A Fresh Response: By Jorden Greene

I feel that the most important idea within the documentary Fresh was that it is extremely important to get away from the monoculture, industrial farming system that is so prevalent today. It was stated that a medium sized poly-culture farm was more productive or profitable than a large, industrial, mono-culture farm. I found that the most interesting and compelling facts and opinions came from the clips about Joel Salatin. He seemed like a real down to earth, genuine, educated, man and he really struck me as I watched Fresh. I honestly could not think of many weaknesses in Fresh, I felt it brought up genuine facts and it got me thinking about going organic. I feel that if they inserted a way to help you find places near you to go organic it would have been even better.

I researched mono-cultures as a sub-topic. A mono-culture is a farm or area in which there is a cultivation of a single species of crop, or crops with very similar growing and maintenance requirements. The negative effects of mono-cultures include; reduction of habitats for insects and wildlife that lead to increased need for pesticides, more plants are susceptible to viruses, and it also can negatively effect water quality (due to pesticides).

I had also researched Joel Salatin, whom I thought was the most interesting source in the documentary. He is a full time farmer in Shenandoah Valley, Virginia. His farm Polyface Farms Inc. services 5,000 families, ten retail outlets, and fifty restaurants. Salatin has also authored nine books, five of them being how-to books.

I completely agree with Luke on how we need to bring back the smaller organic farms. Our world would be so much better if everyone had a little bit of farming in their blood we would be more self sufficient. People would appreciate life more and honestly I feel it would draw the laziness out of us.