Entry #7
How We Think About Food
For this blog I want to talk about a very important topic
that many of us might not often think about, our food and where it comes
from. I recently watched a movie called
Fresh that highlights some critical areas of food products such as the
treatment of livestock and how our crops are grown. The purpose of the movie is to educate the
viewer about the current practices of industrialized farming and the many
negative effects it has on our bodies, economy, the earth, and the horrible
conditions of livestock. It also urges
the viewer to change their purchasing habits and or become active in the
growing of their own produce.
Some of the images in this movie were very disturbing and
powerful such as livestock crammed in living spaces with no room to move around
then stomach-turning images of the production line processing their bodies for mainstream
consumption. Another issue concerning livestock
in industrialized farming is the use of antibiotics that is causing antibiotic-resistant
super bacteria that can also be spread to humans who consume their meat. One hog farmer named Russ Kremer was stabbed in the knee by the husk of his pig and ended up with an antibiotic-resistant staph infection and needed regeneration medication for his knee to heal from it. This caused him to change his farming practices and reduced the number of pigs to 300 as well as stopped giving them antibiotics. Some of the other issues brought up in the film include the use of pesticides on crops for the produce we eat. Andrew Kimbell who is the executive director for the Center of Food and Safety shared that at the time of the film, 100 million more tons of herbicides have been used on crops in the last 10 years, we have seen a 90% loss in diversity of the crops used, and there is 10 times more soil lost than can be replaced from the industrialization of farming.
Several farmers are shown throughout the movie giving examples of how with proper farming practices with smaller non-industrialized practices we can avoid these kinds of issues. After watching this film I must agree with this and will be changing my purchasing habits for the food that I purchase for myself and my family. If these statistics are as alarming to you as they have been for me consider making a few simple changes like purchasing your food from a local farmers market.
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