Summary: The Omnivore's Dilemma Chapter 11&13

In these two chapters, the author talks about the Polyface Farm, a relatively small scaled farm that produces real organic food products. In chapter eleven, the author focuses on the farm itself. The Polyface Farm is characterized by “modeling a natural ecosystem in all its diversity and interdependence” (Pollan 215). The ecological interdependence on this farm allows the waste of one creature to nourish another creature. For example: the compost of the pigs feed the grasses, which might again feed the cows, and the cows’ manure feeds the insects, which then feeds the chickens, and so on. This process eliminates the use of chemical fertilizers or antibiotics, and so it achieves an efficiency which is not measured in monetary forms.
In chapter thirteen, the author focuses on the marketing of the Polyface Farm. The farm’s target consumers are those from the local area only. Some consumers drive to the farm to pick up the products, others are the chefs or owners of the local restaurants. The consumers are willing to buy the relatively expensive and inconvenient food from Polyface Farm since they believe the product is of higher quality, which is worth the price. The author says the Polyface Farm is a representative member of the artisanal economy, where the competitive strategy is based on selling something special. Though such a strategy can get the approval of some consumers, the author feels the least-cost producers in the industrial economy will ultimately prevail.

Personal opinions:
In chapter 13, the author expressed his anti-globalization point of view, and as he says himself: “why should a nation produce its own food when others can produce it more cheaply? A dozen reasons leap to mind, but most of them the Steven Blanks of the world – and they are legion – are quick to dismiss as sentimental” (Pollan 256), most of his reasons actually are not solid. For example, the second reason he gives, “the beauty of an agricultural landscape”, may be enjoyed and thus valued only by a small group of people. Unlike his previous solid arguments, such as the condemnation of the industrial food producers as violating the order of nature, the critiques about globalization are not persuasive to me. According to what I have learned from AEM2300: International Trade and Finance, I believe the globalization is doing the country as well as the people more good than harms. What do you think about globalization’s impact on food industry?