Food Inc.

[Vacant Horizon]

that film ruined me. i am sick, sad and very angry. i have two little children which magnifies the film's impact. off course, it is edited and manipulative, but damn! i've known this for decades, but what a fucked up world we live in.

[Sir Stewart]

The audio from today's Tom Ashbrook conversation with author Jonathan Safran Foer about his new non-fiction book Eating Animals will be up here soon. Great talk about facing head-on the reality of meat production/consumption as a meat eater. I want to read the book.

Haven't seen Food Inc yet. Not looking forward to it.

[jmacomber68w]

I saw it, enjoyed it. Although I wasn't shocked by anything

[LouieB]

I think I saw this. Is this the one that talks about the local food movement in California and then branches out to talk about the food industry?

 

LouieB

[M. (hristine]

When I was a young mother in the 70s, my husband, daughter and I lived on a multi generational organic farm. We raised our vegetables, chicken (eggs), beef and goats. We fished and wild foraged. Bought raw milk from our neighbor and made our own butter. My life was irrevocably altered from the experience.

 

I have never lost that intimate relationship with where my food comes from.

 

In the years since I read Michael Pollan's book Omnivore's Dilemma, the section on William Salatin and Polyface Farm has lingered in my memory. I was grateful for this film so that I could see the beauty of Salatin's vision. I thank the Goddess for men like him.

 

And for young men and women like Dan and Brooke in my city, urban farmers in whose souls an uncommon fire burns.

 

 

 

 

 

Seek to spend some of your grocery money on food that is produced from small farms, close to your home. It is the most brazen, willful, and powerful a political act you can do.

 

Monsanto can kindly go fuck themselves.

[LouieB]

Just don't get a hankering for a Coke (or any other high fructose corn syrup drink) or it blows all your good intentions out the window.

 

At some point I stop feeling guilty about some of these issues. At the point that it sucks to support the food establishment which has increased obesity rates and factory farms which mistreat animals, it has also given us the ability to feed far more people higher quality food in some cases over the broader spectrum of the population. I try and buy locally when possible and wish the system was more friendly to smaller farms. But at this point even companies like Whole Foods is just another corporation and it is impossible to feed the planet on local or heirloom products.

 

But then again at this stage we should no longer be driving gas powered cars and we should all have solar panels on our houses that cost within reasonable range. I plan to look into solar panels soon (what's taking me so long), but it isn't easy. Meanwhile it isn't so easy to eat locally either. Then again I tore out a bunch of lawn this summer and planted a bigger garden, so slowly but surely.

 

LouieB

[M. (hristine]

I get thirsty for, and drink, a Dr. Pepper a couple times a year.

 

I don't want anyone to feel guilt. The change in food production has been insidious but not irreversible.

 

I know I'm a zealot, but I just want folks like the op to feel empowered rather than bereft, even if it's baby steps.

 

And for everyone to read Omnivore's Dilemma.

[Moss]

that film ruined me. i am sick, sad and very angry. i have two little children which magnifies the film's impact. off course, it is edited and manipulative, but damn! i've known this for decades, but what a fucked up world we live in.

 

Saw this film last night and it is brutal. The power that a company like Monsanto has is frightening. The ever increasing drive for profit over all else to the point of sacrificing the health of the consumer is nothing short of evil. Other than to shop locally and really research your purchases, it's very tough to know what to do. You think you are buying the right products only to find out that really, Tyson or Monsanto or whoever actually owns it anyways. We are very fortunate in that we have some great little local farmers markets.

[Vacant Horizon]

Saw this film last night and it is brutal. The power that a company like Monsanto has is frightening. The ever increasing drive for profit over all else to the point of sacrificing the health of the consumer is nothing short of evil. Other than to shop locally and really research your purchases, it's very tough to know what to do. You think you are buying the right products only to find out that really, Tyson or Monsanto or whoever actually owns it anyways. We are very fortunate in that we have some great little local farmers markets.

 

 

many good points. i was not shocked by the film. i knew exactly what i was gonna see. i started seeing the matrix at a young age and since have cycled through activism and exhaustion several times. the film just made me revisit how difficult it is to believe anything anyone says about anything. i am heading back in the vegetarian direction as a result of this film and it has reinvigorated my mindfulness about food. at the same time, walking into a grocery store is overwhelming when one considers where the food comes from. humanity seems to have chosen it's path of profit over people at this point. it will either destroy us or lead us to a better way. we do have the power though. can you imagine what would happen if we all stopped grocery shopping for one week? maybe in that same week, all minorities can call in sick too. the economy would crumble.

