Tuesday, September 22, 2015

Exploration 4: Fresh - Jireh White

In the documentary Fresh, they discuss many aspects of our modern food system. The people in this film give great insight to what consumers such as ourselves need to know about where our food comes from. Each expert in the film offered valid ideas to how we can improve our situation however, my favorite point comes from Will Allen. Will said that "Everything I know today, I learned from my parents. What they were doing is so important." To me this quote is saying that we need to start farming the way we did before we industrialized our food industry and implicated standardization, mono culture, and processing. This quote shows the evolution of the way we farm from back then to now. Since Will Allen's father was a sharecropper and his mother knew how to grow and cook healthy vegetables they were a great example of what we need to be doing today. Throughout all the years that they had a farm, they were able to do it without using pesticides and other harmful means of growing.

This film had a lot of meaningful information and ideas to advance the way we produce food. If I were to do a full review on this film I would focus on the idea of the effects of using pesticides and antibiotics and how it effects the health of people who eat it. According to The United States Environmental Protection agency, "Pesticide use in the United States was 1.1 billion pounds in 2007, or 22% of the world estimate of 5.2 billion pounds of pesticide use." It is safe to assume that the use of various pesticides have increased due to the increase of new technologies that help with food processing and production. The use of these harmful chemicals should not be a reality but it is what we are faced with everyday when we eat anything. It is a known fact from the Pesticide Action Network that "Many of the pesticides found have been linked to serious health effects including infertility, birth defects, and childhood and adult cancers." This is a major issue because something that should be beneficial to us is actually harming us. Many farmers and companies benefit from harmful substances to produce more at the expense of their consumers.

I liked that this film was very informational and gave a good outlook to what really goes on in the agricultural world however, there were some weaknesses. The biggest weakness that I found was that it moved a little fast in some aspects. During the interviews sometimes it was hard to keep up with who was who and what they were saying. On the other hand, the interviews were also the greatest strength. Interviewing farmers, authors, and professors gave a great insight to what was going on behind closed doors. The facts and points made by each person helped me understand how harmful this situation is. However, seeing the way that each person made a difference was inspiring because it lets me know that it is possible to turn it around. I also thought it was cool that each person had their own method of healthy farming that was just as good as the others. I liked that each person had a genuine concern of the welfare of others and were committed to making a difference.


SOURCES

http://www.epa.gov/oppfead1/cb/csb_page/updates/2011/sales-usage06-07.html

http://www.panna.org/issues/publication/chemical-tresspass-english


3 comments:

  1. Wow, I had no idea that farmers were using that large of an amount of pesticides. Are the pesticides really worth it if they are bringing harm to people through fruits and vegetables that should be healthy for us? Also, the large reliance on pesticides is only making the total cost of farming more expensive. Farmers should be trying to follow in Will Allen's footsteps and try to stray away from using pesticides.

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  2. I agree with what you said above about how the interviews with the farmers really increased the credibility of the film. The one thing that I had wished the film encompassed was the view points and interviews with people who run the companies that over see factory farming. I believe that if the film would have included this than the film would have only strengthened it's message that organic farming is the best way to farm for the environment and for the consumers.

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  3. I agree that we should go back to farming without the use of pesticides and other chemicals. I also agree that they were able to farm without using those things. Look at Will Allen's story for example, he thought about people. Do other farmers put the harmful effects of pesticides into mind?

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