Summary of Cronon’s Chapter on Meat
Cronon’s chapter on meat begins with the description of a stockyard, a social and economic achievement and depicts the engineering craft of the rail line which loops around the entire premise of it. Cronon then goes onto discuss meat as a new commodity in America, much similar to wheat and lumber, and how the American diet is slowly being altered. These new rail lines have provided access to buffalo territory with ease and quickness. Technological innovations, such as the improvement in tanning hide methods have made them much more profitable. In turn, this led to the annihilation of the buffalo community. Subsequently, the local Native American communities were affected because the buffalo were an essential…show more content… These mass production techniques has made humans virtually indispensable because they developed into factory size operations generating a greater meat output. As the years progressed, he began to realize the industrial dependency on weather cycles and capital inefficiency. Ice on rails became a major focus where refrigerator cars were developed. Packers then begin to realign existing meat trade networks, where railroads were forced to comply with packer demands. Dressed meat put butchers and livestock dealers out of business, followed by the persuasion of the American public to consume dressed meat. All in all, Cronon’s chapter on meat describes how the meat industry has become obsessed with turning “waste” into profit and how technology such as transport, refrigeration, and market for products has made location…show more content… In turn, this will allow researchers, extension educators, and farmers to develop research agendas and adopt practices that meet present and future farming needs. These practices include nutrient cycling, nutrient management, and the developing of working relationships with the information provider. The down-sizing of farms by Cooperative Extension is another option, but it may limit the information transfer of sustainable agricultural practices. Also, extra effort will be needed to focus on these groups individually with the adoption of sustainable agricultural practices since specific groups of farmers such as fruit, vegetables, grain, beef, and dairy have specific needs. Solutions for environmental issues and economic constraints usually require more skill, time, information, and management, but I believe that farmers will adopt these practices to preserve the quality of future