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SoiferI VtP Annotation: Toxic subsistence agriculture

The visualization indicates a very personal form of economic pursuit: engaging in subsistence agriculture requires a lot of intensive labor. Yet this work renders a toxic product that they then must sell in order to ensure economic prosperity. On the outside the plants do not appear as toxic or dangerous per se, but rather well-tended. But they are inherently toxic, and this shows how misleading toxicity can be as visual cues fail us. Family farmers are often conveyed as being safe to purchase food from, and taking greater care to provide healthy food.

SoiferI VtP Annotation: Toxic subsistence agriculture

One minor note is the difference between the red tomatoes conveyed in the caption and the image itself which shows green tomatoes: was this intentional/does it matter? I think the caption could further the message by providing a specific definition of "toxic subsistence agriculture": why is it toxic? Because of the pesticide? Because of the social circumstances that rendered the farmers having to use pesticides? Or both? A bit more elaboration on this would be helpful.

SoiferI VtP Annotation: Toxic subsistence agriculture

The image was taken by the ethnographer. One aspect that is interesting is the uniformity in color--predominantly green, a color that is often used to symbolize environmentally sustainable and healthy. Yet this is misleading due to the composition of the plants themselves, which are inherently toxic from the minute they sprout.

SoiferI VtP Annotation: Toxic subsistence agriculture

This visualization conveys the manner in which toxics and the economy are intertwined, as well as the potential for the economic to entrap people in a viscious cycle that propogates the toxic. It conveys the large scale of the issue, as well as the manner in which toxicity is not always fully apparent--one cannot know these tomatoes are toxic unless one reads the caption or does a test for pesticide content.