had... a tremendous surplus of ammonium nitrate” which they sprayed on corn as a fertilizer to help farm the land without depleting nutrients (Pollan 41). This not only helped farmers grow higher yields but also “liberated [them] from old biological constraints” by allowing a monoculture and an abundant supply of corn (Pollan 45). However helpful in creating a surplus to feed billions, nitrogen fertilizers have a negative connotation to many in society. One farmer activist even said “’we’re still eating the leftovers of World War II’” in response to their use on corn (Pollan 41). Furthermore, even farmers using fertilizers suffered from them economically due to a flood of cheap corn, which was “far more than Americans could afford to buy” causing low prices that bankrupted many farmers (Pollan 49). Additionally, many Americans are also against nitrogen fertilizers use due to their negative impact on the environment since, when sprayed on corn, runs off into lakes and rivers “to the detriment of countless” species (Pollan