The unknown process

Not even 10 seconds after I finished reading the assignment instructions, it dawned on me just how ignorant I am about agriculture. I was born in a small urban town (…by Mexican standards: 700,000 people), then at 17 years old I moved to Mexico city (21 million), then moved to Madrid (4 million), then Boston (also about 4 million). This is my first time ever living in a “quasi-rural” area.

To answer the first question:

What is Agriculture? Agriculture is farming: the cultivation of varieties of foods for human consumption.

Then to answer the second question: What does it mean to me and my way of life?

As someone that has always loved in cities I am very ignorant about Agriculture. I am a little ashamed to admit it’s a completely alien world I know nothing about. Agriculture to me, is a discipline; part of this “alien world” and only a first step, in a long, mysterious process by which my food travels from an unknown beginning, then to the supermarket isle, and finally to my dinner plate.

Not surprisingly to me then; country means farm, and when I think farm, the only thing that comes to mind is a series of images of open expanses filled with cows, horses, and “Harvest moon” (I hope the geeks in the class smiled to that one), but nothing else.

It seems silly, but living in a city 24/7 is very easy to forget that burgers don’t grow on trees; food doesn’t come by itself already in pretty little plastic packages all ready to put in the microwave.
I picked this photo because it communicates, the very real disconnection that I’ve seen between city dwellers (myself included), and the places (and people) that produce their food.

Hopefully with information, this will change in the near future. Just like all the problems deriving from with waste disposal in modern society: no one bothers to think what happens to their beer can after it lands (hopefully) in the trash can. I agree that it’s important that we as a society create conscience and take full responsibility for the consequences of our urban way of life.