| Food Inc.
Posted: 9/13/2009 3:23:20 PM | I just viewed the documentary, Food Inc., followed by a spirited discussion amongst the viewers, slow foodies, safe food for kids and schools folks, and local farmers at an organic restaurant across the street. The consensus was that it was an important film that needs to be seen by everyone, not that it will happen of course.
Other than finding out Monsanto was far more evil than I had previously thought, the most disturbing aspect presented in the film was our unintended destruction of any sort of backup system to feed ourselves when the oil quits flowing. I would be interested in observations about the film by others who have seen it, and what plans people have for a major, long term disruption in the food supply system.
King Corn provided another in-depth documentary on the Corn Industrial Complex, and The Real Dirt on Farmer John dealt more with how small farmers struggle to retain their family heritage in the face of the corporate monsters taking over the landscape. Lending institutions and corporate control of food distribution, combined with low commodity prices have turned what remains of our farm families into mere serfs. Can we save ourselves from the current system? Do we have the will or imagination to do it better? | |
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| Food Inc.
Posted: 9/13/2009 4:43:20 PM | I'm woefully under-informed about this--and what little I know scares me pooless--but I heard a concept being discussed on the radio that might be worth investigating.
It was called "Food Sovereignty" and the gist of it sounded a lot like the point of that documentary.
"Food, Inc." I'll have to try and catch it somewhere on the 'net. As if I don't already have enough trouble sleeping...
Jewels | |
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| Food Inc.
Posted: 9/13/2009 4:53:07 PM | | I haven't seen the movie, although I have read a lot on the subject, especially the books and articles by Michael Pollan. It is scary although the slow food movement itself and the rise of farmers' markets and eat "local" gives me some hope. Big Food has given us cheap food at a very high ultimate cost. Bad for the environment, bad for nutrition. Hopefully this movie will help make more people aware. | |
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| Food Inc.
Posted: 9/13/2009 5:43:27 PM | | No more genetically modified foods, food doesn't come in a box either...some foods are supposed to have seeds in it..is a sign of life, no bleach on my bread thank you...hormones in my milk, why? If the bugs won't eat it in two to three days, then why should I???? | |
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| Food Inc.
Posted: 9/13/2009 6:45:09 PM | I live in the Wheat State, where ONE Kansas Farmer Feeds 129 people... It's amazing how people complain about GMO foodstuffs, yet they want the perfect apple, or one acre of cropland that can feed an army.
I do agree, our food system has flaws in it, as we saw from the dealing with anthrax a while back. I wonder how many of you can remember the Cyanide laced Sudafed that ended up killing a bunch of people back in the early 90's was it?
Yes, it's sad to think of how farmers struggle, how you can spend an entire month to cultivate, fertilize, and plant 1,000 acres of wheat, and after investing all that time and money into it, go to bed one night and wake up the next morning with 999 acres damaged by a hail storm that came through in the middle of the night while you were sleeping...
No, the smaller farmers & ranchers, such as myself, don't seem to do very well anymore. I recently had an EX-Banker tell me, that I was foolish for being a rancher and starting from ground zero. He said that the only way anyone makes it in farming or ranching these days, is to have a ton of land passed down from generation to generation, and have a big enough family to work it, without having to hire outside laborers.
Well, I'm fortunate enough that I only 'hobby' ranch, and my trucking company foots the bill for my 'hobby'. Any more, our Crop-Land, is either getting restricted by tree-huggers, or sold in small chunks to developers trying to sell a piece of "Country" to a City-Slicker...
Next time you take a bite of apple, piece of cornbread, hot wing, or Angus-burger from McDump... Thank a Farmer!!!
CowTrucker
Chapman, Kansas | |
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| Food Inc.
Posted: 9/13/2009 7:51:13 PM | Cowtrucker...I feel your pain.
I was the last of my generation able to live on our land in the traditonal way. We were 4th and 5th generation farmers on this continent and untold generations on the old continet, plying the seeds, soils, animals, and fruits of our labors. I did not know how special it was to have a full fruit cellar, animals on the hoof, and abundant wildlife to harvest with our clean water and freedom from animal bourne disease as I grew up. It was normal not that long ago. The Food Chain Gang came into being after WW II to manipulate food production to take up the slack for chemical production to kill people during the war. After the war, they focused on killing farmers and the public with their chemical warfare. My dad out-lasted most of his peers by two or three decades, only due to genetic predisposition, rather than the luck of the draw. He too, succumbed to cancers in the end.
