Deeply Rooted Evaluation

Kelsey Albergo

Prof. Santos

Eng. 102-016

27 November 2017

Deeply Rooted Evaluation

Deeply Rooted, a book written by Lisa M. Hamilton, is written in the perspective of Hamilton herself as she travels to visit three different farmers who believe that our food system is falling apart. Each of the men that she talks to believed that losing the world’s farmers would have a negative effect on the rest of the businesses and lives in the towns. Through the stories of Harry Lewis, Virgil Trujillo, and the Podoll family, we are shown the real effects that industrialization of agriculture could have on everyone.

In general, the book speaks to the effects of industrialization on our food system. The way that the men in the book talked about treating and harvesting what we consume made me not want to eat anymore. The owners of the small, non-industrialized farms gave good reason as to why their ideas of farming was a much better idea that treating the cattle like objects instead of living things. Harry Lewis had told Hamilton, “‘...if people saw where their milk normally comes from. Imagine if people visited a big, concrete dairy. You know what I call that kind of dairy? I call it a penitentiary. When you’re not free to move, then you’re incarcerated’” (42). That is the big idea in most government run dairy farms. The cows aren’t treated with as much love or respect as they would be given on a family run farm. Hamilton had gone on to talk about another problem that got my attention. The production of corn and wheat is being sped up by non-local farming businesses. The Podolls were an example of a family run farm that knew the correct way to grow corn. Hamilton said, “And while the rest of the fields around here are planted with rows so tight a person could hardly breathe between them, the rows at the Podolls’ are spaced with dark alleys wider than a big man’s shoulders” (262). The main goal of industrialized farms is to get a product out as fast as possible. The prefer quantity over quality. Family farms are different because they prefer quality over quantity. The only way you are going to sell more is if the people that you are selling to actually like the product.

Hamilton did an amazing job of showing, not with research, but with first hand experiences, how the quality of food is going downhill in today’s society. Tradition isn’t the worst way to get the best out of the land. Machines take the love out of harvesting, and in turn takes love out of the product. Deborah Adams, a writer for curledup.com, wrote a review for the book. In her review she said, “The heroes in her story are clearly the Harrys and the Virgils and the Davids who stand against the mob bosses with only their moral certainty and a handful of faith”. It is truly inspiring how these people are going against big businesses, who could very well run them out of business. The families who risk everything to get a product out to the world that shows the love that they have in the process of making it really says a lot about how little the government cares about their own products that they put out.

I would recommend this book to anyone who was interested in where their everyday food comes from. If they just want to learn more about the difference between a big brand and a local, family run brand. I would also recommend this to a big business. I would recommend it to them so that they could see how their approach at putting out products isn’t necessarily the right way.