The Omnivore's Dilemma by Michael Pollen

     In The Omnivore's Dilemma, Michael Pollen claims that the beef industry has industrialized and wasteful, disregarding nature. One way Pollen supports his claim is through his use of facts. Pollen uses factual information about the natural diet of cattle, how a steer's digestive system is affected by corn, and the implications of feeding corn to cattle on our natural resources and health. For example, by the time one steer has matured enough to be slaughtered, it will have taken 35 gallons of oil to support the food supply for that one steer. Pollen backs up these facts with reliable sources like a veterinarian, an economist, and a USDA microbiologist. Another method Pollen uses to support his claim is his use of personal experience and observations. Pollen goes on the journey from farm to feedlot with the calf and witnesses feedlot practices personally. Since the experiences are firsthand, Pollen's claim seems more credible. A third method Pollen uses to support his claim is word choice. To introduce the feedlot, Pollen uses the term "premodern city". He goes on to describe the feedlot like a city referring to the feed mill as a "local landmark" and the gravel roads as "streets". Through this choice of words, Pollen creates an industrialized image of the feedlot. This contributes further to his claim that the beef industry has become industrialized.
     The success of Pollen's argument is compromised by his bias in the excerpt. Throughout the piece, Pollen villianizes the beef industry. He brings up facts that have little to do with feeding corn to cattle, and only serve to create bias against the beef industry. One such fact is that farmers fed rendered bovine meat to steer until 1997 when it was banned by the FDA. Pollen never addresses the beef industry's point of view or the flaws in his own argument. Ultimately Pollen is unsuccessful in his claim.