Did you eat today? What an odd question to ask someone in North America. However, eating is something we don't think about regularly. Well, okay, I think about it a lot, but not always about where my food comes from. Do you?

I am not talking about specifically where you get your food, as I have already talked about local eating and great sources of organic produce, but where does it come from? What is involved in the farming that goes into our food?

Historically, farms were for growing food to sustain ourselves. Now, post world wars, we are finding farms to be big industry, producing surplus amounts of food that have now become a growing source of exports. I guess we all need to eat.

Did you know that in the US, less than 1% of its population is growing its food? In addition, half of all US farmland is owned by non-farmers and only seven companies run 50% of the farms. Ponder that thought for a moment. We all need to eat, so why are there not more farmers out there? Somehow we are able to purchase food in abundance in North America, so what is the catch?

Industrialized farming. It is big business and it is our business to be informed. The mechanization of the farm led to many monoculture crops and larger farms. This pushed out the smaller farmers who could not invest in machines and more land. We are then left with big business farms.

This business was, and is, very dependent on petroleum. Soil fertility requires artificial nitrogen fertilizer which is produced with natural gas, weeds are dealt with by herbicides (also produced with petroleum) and other petroleum-derived chemicals are used to ward off pests. In the US, since 1945, pesticide use has risen 3,300 percent, but crop loss to pests has not decreased. In fact, the crop losses have increased. I guess these pests have developed a resistance. In addition, the soil has been compromised and thus is less productive. The answer to that is to increase fertility with 20 million tons of ammonium fertilizer per year. Yikes.

What about the seeds? They have fallen prey to big business as well. In the US, between 1972 and 1982, over 60 seed companies were sold to chemical and petroleum companies. I'm not sure about you, but I do not like the sound of that.

Are we really getting what we think we are? Do we know where our food is coming from? Are we what we eat? All these questions are very important. If we support these large industrial farms, then they will continue to swallow up the family farms that produce quality food. What can we do?

Well, of course, eat locally. You know who produced your food and you can follow their farming practices.

Eat organically. Eat from farms who believe in not using fossil fuels in the ways of pesticides and excessive mechanization of the land. Eat at restaurants that serve food that is in season. Purchase your food directly from a farmer. That way you know that your money is supporting a farm that is practicing environmental stewardship.

We cannot always control all that we eat in this day and age, but it helps to be informed.

All facts and figures were found in the book entitled "Biomimicry: Innovation Inspired by Nature," by Janine M. Benyus.