Being someone who was raised on both wheat and potatoes, I found it quite entertaining to learn from Pollan how controversial the introduction of the potato was to most European countries and in what creative ways the leaders of some countries introduced the potato. What stood out in my mind especially was how “Marie Antoinette took to wearing potato flowers in her hair, and Louis” XVI protected his royal potato garden by his most elite guards till midnight in order to convince the local peasants that the potato was of value (p. 201).
After attending the lecture by Percy Schmeiser (which had a large effect on my opinions and views of GMOs (Genetically Modified Organisms)), it was a little disconcerting to learn that Pollan planted genetically engineered potatoes from the Monsanto corporation in his garden (p. 187) as I kept thinking about all the problems Monsanto GM canola has caused (e.g. decreased crop yields; decreased nutrition; increased chemical use; decreased biodiversity; health concerns; etc.) and what more problems could be caused by these NewLeaf potatoes. Another thing to consider is that conventional farming “saddles the farmer with debt, jeopardizes his health, erodes his soil and ruins its fertility, pollutes groundwater, and compromises the safety of the food we eat” (p. 190) as well as allowing corporations to have a “noose” around the necks of these farmers (p. 235). All these (and other) negative repercussions, that Percy Schmeiser and Michael Pollan pointed out, made me consider just how much of a problem our own cultural thinking (e.g. monoculture (p. 228)) has negatively affected the farming industry, and thus us ourselves.
Although if you were to read a specific section of Pollan’s chapter on the potato you may think he is supporting one side of the GMO debate, however throughout the extent of the chapter he actually provided a very well rounded discussion, considering the positives, negatives, and unknowns that he gathered from extensive research regarding Monsanto’s GMO potato, the NewLeaf.
I enjoyed your response to the reading Tiffany. I especially liked how you included both Percy's and Pollan's views on GMOs, I felt it gave depth to your freewrite by presenting the informative and human side of the GMO debate. This I think you showed in your last paragraph when you mentioned how Pollan "provided a very well rounded discussion, considering the positives, negatives, and unknowns", I think this contrasted with Percy's argument, which was more emotional and concentrated only on the negatives (which there are many!).
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