He remained true to the organic mode of production after one bad year of falling down to the chemical mode. When Ken realized that the meadowlarks disappeared on his watch, and the worms were gone, he said.."NO...cannot go that route". It was basically economic suicide to NOT go the route of Monsanto and the Food Chain Gang at that point and decades since flushed out the small folks who tried to do right in the face of the change. The sweet couple who bought our farm, kept the organic tradition going till this day, but had to buy the nearest 4 farms, hire Mexican families to do the work, and expand the milking herd to 300, vs the previour 70, just to compete on their $5 Million investment. They are still struggling as they try to fight off Monsanto control. It's a tragedy when corporate interests prevail over morality of the highest degree in our food traditions.
I thank what remains of farmers, but lament that most have become corporate serfs, barely holding one to remnants of the past, compelled to protect the masters, and unable to hold their own without lying to themselves, their neighbors, and their families. I still have dear friends holding on for dear life, trying to keep the old tradition alive, divided as in the film, by corporate masters, and family and commity realities. I would urge you to remember who your friends, clients and truly loved ones are before pledging alligience. | |
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| Food Inc.
Posted: 9/13/2009 8:06:52 PM | When we were yelling about this, most out there were again calling us whackos. Most of the battles are already won by the bad guys and the court cases are all packed away. The good guys lost and what you'll be left with is nothing but toxic food by the likes of Monsanto, Bayer AG and other companies most of you never heard of.
Look up the case of Percy Schmeiser and see if you can find the videos he and others like him put out over 10 years ago trying to warn people what was happening. I'm convinced the GMO crops have a lot to do with the epidemic of obesity today, I don't believe they were ever tested nearly enough, if at all. Humans aren't smart enough to splice genes and know exactly what the finer points are yet and what the long term effects will be. Yet GMO foods are so intricately woven into the food chain now, it's almost impossible to separate them out, or to even know what contains GMOs and what doesn't. Inevitably, so does the meat that was raised and fed with them.
Virtually all processed foods that contain corn, contain GMOs. So do most that contain wheat, soy and canola. Of course, so do the oils that come from all of these crops. The argument against extensive testing was that it's either use GMOs or see a lot of the population starve - so they even modified rice to grow twice as fast with much less water. Well, they found the GMO rice grown this way has half the food value. Many wiser rice-eating countries have BANNED GMOs from sale altogether.
GMO contamination is so widespread, many in the seed industry - including those who sell the above seeds for home or small-scale use - now acknowledge it is virtually impossible to guarantee there is no GMO contamination in any of their seed. About the only corn varieties that can guarantee non-GMO are the heritage varieties, grown far away from any other corn crops, but even those cannot be absolutely guaranteed not to be contaminated. When you have crops developed by the likes of Bayer, Monsanto, Dupont, Syngenta, and Dow, etc...that are each resistant to the makers' own herbicides, once they combine, you have a crop that becomes resistant to ALL commonly-used herbicides.
What that happens, the pollens from these crops travels miles away from their home field, "contaminating" non-GMO crops and propagating. You have what Schmeiser and others refer to as "superweeds" that cannot be killed or removed, except by hand.
Meanwhile, here, most of the food is produced by giant conglomerates, or cooperatives that require the working folks to use what they dictate. It's that, or don't grow at all.
The companies produce GMO seed. They produce herbicides that seed is immune to, they charge a premium for the seed. They also charge each farmer or other person found with any percentage of their seed a growing fee. Even if the pollen blew in from a contaminated truckload driving by - if even 1 plant is found to contain GMO genes, companies like Monsanto have the legal right in the US and Canada to come in and take the entire crop unless that person pays them a per-acre growing fee.
The small farmer has no defense against this fee and so companies like Monsanto make far more money from the fees than from the seed, or the herbicide poison that are meant to go along with the seed. Most of the time these giants have the court order a gag rstriction on all parties involved, so you rarely see these publicized. Their letters also threaten that if the recipient of the bills tries to publicize what they're doing, they will be sued and billed the accompanying lawyer and legal fees until driven off their own property, according to some litigants.
Just remember that today, almost ALL corn-containing products from cooking oil to popcorn to corn dogs and cornstarch are now GMO-contaminated, with the blessings of the government. | |
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| Food Inc.
