Often times the terms used to describe the natural world are a bit awkward for those of us removed from the acquisition of food. In the case of your carrot, the farmer would probably be referred to as the predator, but frankly I don't know if anyone has a good handle on where exactly in the harvesting process the carrot actually dies. But you and the farmer have entered into a relationship best defined as symbiotic mutualism - he preys on carrots, and you present him with gifts that he takes in exchange for the carrots - usually money, and often with intermediaries. Chimpanzees engage in this type of behavior (in that situation the gifts are often sexual favors exchanged for food - chimp prostitution - no intermediaries there). No doubt all the cyanobacteria contained within some plankton isn't destroyed as it passes through the gut of whatever predator it has had the misfortune to encounter, but it's probably safe to say that most is. Interestingly, one of the pioneers in the discovery of the relationship between cyanobacteria and algae was none other than Beatrix Potter, the creator of Peter Rabbit. Peter liked carrots, too - it was almost his downfall.
Interesting; thanks. Been over 30 years since I had a class that even remotely covered such. And the Beatrix Potter tidbit was most interesting, too.
As for the carrot, with proper storage, they can live for months. If they still have the part of the greens on the top, you can trim & decapitate it, so to speak, and plant the top. You won’t really get a new long, fat carrot, but with proper care, being a bienniel, it may flower and produce seed.
OTOH, I always view cows not as herbivorous animals, but as a machine invented by bacteria to carry them around and feed them, then they use their waste products to power the cow.
Wish I could do the same for my vehicles. OTOH, a cow can’t do 0-60 in under 10 seconds, or carry over a ton of payload several hundred miles per day.