Thursday, September 24, 2015

Exploration 4: Fresh (Kourtney Pugh)

     The most important idea to me in Fresh was that we've messed up the natural flow of nature. An example that kept reoccurring in the film was that cows were actually being fed other dead cows. This especially caught my attention once we started to see how everything is better in general when you treat/use cows for what there originally intended for. A quote that I heard in the film that sums up that idea is "Treat the herbivores like an herbivore first, and then the rest will fall in place". If I were to review the film I would focus on the farmers and how they overcame the constant expense of big name companies trying to force them out. I thought the film had many strengths but, the one thing that stood out to me the most was how they showed the viewer how simple it is to practice safe, organic farming. Also, how much healthier the animals are overall. A perfect example of this is when Russ Kremer stated that he's "saved over $1,400 in vet bills" since he stopped giving his animals antibiotics. One weakness that I did notice in the film is when they showed why bigger companies haven't gone to organic farming. The reason I say this is a weakness is because they didn't have a counter for the argument that organic farming simply cannot feed the world. Instead they continued to show us how easy and simple it was but nothing about the efficiency and speed. What I most relate to in the film is having to wake up early and harvest crops. Also, the amount of work and time it takes to care for the fruits and vegetables. Farming is definitely a straining, full time job with little to no pay. 
     The idea I researched was what regulations do farmers have to follow and what i found was extremely surprising. One of the very first things that i found alarming was that the FDA does not control if a product says organic. Also, I learned that the Food, Conservation, and Energy Act of 2008 (2008 Farm Act) provides indemnity payments to eligible producers for livestock death losses in excess of normal mortality due to adverse weather. http://www.ers.usda.gov/topics/animal-products/animal-production-marketing-issues/policy-regulatory-issues.aspx. When I found this out I started to question if even the farmers that are reusing the dead cows as food get compensated for the loss. I tried to research my second question too but the terminology from the sites with the supposed answers started to become confusing. Overall what I found and researched just led to more and more questions/concerned that didn't have a clear, consistent answer. 

4 comments:

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  3. I completely agree when you say that we have ruined the flow of nature. Feeding dead cows to cows is morally wrong! Through out history so far farming has become more and more industrialized and it seems more and more morally wrong the more farming gets industrialized.

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  4. I can agree with What you said about the FDA it is amazing that the government really dosent care how we get the food as long as we get it

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