Exploration 4: Fresh by Morgan DeWitt

The most important idea I drew from Fresh is the toll that modern farming is taking on the environment. A quote that portrayed this that I caught from the film was, "Cheap food is an illusion. If you aren't paying at the register, you're paying for it in our environment we live in". The way most of America's farms operate is unnatural and in response kills our natural environment with pesticides, massive amounts of methane gas, contaminated irrigation water, diseases carried through livestock, and an immense amount of other things. Fresh pointed out, "Organic food costs more, but it's worth more". The USDA made a point that in produce in 1950 compared to produce today, 40% of key nutrients have been diminished. That's super sad, when Fresh proved that, "Organic is better, research shows that we can feed the world with organic food better than industrial food". It just raises the huge question and thesis of Fresh, why are we stuck in industrial farming, why can't we switch back to our old organic farming methods?

If I were to review the film, I would give Fresh props for bringing so many key people and facts to the table to prove the point that industrial farming is unsustainable and something needs to be done about it. I would critique the film for not having any sources from the other side of the argument talk about the plus sides of industrial farming. They only had sources that benefited their ideas, I wanted to see facts from both sides, but that's just a personal thing.

I was very curious about the organic food vs. not organic food prices. My source was consumer reports.org, who did a study of different grocers that sell both organic and not organic products. The results were interesting:

Table 1	Amazon Fresh	Fresh Direct	Harris Teeter	Peapod
Apples (lb.)
Regular	$1.66	$1.66	$1.66	$1.66
Organic	$2.00	$2.66	$2.33	$2.00
% difference	+20%	+60%	+40%	+20%
Bananas (lb.)
Regular	89 cents	88 cents	65 cents	39 cents
Organic	99 cents	99 cents	89 cents	53 cents
% difference	+11%	+13%	+37%	+36%
Beef (85% lean ground, lb.)
Regular	$4.99	$6.49	$6.29	$4.99
Organic	$8.63	$9.99	$9.99	$6.99
% difference	+73%	+54%	+59%	+40%

If you want to read the full table and article, I found my evidence here: http://www.consumerreports.org/cro/news/2015/03/cost-of-organic-food/index.htm