[Buford T. Justice]

One way to know where your food is coming from is to participate in a Community Supported Agriculture ("CSA") program. My wife and I have been members for several seasons - the CSA we are involved with is called Simply Wisconsin. The deal is that the CSA works with small, family farmers and sells "shares" to consumers. Then, they make weekly deliveries to locations around the Chicago and the suburbs (and Milwaukee, Madison, etc.). We order the fruit/vegetable share, but they also have meat shares, cheese shares and egg shares. It's a bit of a crapshoot because you don't necessarily know what you're getting when you buy a share; your share is dependent on whatever grows in a particular season. So, if they have a bumper crop of kale, you might get lots and lots of kale. I love our CSA - really enjoy getting fresh, organic, locally grown fruits and vegetables, and am also pleased that we are supporting local family farms. Also, some insurance companies will pay for a CSA under "wellness" programs. Mine, unfortunately, does not. But it's worth investigating.

 

http://www.simplywi.com/

[M. (hristine]

One can also volunteer to work at some CSAs, so not only are you a consumer but also become intimate with how food arrives on your plate. It's an odd part of our culture to be so removed from all of that.

Ignorance makes us vulnerable.

[Good Old Neon]

I’m 110% in favor of supporting local growers and buying organic, but I cannot help but think that if EVERYONE did this, the small “farms” would eventually be overwhelmed, and to keep up, they’d eventually have to grow and grow, and by growing, lose what made them special in the first place.

 

There are 350 + million humans in this country alone, is it even possible to feed everyone utilizing local growers? And if we tried, would they simply end up being the Monsanto’s and the mega-farms of the future?

[yermom]

I’m 110% in favor of supporting local growers and buying organic, but I cannot help but think that if EVERYONE did this, the small “farms” would eventually be overwhelmed, and to keep up, they’d eventually have to grow and grow, and by growing, lose what made them special in the first place.

 

There are 350 + million humans in this country alone, is it even possible to feed everyone utilizing local growers? And if we tried, would they simply end up being the Monsanto’s and the mega-farms of the future?

If the demand for local produce was that great, I'd so totally become a farmer. I imagine plenty of people working shit jobs at Tyson's or McDonalds would gladly trade in their latex "food" handling gloves in exchange for a beautiful pair of dirt gloves, like those M Chris posted, too.

 

I think one important step we can take/are taking is to continue to raise awareness - through movies, books, conversation, of what goes on behind the scenes in the food industry. Eventually, enough people will realize how totally screwed the whole thing is and demand reform.

[Good Old Neon]

If the demand for local produce was that great, I'd so totally become a farmer. I imagine plenty of people working shit jobs at Tyson's or McDonalds would gladly trade in their latex "food" handling gloves in exchange for a beautiful pair of dirt gloves, like those M Chris posted, too.

 

I think one important step we can take/are taking is to continue to raise awareness - through movies, books, conversation, of what goes on behind the scenes in the food industry. Eventually, enough people will realize how totally screwed the whole thing is and demand reform.

 

I would like to think that’s how it will shake down, but those jobs are available now, and few if any Americans want them. According to www.dws.state.nm.us.com – “Nationally, the average wage for this occupation (crop picking) is $8.48 per hour or about $17,630 per year.” That’s more than or equal to McDonald’s starting wage. Now, obviously, McDonalds franchises are a wee bit more common than your average farm, be it small or industrial sized, but the fact remains, most Americans don’t want to do that sort of work, even where and when it’s available.

 

What I know about the history of farming and/or factory farming could be inscribed on the inside lip of a Coke bottle using a dry marker, so, someone please please please correct me if I’m wrong, but I’m guessing that at least a portion of the large scale farms of today got their start as small time operations. Sort of like the way Wal-Mart started as a small, mom and pop store before growing into the behemoth it is today. It seems to be the natural progression of things. So, I’m sort of speculating that, if we all started buying local meats and vegetables, some farms would thrive, while others would fail, and, by and by, a few winners would emerge. And, in order to keep up with demand, they would increase in size dramatically. And as they increase in size, they would find it more and more difficult to continue to produce organic meats and vegetables, leading to the use of more pesticides, and the introduction of more cost effective ways in which to feed livestock, so that at some point in the future, we’d sort of be back to where we now find ourselves.

