Movie Food Inc., (Academy Award nominee - Best Documentary Feature), opened nationally here on May 20 and has so far received a lot of media coverage, rating highly among film critics as well as the rest of us who passionately care about health, the wellbeing/future of our children, our communities and our food supply - i.e. food provenance and the direction our farming and food supply systems have been heading.
We have seen Food Inc. and honestly think anyone who eats should see this - aah yep, that is to say all of us!
It is a very well made, articulate documentary that aims to convey the (frankly) despotic power a small group of large players hold over the majority in our food chain.
"You've got a small group of multinational corporations who control the entire food system, from seed to the supermarket.
They're gaining control of our food" - Joel Salatin, ABC Land Line, June 6
The film's introduction contains these lines below, which are rather sobering to say the least, and then the film goes onto explain how this is occurring, :
Voice 1: "This isn't just about what we're eating. This is about what we're allowed to say; what we're allowed to know.
Voice 2: "The companies don't want farmers talking. They don't want this story told."
From farm to fork: Do you know what you’re eating?
Much of the information within this film was not new to us, the concerns being raised having had a lot to do with why we chose natural/biological farming and are so passionate about natural food growing, diversity of species and fostering a real connection between consumers to where our food comes from. We consider these avenues to be highly accountable means of organising an honest food supply chain.
We are concerned that largely through an increasing disconnection between people and their food sources (esp. via supermarket shopping & mass processed foods) and the ever louder demand for cheaper food (at any cost!), that faceless, mega profit-driven multinationals are able to hijack the authenticity, even safety of our food supply and that of growers. This ultimately robs us of our birthright to quality, healthy, sustainable food production in perpetuity. Not to mention insideously filching our freedom to choose, whilst forcing into bland conformity a major aspect of our cultural experience and diversity - the fundamental qualities of our food, being it's texture, taste, variety and historical origins.
We saw Food Inc. during our Daylesford-Macedon Ranges Harvest Week Festival a couple of weeks ago, for which regarded organic farmer and food ethics activist Joel Salatin was an esteemed guest speaker on building sustainable local food systems. Joel was also in Australia to help launch Food Inc.. So, we had the advantage of emerging from the sometimes very confronting 'home truths' of the movie to being surrounded by like-minded optimists and an informed forum vibrantly discussing proactive, sound means by which to overcome and prevent the issues raised, including examples of existing practices such as Joel's 'Polyface Farms' and many local (Victorian) farms (& of course other Australian states have their own great, highly conscious producers).
Although we are clearly biased towards organic and small-medium sized growing, we believe the issues raised in this film to be just as valid for conventional farmers and non-organics consumers, because biological, non-synthetic chemical based farming is not the only necessary solution for the future of farming and sustainable food production - for all types of consumers and farmers.
Joel Salatin and Alla Wolf-Tasker after the 'Building A Local Food System & Scaling Up' forum
held at Daylesford's Lake House
We think this is one of the most important films you'll ever see, not because every tiny detail is perfectly accurate (E-Coli is a bacterium NOT a virus as named...'hello' film's sub editor-dudes!) or because every issue is exactly replicated here in Australia at this point in time. However, we shouldn't kid ourselves that this documentary is a mere warning to us here not to follow down the U.S. path of inhumane and environmentally detrimental mass/cheap food production, as dear readers, we ARE already some way down that path within our own conventional food systems and we DO already have cruel 'factory farming' (pigs, poultry, cows...), grain-fed beef (corn - not a natural food for cattle), GM crops (canola already released + other crops being 'tested') and in some cases underpaid and ill-treated farm workers and even cases of serious lack of fair trade practices from supermarkets and wholesalers towards farmers.
Ethical consumerism and fair trade are serious considerations. It's imperative we ask "how our food is grown, at what price and WHO pays the real price for growing it?" This is at the root of sustainability for all folks....it's not 'rocket science'!
One thing Food Inc. raised for us is the need, we think, for funding towards independent research into the Australian food industry and a local expose or documentary to be made addressing precisely what is the state of affairs within our own food systems here. The findings need to be widely broadcast, as we all need to know and we need access to independant (from Govt. & business stakeholders), transparent information and therefore a hope of informed choice.
One reason people eat organic food is to minimise their consumption of synthetic chemicals for a variety of health and ethical choices. One fact already known about our food system here, is that Food Standard's Australian and N.Z.'s Total Diet Study no longer reports on chemical residues in the conventional food supply. Therefore, if you want a choice, you have to take responsibility for your own precautions. However, how many of you knew about this matter and how many other food health and safety matters are not broadly publicised??
The film opens with the line "The way we eat has changed more in the last 50 years than in the previous 10,000"...
surely that raises some questions in any thinking person's mind?? That IS a rapid change and why is it so? The real answers ARE out there if you care to do the research...
Some of the most important decisions we make every day are at the dinner table and whilst doing our food and grocery shopping. Tim and I have certainly been of the opinion for many years that possibly the most power any of us have to effect change lies in our consumer dollar and the choices we make in spending it. No where is this access to people power more prominent than in relation to what foods we choose to buy...we do all eat!
The other major issue of concern to us, is that people expect food to be cheap but how cheap can they realistically expect it to stay or become, and still expect it to be good quality, nutritious food, grown with integrity. As farmers we are repeatedly told by retailers and wholesalers that shoppers are only interested in buying cheap food, but the reality is that it costs what it costs to grow food properly and enduringly and to grow cheap food farmers have to cut corners. People have to get that if they want quality and real value, they have to pay for it (& maybe reconsider their spending priorities too?) .
“Your wallet is a mouth. When you spend money you tell the world how you want it to be.”
www.walletmouth.com
As Joel Salatin was quoted on ABC Land Line last week: "Is cheapness everything that there is? I mean, who wants to buy the cheapest car? We're willing to subsidise the food system to create the 'mystique' of cheap food when actually it's very expensive food. When you add up the environment costs, societal costs, health costs...the industrial food is not honest food."
We realise that this documentary or any other book, article or film are not a panacaea, that they do not cover every issue, circumstance or solution and will probably not change the buying and eating habits of the vast majority, but the issues and real personal experiences depicted in Food Inc. are undeniably important and worthy of conscious consideration by everyone who eats and all progress starts with small steps and is most often driven by the determined efforts of a concerned few.
Also on Land Line Fiona Chambers of Fernleigh Farms, just up the road from us said: "I think we're at a crossroads where more and more consumers are starting to ask hard questions and if as farmers we can't be transparent and open about what we do and how we farm, then we're going the wrong way."
Tim and I totally agree!
- To check out the official Food Inc. website, including a film trailer go to: http://www.foodincmovie.com/
- For Melbourne viewings plus a cross section of Food Inc. reviews, check this site
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