跪求雅思阅读《The true cost of food》的Summary
这么长 才给20... The cost of food has been rising and it has now reached a point where people think bringing it down will be a huge challenge. The cost is of the collateral damage of the very methods of food production that have made the food cheaper: in the pollution of water, the enervation of soil, the destruction of wildlife, the harm to animal welfare and the threat to human health caused by modern industrial agriculture. Chemical fertilizers, pesticides, battery rearing of livestock, and genetic engineering are all key factors in building up the poor environment today. All the lost ponds lost birds, lost of fresh water, lost flowers, and so on, they are all suffering because of us. The costs of all this damage are what economists refer to as externalities: they are outside the main transaction. Our food bills are actually threefold. We are paying for our supposedly cheaper food in three separate ways: once over the counter, secondly through our taxes, which provide the enormous subsidies propping up modern intensive farming, and thirdly to clean up the mess that modern farming leaves behind. The government needs to create sustainable, competitive and diverse farming and food sectors, which will contribute to a thriving and sustainable rural economy, and advance environmental, economic, health, and animal welfare goals. We should also have a standard which pushes the market towards more sustainable environmental practices than the current norm, while not requiring the full commitment to organic production. Such a standard would comprise agreed practices for different kinds of farming, covering agrochemical use, soil health, land management, water and energy use, food safety and animal health. We shift consumers as well as farmers towards a more sustainable system of agriculture.