 

The quickest and easiest way out of this mess would probably require that we give up or drastically cut back on the consumption of meat, unfortunately, I don’t think most folks are willing to even consider making such a sacrifice. We’re also well aware that automobiles have a positively disastrous impact on the environment, and much of the damage could be alleviated if we switched to public transit, bicycles, and when possible, foot power, but we’re unwilling to make sacrifices in that regard as well.

 

Humans have a lot to recommend, but unfortunately, we’re just not very good at taking steps to ensure a sustainable future. Have I mentioned I'm a pessimistic bastard?

[Good Old Neon]

I don't really know anything about farming either, but it's my perception (based on observation) that it's possible that smaller farmers are sub-contractors for larger groups. If you were to drive around western Lorain county or thru Erie and Sandusky counties (very farm-y, north central OH) there's plenty of corn and soybean fields with small signs posted "Croplan #123" and the like. This just grain.... but are these co-ops where farmers share the growing of food for themselves and neighbor farms? or is this a sub-contracted job for the larger, factory farms that need huge quantities of grain. I don't know.

 

GON above mentions the auto, but what of the enviro impact due to the use of petrolium based fertilizers to grow the grain?. This shit washes into Lake Erie and other bodies of water. What about the shit (animal feces) that washes into out water suppply during rain run offs?

 

here's croplan's website - this is what i was referring to...

 

http://www.croplangenetics.com/

 

These are good questions. Rather than attempt to compete with or circumvent the giant assed farms entirely, I wonder if it would make more sense to just regulate the shit out of them. For better or worse (definitely worse), they’re here to stay, so, while they’re here, it might be more feasible to force them to make some drastic changes – and for our part, we might have to be willing to shoulder some of the costs associated with upgrades, regulation, etc.

[Vacant Horizon]

One way to know where your food is coming from is to participate in a Community Supported Agriculture ("CSA") program. My wife and I have been members for several seasons - the CSA we are involved with is called Simply Wisconsin. The deal is that the CSA works with small, family farmers and sells "shares" to consumers. Then, they make weekly deliveries to locations around the Chicago and the suburbs (and Milwaukee, Madison, etc.). We order the fruit/vegetable share, but they also have meat shares, cheese shares and egg shares. It's a bit of a crapshoot because you don't necessarily know what you're getting when you buy a share; your share is dependent on whatever grows in a particular season. So, if they have a bumper crop of kale, you might get lots and lots of kale. I love our CSA - really enjoy getting fresh, organic, locally grown fruits and vegetables, and am also pleased that we are supporting local family farms. Also, some insurance companies will pay for a CSA under "wellness" programs. Mine, unfortunately, does not. But it's worth investigating.

 

http://www.simplywi.com/

 

 

thank you. gonna check this out.

[M. (hristine]

From the Farm Policy blog :

 

"After additional analysis, the opinion piece stated that, “The most zealous of the spend-more crowd, however, are the food intellectuals who salivated, as it were, at a steep rise in the cost of groceries earlier this year, including such basics as milk and eggs. Some people might worry about the effect on recession-hit families of a 17% increase in the price of milk, but not Alice Waters, the food-activist owner of Berkeley’s Chez Panisse restaurant, who shudders at the thought of sampling so much as a strawberry that hasn’t been nourished by organic compost and picked that morning at a nearby farm — and thinks everyone else in America should shudder too. ‘Make a sacrifice on the cellphone or the third pair of Nike shoes,’ Waters airily informed the New York Times in April.

 

“Echoing Waters was her fellow Berkeley food guru, Michael Pollan, professor of science journalism (a hot field for social critics, obviously) at UC Berkeley. Pollan (no relation to Robert Pollin) is the author of the best-selling ‘Omnivore’s Dilemma’ and coiner of the mantra ‘Eat food, not too much, mostly plants’ that is on the lips of every foodie from Bainbridge Island to Martha’s Vineyard. Pollan too rejoiced at the idea of skyrocketing prices for groceries, hoping they might ‘level the playing field for sustainable food that doesn’t rely on fossil fuels.’”

 

The piece added that, “Pollan also hoped that rising prices might constitute another weapon in his ongoing war against his agribusiness villain of choice: corn. Corn is a plant, of course, and thus should theoretically rank high on Pollan’s list of permissible edibles. But it is also the basis of such dubious items as snack chips, Coca-Cola (high-fructose corn syrup, godfather of obesity) and suspiciously plentiful beef (corn-fed).

 

“Pollan is a ‘locavore,’ one of those people who believe that in order to be truly ethical, you should eat only foods grown or killed within your line of sight (for me, that would be my neighbor’s cat). He once described a meal he made consisting of a wild boar shot by him in the hills near his Bay Area home and laboriously turned into pate, plus bread leavened by yeast spores foraged from his backyard.

