Thenry -FOOD

Commercially grown carrots and Walnuts follow the same pros and cons of other commercially grown food; nuts specifically. 

Since lettuce is a vegetable, it is obviously first grown at a farm. Farmers produce crops to sell to big companies for packaging and distributing. There are a lot of steps to take for farmers to get their yield to the supermarket. From tending the soil to sowing the seeds and finally harvesting their crops, there are many steps to take to yield a successful harvest. As they stock up on vegetables, big companies either hire or make deals with them to produce their harvest at supermarkets for the general public. The vegetables go through a cleansing process to preserve its condition. Then, they are packaged up by machines or workers to sell.

Similar to Lettuce, walnuts must first be grown (from trees) to harvest later on in August. By using complex tree shaking machines, they are able to harvest walnuts by the thousands in a matter of a few hours. Most walnuts go through a quick and easy processing phase. The husk is removed since it is not edible and the nuts are dehydrated to optimum 8% moisture level. This is also to protect and preserve the quality of the nuts. Finally, they are packaged and sent to whatever food retailer.

I think my role in the larger food system involves educating myself and the people around me to make healthier food choices.  I've learned to question the foods that are labeled to appear healthy.  Just because it says "100%" doesn't mean that there is all natural juice.  Some labels have vitman c or another vitamin in smaller print.   One thing I foiund particularly interesting is the fact that in America, the people of the lower economic statuses are more often obeses.  The opposite is true of people in other countries as well. Also, whole wheat bread may have bread that contains whole weat grains mixed in with the grains of regular bread. I also learned that corn of some type exists in almost everything we eat, solids and liquids.      I beleive the biggest problems with our food system is the way that crops like corn and soy have monopolized the food industry.  Instead of trying to find the root of problems and fixing them, they come up with more high tech was of temporarily dealing with the problems at hand.  There isn't much that we can do as individuals , but we would have to come together in the support of smaller companies and farmers that are invested in healthier foods and better treatment of animals.  I think that I could choose to eat less meat per day, and choose to eat less processed food , which in the long run would benefit my own health.