As society evolves, we are constantly seeking improvements to the systems we have in place, and especially when it comes to our food. Making food healthier, cheaper, and able to sustain our constantly growing population is becoming a priority now more than ever, and one of the major crops people have begun to rely on for this is soy. On the surface, soy appears to be a miracle cure: it can be used for meat and dairy substitutes, animal feed, oil, and many other common products. Despite this, low crop yields and heavy reliance worldwide have made this crop a top agricultural contributor to deforestation, right behind palm oil and beef production. In our quest to make food cheap and scalable, we have neglected to make it sustainable.
While it may yet be impossible to shift entirely away from soy and other seed oils, due to the dependence of the animal agriculture industry on soy and other similar crops, there are ways that the impact of these crops can be slowed and mitigated for the future. On a more realistic individual level, reading ingredients in food and selectively avoiding those produced with certain seed oils and vegetable oils, especially soy and palm, can reduce the demand for these crops. On a larger, more impactful scale, modern food can be made more sustainable by implementing restrictions on the amounts of some ingredients in food, and the outright banning of others. A perfect place to start is with soy, the most space-inefficient and among the most widespread of modern mass-produced crops.
Sources:
https://www.epa.gov/emergency-response/vegetable-oils-and-animal-fats#:~:text=Destroy%20future%20and%20existing%20food,the%20environment%20for%20many%20years.
https://www.jeffnobbs.com/posts/the-environmental-impact-of-vegetable-oils
This is a great introduction, Matthew. Your topic is very interesting and the hook draws in the reader very much. I also have a passion for environmental topics, so I’m super happy to read an introduction paragraph about one! The thesis was very clearly stated and the paragraphs definitely give the issue brief its purpose and foreshadowed the paper in great detail. Overall, this was a great introduction and I can’t wait to read the rest!
I really like this introduction Matt. I like how you introduced the topic with a broad statement that most of the audience can understand, so your thesis is more effective about improving the sustainability. The detail in the introduction was also done very well, and I’m excited to read the rest of it!