Chapter 6: On the Range Fast Food Nation

1. Chapter 6: On the RangeFast Food Nation By: Luke Atherton, Bobby Glenn, and Cameron Quisenberry

2. Author’s Intent • Schlosser is trying to show how the mass development of urbanization in rural areas is causing many farmers and ranchers to lose much of their land that they use for raising cattle. • Schlosser proves the meatpacking industry is corrupted in the sense that the hard-working people who raise the cattle and chickens are being cheated out of their money.

3. Author’s Major Assertions • The corruption of meatpacking companies is causing many farmers to lose their job and major source of income if they try to lash out against the company. • The urban development over rural areas causes many farmers/ranchers to lose their valuable farming property. • The suicide rate of farmers/ranchers is three times the national average.

4. Successful Proof • The author successfully proved his points in this chapter. The cruelty of meatpacking companies was proven by providing examples of how farmers/ranchers have been treated when they try to testify against a large company. • Schlosser analyzes the prices that ranchers are paid for their cattle and discover that the prices are amazingly low.

5. Proof cont’d • In the beginning of the chapter, Schlosser meets with a rancher named Hank who lives in Colorado. Hank shows the author how his property is slowly diminishing and being taken over by urban development. At the end of the chapter, Schlosser discovers that Hank committed suicide. Hank was under a lot of stress, mainly because he was trying to find a way to protect his family financially from the miniscule cattle prices. Also, El Paso County was trying to build a highway right through Hank’s ranch.

6. Proof cont’d • Hank’s suffering shows that the lowering cattle prices, as well as the urban development in rural areas, causes farmers/ranchers to be put in difficult economic situations. The monopoly power of meatpacking industries is proving to be costly and cruel on the people who are producing the animals for the meatpacking industries.

7. Potential Author Bias • Schlosser may be in favor of the landowners and farmers, but his evidence and reasoning is legitimate. He uses specific cases, like Hank, and backs up his claims that show the monopoly power of meatpacking industries and the impact of people who lose rural property because of the urban development constructed around them.

8. Relevance of Material • Fast Food Nation was published in 2001, meaning the material covered throughout the book is still relevant today. The book material is related to fast food chains and how they are part of the main cause of the monopoly power of meatpacking industries. Companies like Tyson and ConAgra changed their methods of meat-cutting to meet the demands of fast food chains like Mcdonald’s. The meatpacking industries have hardly changed since the book was published.