The letter from David Whitson (Nov. 10) concerning the practices of farmers and the food industry raises some issues that beg for questioning.

The main points of the letter seem to be that the food producing business makes a lot of money for a segment of the population and that we are not in a position to question farmer/industry practices as long as we depend on them for our food. Therefore, we should accept the way food is produced and processed without grumbling.

The hazardous waste folks could take advantage of a similar position: No one can complain about toxic waste spills as long as we are dependent on the industry for disposing of the garbage produced by the chemical products of our industrialized society.

It certainly is true that the American farmer and the food industry are very efficient in producing cheap food. However, there is a cost for this efficiency.

The major costs are: 1. mass production techniques applied to living things—this is what annoys the animal welfare people so much (as well it should); and 2. the use of enormous quantities of chemicals, many of them very dangerous, to short circuit natural processes (eg. produce very high yields of a single crop from the same piece of land year after year). We routinely find these chemicals in all parts of our environment, including ourselves.

Fortunately, there are ways of escaping from this system if you want to reduce your participation in a food production game that seems crazy.

A small segment of the farming/producing population have reacted to the negative aspects of our current setup, and use natural methods for producing food. These natural foods (not what’s usually labeled as natural in the grocery store) are available at food coops.

DeKalb is lucky enough to have a good coop, the Duck Soup Coup, at 804 Market St., where you can get naturally produced food, and escape the mass production/chemical pollution rat race.

Paul Loubere

Associate professor

Geology