While watching the film, Fresh, many surprising facts stuck out to me. Such as the chicken farmers that work for ADM, that did not even know what they were feeding their chickens. The couple said that "the chickens grow fast. They like the food they are getting", but when asked what was in the food that was making the chickens grow fast, they did not know. The film provided a background from all areas, such as the farmers working for ADM to organic farmers that were using the land properly. The film had great credibility. Each person that was interviewed in the film had their background on the screen. Though the some of the videos and images on the screen were gross, they provided a great example for how the animal industry is today. I looked into the theme that came about multliple times throughout the film, polyculture. Polyculture is the use of multiple crops in a specfic area vs. one crop in a specfic area. For example a field of corn is a monoculture, but the garden in your back yard is a polyculture. Polycultures reduce the susceptibility to single crop diseases, which can wipe out entire crops. If a single crop disease were to spread across the monoculture, farmers would lose most of their crops with no way to replace it. Monoculture farmers have to use pesticides and fertilizers to lower the risk of disease which can reduce the over all nutrition value of the plant. The research I have used can be found at this link. www.organicfarmingblog.com/advantages-polyculture-monoculture/
Grant brought up a point of weakness that I had not noticed, which was the fact that the film did not give us a way to further action. I believe the film was very impactful, but for us to get involved they should have provide a way for us to involve ourselves. This could have made the film over the top and a great way to show Americans how they can change the way agriculture is done today.
I found that incredible that the chicken farmers didnt know what they are feeding their chickens. It just goes to show that many of us are ignorant to the truth of what is happening. We need to educate ourselves on the issue so we know what is really going on and not just what we hear. This way we can make the right decision for ourselves and our planet.
ReplyDeleteThe point about polycultures is an important one. Today's world revolves around speed and cost effective production, that means there are always going to be shortcuts. It is sad to see just how this has effected us and the food we eat. hopefully increasing awareness and options will lead to future change and reform in our eating practices.
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