siff press preview 2

[ironymaiden]

Food Inc is one of those documentaries with a non-neutral POV. it's not flamingly so (like anything by Michael Moore or Expelled) but it does end with a What Can I Do About This?/Call to Action.

the film is firmly focused on the US and talking to US viewers about the way corporations have come to control what we eat. talking heads include Michael Pollan and Eric Schlosser. if you know those names, the film won't tell you much new information. if you don't know those names, then this is a slickly packaged and clearly presented argument for knowing more about where your food comes from and making informed decisions.

because i am a farm kid (and already familiar with Pollan and Schlosser's work) the segment that caught me was the one on Monsanto Roundup-Ready soybeans. since shortly after my family got out of the business, Monsanto's patented herbicide-resistant soybeans have taken over 90% of the market. because they have a patent on those seeds, it is illegal to save seeds to plant in the next season. because it's very difficult to isolate your non-patented plants from the patented plants in your neighbor's field, one can easily end up with Monsanto patented genes mixed into your old skool beans. and then, the sueing. there was a passing comment made that with the advent of the Monsanto engineered beans that the land-grant university research programs are withering. as far as i'm concerned, there's a whole documentary right here. the deposition footage of the Monsanto lawyers grilling the elderly man with the seed cleaning business (traveling from farm to farm with a machine that does prep for using saved seeds) was heartbreaking.

it would be a very good rental. (warning: full of butchering scenes both unsafe and safe. but if you can't stand to see that you should really rethink eating meat...)

Comments

Butchery

[andrew-the-oga.livejournal.com]

What constitutes and unsafe versus safe butchering scene?

Re: Butchery

[ironymaiden]

perhaps i should say clean vs unclean? we see things like forklifts pushing around downer cows and meat being treated with ammonia.there is much footage of large scale slaughterhouses and discussion of fecal contamination.
we also see a small farm operation where chickens are lightly killed by hand in small batches.

Figured that's what you meant

[andrew-the-oga.livejournal.com]

Figured that's what you meant. Yucky vs lessYucky. I wish I could afford not to participate, and by participating in spite of that lame wish, I only encourage the bastards.

Thanks.

[e-bourne.livejournal.com]

I have, for a long time, been deeply troubled by the patented seed issue. For awhile, (when I was more serious about gardening) I belonged to seed savers exchange. I worry about what's happening with seeds. I try to buy heirlooms when I can. I actually care less about organic than heirloom. We need stuff that can reproduce and survive on its own. A lot of people don't realize what's happening in the seed industry. It's especially heartbreaking in 3rd world countries, where they need self-reproducing stock.

Off soap box. I had to work on a farm to pay for my horse's room and board. I hayed and sowed and harvested. Saw a fair amount of butchering. Doesn't bother me. The steers were named things like "hamburger" and "t-bone." Since really, that's what they were.

[buhrger]

The steers were named things like "hamburger" and "t-bone." Since really, that's what they were.
i'm reminded of a family i heard about doing relief work in central africa. their second cat was named "groundnut stew".

additional

[buhrger]

http://www.ianwelsh.net/how-owning-genetic-materials-drives-farmers-into-bankruptcy-and-suicide/