Hartmann+Annotation+8



Thomas Hartmann Word Count: 1128


 * Title:** Fresh
 * Director:** Sofia Joanes
 * Release Year:** 2009

//Fresh// argues that the industrialization of agriculture, although it has significantly increased food productions, has caused problems such as pollution, food contaminated with chemicals, strain on resources, and health problems such as obesity. The film argues that the current mindset of Americans is to have convenient, good looking food over healthy, sustainable food. To fix this problem, the film argues that there must be a paradigm shift to sustainable farming that produces healthier food.
 * 2. What is the central argument or narrative of the film?**

The film describes many of the problems with industrialized problems and then the benefits of sustainable farming, which creates a distinct shift in emotions from a feeling of almost tyranny over plants and animals to a feeling of caring for plants and animals. For example, the film describes the how animals are factory farmed, fed food that they would unnaturally eat, and given chemicals that prevent the diseases that would inevitably result from animals living so close together. The film then presents a personal story of how one pig farmer realized how horrible the way he was farming was when a wound from the tusk of one of his hogs became seriously infected and decided to completely exterminate his herd and start from the beginning with more natural techniques. The film describes how if farming is done correctly, land can be more than sustained, it can be healed.
 * 3. How is the argument or narrative made and sustained? How much scientific information is provided, for example? Does the film have emotional appeal?**

The primary educational problem that the film draws out is that farming school only teaches efficiency and maximizing production as opposed to sustainability. The film also points out the misconception created by politicians and the media that organic food is not sustainable because it cannot feed the world. The film argues that all of the extra inputs to industrial farming such as fuel, fertilizers, and pesticides make it unsustainable, which leaves organic farming as the only truly sustainable alternative. The film also draws out the problem that economics always takes precedence over sustainability, human health, and environmental protection. This has made agricultural companies that sell seeds, pesticides, fertilizers, and antibiotics too powerful in forcing all farmers to farm in the same way.
 * 4. What sustainability problems does the film draw out? Political? Legal? Economic? Technological? Media and Informational? Organizational? Educational? Behavioral? Cultural? Ecological?**

I was particularly compelled by the argument that even though industrial food costs less per pound, it costs more if every factor such as nutrition, chemical residues, and sustainability are taken into account. This was particularly convincing because I think this helps to make people think about the cost of a product beyond its monetary cost. I was also compelled by the idea of keeping the “pig-ness” of the pig, the “cow-ness” of the cow, and the “tomato-ness” of the tomato. I think the mindset of farming plants and animals in a more natural way (the way they were meant to be farmed) is where the solution to the problem lies.
 * 5. What parts of the film did you find most persuasive and compelling? Why?**

I was not convinced that the film considered all possible sources of food contaminants. Specifically, when the film visits the basketball player that has a greenhouse and farms naturally, it describes how he takes food waste from supermarkets and breaks it down into soil. I do not think that the film considered the possibility that residue on the food waste from supermarkets (unless all the food was organic) would be concentrated in the soil in the greenhouse. I was also not completely convinced that farming school a significant problem. I feel that farming school has likely changed what it teaches since the pig farmer went to school (which was most likely many years ago) and that the film should have shown what farming school is like today.
 * 6. What parts of the film were you not compelled or convinced by? Why?**

The film has a very wide audience, but best addresses those who are less educated in science, technology, and environmental problems. I think the film has more value to lesser educated people because it both provides some scientific information that those people may be unaware of yet presents most of its information on a personal level. For example, the idea of keeping the “pig-ness” of the pig, the “cow-ness” of the cow, and the “tomato-ness” of the tomato is a simple, yet powerful message.
 * 7. What audiences does the film best address? Why?**

The film could have enhanced its educational value by either describing farming school as it is today, not when the pig farmer went to school. Further, suggesting how farming school could be improved to include safer and more sustainable farming practices that take into account the influence of large corporations would have contributed to the film’s educational value.
 * 8. What could have been added to this film to enhance its environmental educational value?**

The film indirectly suggests that farming could be improved by addressing problems such as the power of large companies, the risk of growing all food in the same way, and the difficulty in getting locally grown food into super markets. For example, if a variety of farming methods and crops were used, this would avoid the pest problems associated with mono-cultures and the risk that if a single crop fails, significantly less food can be produced.
 * 9. What kinds of action and points of intervention are suggested by the film? If the film itself does not suggest corrective action, describe actions that you can imagine being effective.**

In realizing that the basketball player with a greenhouse did not consider that the compost he was producing could be contaminated, I researched more about what can get into compost. I found that in addition to materials such as glass, metal, and plastic, there can be toxins such as pesticides, fertilizers, and heavy metals, which are concentrated when the materials decompose. For example, grass clippings from lawns can contain a significant amount of fertilizers, pesticides, and weed killers. Although Josh Harkinson argues in the article that the source of the problem is a lack of regulation of the composting industry, I feel that this is more important for individuals who produce their own compost. []
 * 10. What additional information has this film compelled you to seek out? (Provide at least two supporting references.)**

I was also compelled to learn whether organic food is truly more nutritious than conventionally grown food. I found in general that there is not enough evidence to say that organic food is nutritionally different than conventionally grown food. However, organic food still has almost not residue and is grown in a more sustainable way. []