How do paragraphs 2-3 demonstrate the different goals Tom and Anne have for their farms?

Passage: Two farmers, Tom and Anne, live only miles apart down a narrow blacktop road in central Illinois. Each year, they plant seeds in the same rich soil and face the same hot, sticky summers. Fifty years ago, these neighbors may have had a lot in common. Nowadays, Tom and Anne have different ideas about what to grow and how to grow it.

Tom grew up on his farm. When he was a kid, his dad farmed about 80 acres. A big farm back then was 240 acres. Today, Tom uses tractors, sprayers, and combines to do the work much faster. As a result, he is able to farm 700 acres of corn and soybeans. Tom’s tractor is connected to a computer and a GPS system to help him plant seeds and distribute chemical fertilizers efficiently. Scientifically designed seeds, called hybrids, help Tom to win battles against weeds, pests, and drought. Special herbicides keep weeds away but allow the corn and soybeans to thrive. Thanks to these changes, Tom can produce almost three times more bushels of grain per acre than his father did.

Ten years ago, Anne started up a small 15-acre farm. She believes in a different kind of farming and eating, called the Slow Food movement. Italian Carlo Petrini started the Slow Food movement to help people combat the “crazy speed of the fast life,” eat good local food, and preserve the environment. Like Petrini, Anne wants to keep the soil rich for years to come. So, instead of chemical fertilizers, she mixes compost and dead fish into her soil. (Compost is fertilizer made of decayed plant and animal materials.) Anne plows her fields with a tractor. Then, to save fuel, she pulls out the hand tools. She hires three or four helpers each season to plant seeds for hundreds of different vegetables, from broccoli to turnips and chard. Anne is not as concerned about the quantity of her food as she is about the quality of it.

In the fall, Tom sells his corn and soybeans to a grain dealer. Some of Tom’s grain becomes animal feed, and some is used to make renewable fuels like ethanol. A portion of Tom’s grain is often shipped on a barge to countries around the world.

Unlike Tom, Anne keeps her products very close to home. She mainly sells her food at farmer’s markets and to individual customers who visit her farm on a weekly basis. Anne’s market may seem small, but it is growing. In the past ten years, the number of farmer’s markets in Illinois has almost tripled.

Neither Tom nor Anne knows exactly what the future of farming will be. Tom’s grandfather never would have dreamt that technology could advance as far as it has today. Anne hopes farmers will plan more for the well-being of future generations. Both hope that their farms will continue to succeed, providing people with some of their most important and basic needs.