Posted: 10/12/2009 6:06:34 PM | Just viewed a couple days ago online, very frightening on many levels.
The resistance to kevin's law was not surprising in the least.
The seed issue was the most alarming especially whem you see that poor guy who cleans seeds being ground down by the army of legal might even to the point where friends he has known for decades are scared enough to shun him. Talk about feeling alone and powerless.
As noted above, the lack of a B plan is just typical of a corporate attitude of profits now and deal with the mess when the time comes. One can only hopr that with the rise of ecoli incidences can help open the eyes of the average person but something tells me that a combination of apathy and conformity keep this issue in a state of denial.
I live in an area that is dense with local farmers and the availablilty of fresh vegetables and small local meat suppliers is unmatched anywhere in Canada yet when a recent snapshot report of the tricity area was released last week it indicated that the consumption of such items had dropped off in recent years.
Hard to say what the cause is for we have a vibrant tech industry ( RIM - Blackberry mfg.), two universities and a major college. A large mennonite population is local also. On the other hand we have suffered a almost complete wipeout of older traditional manufacturing jobs that were the mainstay for the average middle class family. It doesn't make sense that we are losing touch with the local food supply.
I do agree that this should be required viewing, that may have happened if we could have gotten Micheal Moore to have done it.
For those who would like to see it, the link.
http://www.surfthechannel.com/cat/61397/f.html
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| Food Inc.
Posted: 10/12/2009 6:47:34 PM | | And in this as in all things lately, we have to ask where is our Gov't and the protections that they are supposed to provide their citizens. Our Government is bought and paid for by the Corporations and we need to wake up and demand accountability. | |
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| Food Inc.
Posted: 10/12/2009 7:18:00 PM | Couldn't get a download so haven't watched it yet.
It seems very clear that the world is moving towards a monopoly in the food supply. That seems like a much more persuasive 'reward' than even money for those interesting in getting the populace to behave as they wish.
However, complicit in this 'conspiracy' is every individual who doesn't think before they buy food. A vote from the wallet is even more powerful than a vote at the voting booth. Buy organic and locally produced food. Buy from farmer's markets. Demand traditionl varieties instead of the most popular (often infertile) hybrids. Pick the smaller markets that don't advertize. Surprisingly many are cheaper than the huge national chains. In CA, Trader Joe's instead of Vons, Ralphs or Wal-Mart. You may lose a little in the short term, but what may the long-term consequences be.
If you can afford it, about an acre of land with access to clean (non-municipal) water should be enough to feed a family. Then you have to pick the seed supplier. | |
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| Food Inc.
Posted: 11/7/2009 7:51:56 AM | It was a fantastic movie,along the lines of the other truth movies about our infrastructure and our world water supplies.
This one shows that the farmer we once knew is not around anymore,there are facts like how we used to have 1000s of slaughter houses and that worked into a good job equivalent to a car maker,safe and good pay,now there are 5 slaughter houses for beef and 4 for Pork,and it dangerous and workers are abused and many are illegal,they show where you build a plant where the town is falling in and there is no work,then the local will allow themselves to be abused and they then import poor workers within a 100 mile range,then this lack of workforce makes it easy to use undocumented illegal aliens,you you watch how the police raid them,a quota of 15 illegals per day as to not rock the boat,and you'll see the illegal alien bosses are not busted they point out houses,its a tidy little package of Big Business working tightly with local law.Why because they masterfully came into a dieing town where people needed work.And it means big money for that little towns budget.
You see that Bush and Clinton hired the people in charge that watch for this food abuse and write the current law ,were those same , that led the biggest corporations before this political position they are in now !that s what allows this to grow and caused this problem to expand and turn into law at a presidential level.You see that Supreme Court Judge Clarence Thomas who was the largest "bad" corporations personal lawyer is the one that writes the bill that then protects them from us,while he is a supreme court judge ,I might ad.
You see where Monsanto owns the genetic rights to the soybean we are forced to grow.If you are caught by one of the 75 investigators that roam the farmlands investigators hired by Monsanto and they found you are cleaning and reusing seed and just as bad ,getting your neighbor to use other seed,they sue you.they explain those that have to pay over a million defending that that washed there own seed.
