Respond: Eric Mortenson, A Diversified Farm Prospers in Oregon’s Willamette Valley by Going Organic and Staying Local

Respond: Eric Mortenson, A Diversified Farm Prospers in Oregon’s Willamette Valley by Going Organic and Staying Local

RESPOND •

Question 25.28

1. What arguments is Mortenson making in this article? In what ways does the information here help you understand the challenges of being an independent farmer in the United States at this historical moment? In what ways does it give you useful information about the relationship many Americans have with the food they consume?

Question 25.29

2. What sorts of hard evidence does Mortenson use in this selection? How effectively does he use them? (You might imagine what the article would be like if he had not used these sources of evidence. For a discussion of hard evidence, see Chapter 4.)

Question 25.30

3. As is often the case in such newspaper articles, Mortenson seeks to create the Boyers as three-dimensional characters by describing them in some detail. (Watch this video.) In what ways has Mortenson captured aspects of each of the Boyers’ personality? Are there other details he might have added? How do such details serve as arguments based on emotion, ethos, or fact? (See Chapters 2, 3, and 4 on these arguments.)

Question 25.31

4. Mortenson makes interesting stylistic choices in this article. How would you describe his style? To what extent and in what ways does his style seek to match the ways the Boyers — Tom, in particular — talk? Why might Mortenson have made these choices? How would the article have been different if Mortenson had used a more distant or academic style? Why? (Chapter 13 considers the role of style in arguments.)

Question 25.32

5. Write an essay in which you explore some topic related to local independent farms in the area where you study or an area where you live. Using this article as a starting point, you might investigate the challenges independent farmers face generally; to tackle this topic, you’ll want to do some research on the Internet or interview people knowledgeable about these issues, including farmers themselves. You could write an essay about Worldwide Opportunities on Organic Farms (WOOF) using information you get from its Web site or elsewhere on the Internet, from interviews with farmers in your area who participate in WWOOF, or from people who have been WWOOF volunteers. From a different perspective, you might check local news sources, especially newspapers, to discover issues currently relevant on topics related to independent farmers, farmers’ markets, or the local food supply.

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