Exploration Four: Fresh Response from Tanner

     I would essentially like to start to give a simple acknowledgement that everyone should see this film at some point in the future. What goes on in this film is extremely admirable and loaded with a ton of information. The biggest concept I drew out of the film 'Fresh' is that there are people within the system that generally care about what's happening to farming and rather than saying we should go back to the old way, they offer alternatives to include older techniques while producing foods at better rates, and change the game while respecting what farming originally was. The credibility of the film was derived based on what the farmers who were actually in the system were telling us, mostly because its something we need to know. We have to know that farming is a pure competition market and John Ikerd, and Agricultural Environmentalist teacher at the University of Missouri on quote noted, "Those that produce the most food, survive."
     The question I would like to arise is simply.... We see that organic food costs on average significantly more than what non-organic food on average costs, given that, is the price of organic foods worth the demand of it when it comes to paying that much more for it? Organic food is certainly better for you, but according to a poll conducted by a group of Colby college students by comparing prices at grocery stores that on average organic foods costs 68 percent more than non-organic foods. An interesting thing to think about in the discussion is not just the head on price, but a reasonable understanding as to why organic foods costs more, and determining whether the upgrade in capital is enough spark in demand to go towards organic foods. We have to understand that organic costs more because of the labor and land that it takes in order to grow these foods. Organic farms take much longer and the refrainment of chemicals and growth hormones is what makes these foods much better. Eating healthy and eating organic foods is a much higher expense and it is up to the individuals in the market that eating organic is a rational decision or an irrational decision.

In the process of spraying growth chemicals on a non-organic farm.

Source: http://www.mofga.org/Publications/MaineOrganicFarmerGardener/Fall2011/PriceDifferences/tabid/1966/Default.aspx