Final answer:
In Michael Pollan's 'The Omnivore's Dilemma', hybrid corn is labeled as 'greedy' because it absorbs more nutrients from the soil compared to other crops. Hybrid corn is a product of selective breeding designed to maximize yields and disease resistance, leading to greater nutrient requirements from the soil.
Step-by-step explanation:
In The Omnivore's Dilemma, author Michael Pollan refers to hybrid corn as 'greedy' because it absorbs more nutrients from the soil than any other crop. Unlike traditional varieties of corn, hybrid corn requires extensive agricultural inputs, including fertilization and irrigation, to produce optimal yields.
These hybrids are the result of selective breeding to create plants that have desirable traits such as higher yields and better disease resistance, but they also demand more from the soil in terms of nutrient uptake.
This intensive process of cultivation reflects the increasing global demand for agricultural products to feed a growing population and the use of crops like corn for various purposes beyond food, such as biofuels.
Furthermore, the adoption of such high-yield crops has an environmental impact. The conversion of natural habitats to croplands to meet this demand poses risks to biodiversity.
In modern agriculture, crops like hybrid corn demonstrate a clear example of how human intervention can drastically alter plant characteristics to meet specific economic and production needs. This modification has made corn incredibly productive, but 'greedy' in terms of the resources it uses from the soil.