 

“Lately, Pollan has set his sights on Häagen-Dazs ice cream, not because it contains corn syrup (it doesn’t) but because it’s a commercially made product, and if there’s one thing Pollan hates, it’s commerce. His latest pronunciamento: ‘Don’t buy any food you’ve ever seen advertised.’”

 

 

Corn farmers, heavily subsidized by the government, really don't want folks lobbying for farm policy reform.

[Sir Stewart]

I recommend the hell out this movie: Flow. I've never looked at any source of bottled water the same since seeing it.

[M. (hristine]

Yeah, this was an eye opening book:

[Vacant Horizon]

From the Farm Policy blog :

 

"After additional analysis, the opinion piece stated that, “The most zealous of the spend-more crowd, however, are the food intellectuals who salivated, as it were, at a steep rise in the cost of groceries earlier this year, including such basics as milk and eggs. Some people might worry about the effect on recession-hit families of a 17% increase in the price of milk, but not Alice Waters, the food-activist owner of Berkeley’s Chez Panisse restaurant, who shudders at the thought of sampling so much as a strawberry that hasn’t been nourished by organic compost and picked that morning at a nearby farm — and thinks everyone else in America should shudder too. ‘Make a sacrifice on the cellphone or the third pair of Nike shoes,’ Waters airily informed the New York Times in April.

 

“Echoing Waters was her fellow Berkeley food guru, Michael Pollan, professor of science journalism (a hot field for social critics, obviously) at UC Berkeley. Pollan (no relation to Robert Pollin) is the author of the best-selling ‘Omnivore’s Dilemma’ and coiner of the mantra ‘Eat food, not too much, mostly plants’ that is on the lips of every foodie from Bainbridge Island to Martha’s Vineyard. Pollan too rejoiced at the idea of skyrocketing prices for groceries, hoping they might ‘level the playing field for sustainable food that doesn’t rely on fossil fuels.’”

 

The piece added that, “Pollan also hoped that rising prices might constitute another weapon in his ongoing war against his agribusiness villain of choice: corn. Corn is a plant, of course, and thus should theoretically rank high on Pollan’s list of permissible edibles. But it is also the basis of such dubious items as snack chips, Coca-Cola (high-fructose corn syrup, godfather of obesity) and suspiciously plentiful beef (corn-fed).

 

“Pollan is a ‘locavore,’ one of those people who believe that in order to be truly ethical, you should eat only foods grown or killed within your line of sight (for me, that would be my neighbor’s cat). He once described a meal he made consisting of a wild boar shot by him in the hills near his Bay Area home and laboriously turned into pate, plus bread leavened by yeast spores foraged from his backyard.

 

“Lately, Pollan has set his sights on Häagen-Dazs ice cream, not because it contains corn syrup (it doesn’t) but because it’s a commercially made product, and if there’s one thing Pollan hates, it’s commerce. His latest pronunciamento: ‘Don’t buy any food you’ve ever seen advertised.’”

 

 

Corn farmers, heavily subsidized by the government, really don't want folks lobbying for farm policy reform.

 

 

fascinating. the subsidizing is reason one we don't live a capitalist society. we live in corporate fascist society. so when pundits talk about letting the free market sort things out, they're either ill-informed or idiots. we don't have a free market. also, business men are idiots. as the movie stated, there are simple things that can be done to alleviate some of the issues with corp farming that would quell costs in the future, but they don't do it.

[M. (hristine]

Exactly.

 

There are world wide implications as well.

 

One last quote from Pollan to pique your curiousity, o gentle readers:

 

This perverse state of affairs is not, as you might think, the inevitable result of the free market. Compared with a bunch of carrots, a package of Twinkies, to take one iconic processed foodlike substance as an example, is a highly complicated, high-tech piece of manufacture, involving no fewer than 39 ingredients, many themselves elaborately manufactured, as well as the packaging and a hefty marketing budget. So how can the supermarket possibly sell a pair of these synthetic cream-filled pseudocakes for less than a bunch of roots?

 

From an article in the NYT.

 

I'm starting to remind myself of Good Old Neon.

[plasticeyeball]

starting?

[Duck-Billed Catechist]

Local yeast spores? Isn't that how you make sourdough bread? What's the big deal about that?

[Spawn's dad]

Yeah, this was an eye opening book:

 

Garbage Land wasn't too shabby either.

[M. (hristine]

starting?

I can quote and link with the best of 'em!