Culture in the 21rst century has come full circle in terms of daily vocabulary. Agrarian societies operated with a set of basically monosyllabic words: fruit, bean, soy, corn, wheat, rake, hoe, weed, plant, seed, reap, eat. Advances in agribusiness technology marked an increase in syllables: partially hydrogenated cottonseed oil, high fructose corn syrup, emulsifying soy lecithin, farm-based intelligent default software, satellite radio implement guidance systems, Smartstax, etc. etc.
The syllables pile up faster than a fresh load of hay to the point where acronyms are needed to digest the significance of each agribusiness tool or activity. Genetically modified foods become GMs, seeds and chemicals are applied according to prompts from satellites in the form of RTKs. But only the industry giants hold dominion over the new vocabulary, and thus, daily activity of farmers. To understand the acronym, you must submit to the instructions of the "club".
The response is the slowfood movement. The movement not only sticks to one and two syllable words to describe daily activity, it empowers those wishing to work the land to break away from agribusiness giants. Good food. Slow. Fresh. Yum.
