Hyland,+Food+Inc.

Title: Food Inc. Director: Robert Kenner Release: 2008 Food Inc. is a documentary about the problems surrounding the system of industrial food production especially the environmental and health problems associated with it. This film points out the sustainability problems caused by food production in the United States. A majority of the food consumed come from large corporate farms and cash crop production. This issue is so large that nearly 30% of US land mass is used for corn production run by large corporations looking to produce product in the least expensive manner possible which general leads to unsustainable production methods. This leads these corporate farms to use an unnecessarily high amount of pesticides and fertilizers, the runoff from which seeps into the water table and washes into the river system and spread through every ecosystem in the country. The leaked chemicals decrease the quality of the water we consume and create massive ‘dead zones’ where wildlife cannot exist as it should. The movie also discusses the problems associated with animal harvesting as well as crops due to farmers’ mistreatment of animals and waste of useful animal parts. Some of the most compelling arguments in the movie are how much these products are in everything we eat. Soy and corn products are in nearly 90% of what we eat and even the animals we eat are force fed these crops instead of what they would naturally eat in order to cut costs and decrease metabolism to increase sizes. Some farmers even cut holes in the sides of their cattle so they can insert food directly to the stomach when it is unwilling to eat. The graphic nature of a lot of the footage also becomes a very emotionally charging part of the movie’s argument, however as a hunter I know no matter how sustainably you harvest meat, it will never be pretty. One thing I was not persuaded by was the discussion of the large corporate farmers bullying smaller farmers out of business. It did not seem to fit well with the myriad other arguments and I would have rather seen information on how we can bring smaller farmers to a level where they can compete with the corporations rather than pitying them for why they cannot. This film seems like it is made for a wide variety of viewers. It is done primarily in lay terms and is very lucid and to the point with its examples. The wide recognition it has received – including an academy award nomination – is testament to its compelling, simple arguments. It also caters to people who may already know a fair amount by finding various pieces rare pieces of information and brining to light a few well kept secrets that even people in the know may not have heard about. This movie was well done, but mostly a downer. It could have really used a story on a farmer or group who was able to do things sustainably and still remain competitive as well as information to how those farmers are able to do it while so many independent farmers get squished. In a like sense, this is how the movie encourages viewers to take action. Finding and supporting local farmers, farmers’ markets, and co-ops allows them to stay in business. Additionally if more and more people support a local farmer, he can keep his prices down, therefore allowing a lot of people access to quality, sustainable food. My thoughts on how this movie would be better off with a few farmer success stories led me to research ones that had taken ones that had taken the high road and still deliver competitive product. I found two TED talks from Chef Dan Barber who discovered two such farms. One is a fish farm in Spain that has grown into a healthy and sustainable habitat and environment where fish are plentiful and birds even stop to feed. One comment involves Dan asking the farmer why he allows the birds when they are eating his profits and the farmer responds that he is happy for the birds because they let him know his system is healthy. The other farmer is a goose farmer who is known for his frois gras – a dish which is usually shunned due to the cruelty animals experience in the manufacturing process. This farmer however does not over feed his geese, rather lets them eat whatever they please and provides as much as they want to plump them up. His farm is so healthy, his domestic geese will call to wild geese migrating over the farm at which point the wild geese will land and stay and become domesticated. [] []