You see,Tyson Chicken the largest in the world totally controlling how all chicken farmers raise chickens,its lost $500,000 for 2 chicken houses and you make $18,000 a year from each chicken house,they help with the loans and everything,then when you do not follow everything they tell you,they end their contracts with you,leaving you in debt and ability to gets loans,they request thing like your chicken houses can't have windows,chickens left in the total darkness rest more,the chickens double there weight in darkness and heavy fat corn diet, so fat in fact,walking two steps is there limit.
You learn most everything in a grocery store containing on average about 47,000 items is controlled largely by two companies,you learn that these Ecoli outbreaks we constantly have are because of corn diets to animals and lack of sanitation,and then the factory that repeatedly had ecoli outbreaks had lobbyists make it a law that the FDA is not allowed to shut them down,this is where those 4 key men Clinton and Bush came in handy.Its now a law you are not allowed by law to bad mouth those food industries or those slaughterhouses.McDonald you will find is probably one of the biggest reasons we have all this in place,a very Utopian thought gone awry. | |
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| Food Inc.
Posted: 11/7/2009 8:05:33 AM |
Our Government is bought and paid for by the Corporations and we need to wake up and demand accountability. this is why it pisses me off everytime the opposition to Obama states that we can't trust government we need it with the gigantic medical private industries,someone we can control.
The reason you can't trust the government,IS because the private gigantic corporation is in charge,they are making the law and breaking the law.It takes a Noble government to handle these traitors to America,its ass backwards now.Corporations are in charge paying off key political people.The food,water,and infrastructure is all the same people !
Try to think back to the train barons,same thing,except in a modern sophisticated time,we've learned nothing.
The fix could not be simpler,those key politicians that were once key leaders in gigantic corporation should not have a right to be in there political position.Monsanto should not of even had a right to buy the rights to a Commodity.
A monopoly should not be allowed,5 slaughter houses should be called a monopoly.
McDonald could have its ass protested till it demands safe farming practice from anything it buys,it should not have to go out of business ,just do good business.And when its a fact that you are the largest buyer of potatoes,lettuce and beef in the world you should have responsibilities to the world.
The farmers need legislation that allows it to grow from 1000s of varieties of seeds not just the few the largest corporations own and the only way our government will subsidize you,they are currently in bed together .Until you control that Train Barron and his connection to the political arena,then we will always lose ! | |
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| Food Inc.
Posted: 11/7/2009 12:16:41 PM |
You see that Bush and Clinton hired the people in charge that watch for this food abuse and write the current law
Obama is just as guilty as the rest. http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2327243/posts
When is everyone going to learn a republican and a democrat are both the same they just wear a different name. Both parties need to be ousted. | |
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| Food Inc.
Posted: 11/22/2009 11:06:09 PM | just watched the documentary
first, found it amazingly cruel how animals are raised and slaughtered, glad that I am a vegetarian and this reaffirmed by belief that eating meat is an act of cruelty
second, the over population of the planet is at hand- land for both living space and food production are going to be at a minimum, I guess it will give man yet another reason to go to war- | |
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| Food Inc.
Posted: 11/23/2009 1:32:34 AM |
first, found it amazingly cruel how animals are raised and slaughtered,
I've seen enough graphic videos of slaughters to last a lifetime.
I'd love to watch this movie, but can anyone tell me if it does indeed portray any graphic stuff? | |
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| Food Inc.
Posted: 11/23/2009 2:37:59 AM | | It shows the mistreatment of downer cattle, chickens in general, a a few other squeamish moments. Not sure what your definition of graphic is. I worked on the kill floor of a kosher slaughterhouse many moons ago. It takes a bunch to gross me out, but the film did a good job of it in other areas beyond body organs and tons of blood. | |
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| Food Inc.
Posted: 11/23/2009 9:36:22 AM | "If the bugs won't eat it in two to three days, then why should I????"....posted by truebluetiger.
I really had to laugh at that one.
If more people had that attitude!
Try putting a McDoh's french fry under a glass bowl, and a home made one under a bowl besdie it. Then wait a couple weeks. The results are weird! That McDoh fry will still look the same. The home mad eone certainly won't.
Anyone ever buy secondhand furniture and clean out under the cushions...and find an old french fry? Ewwww....
It' is hard to go against anyone when they have the knife at your belly. Meaning they have no compunctions of using food as a weapon to keep you in line. Ever watch "The Omen II"? I think it was there that a corporate exec was speaking about just that...and who got to head that corporation?
Sometimes Hollyweird does have something to say that is important....but we just like the entertainment part..... | |
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