Summary Of The Documentary 'FRESH' By Ana Sofia Joanes

Most people in America have never thought about where their food comes from or even talked to a farmer or rancher. Of that handful who have, even fewer have ever stepped foot onto a farm or ranch.The film “Farmland” takes an interestingly angled look into the lives of six farmers and ranchers in their twenties who are all entirely responsible for their operations. This paper takes a more in-depth look at three; Ryan Veldhuizen, Sutton Morgan, and Margaret Schlass.

Times have changed, and so has the family, the community and our environment. And these changes have impacted our lives and earth immeasurably. This is where the factor greed comes in to play, the need for more. This need for more called for extensive measures, measures like fertilizers, pesticides and equipment to work the ground and harvest the crops became necessity. Agriculture became a booming business that did not and still does not promote the well-being of the employee nor the individual let alone the family unit and community. Since 1950 an average farm size has doubled, but the number of laborers decreased substantially and the number of small local farmers has been cut in half. Farmers have been forced to become more efficient and there 's been a reliance on greater chemicals and technology, which has become very extensive and expensive. Sadly, what has been short term expansion has become a long-term threat (Trautmann, 2012). This greed driven increase has led to subtle damaging ramifications that most people are ignorant to. Their needs are being met as quality is being forsaken. Our environment is being squandered. Selfishness abounds.

Factory farming is currently meeting the needs of supply and demand which is beneficial to the economy. However, with the lack of regulations and enforcement of current regulations by authority entities such as the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA), it is ethically and morally unjustifiable for these corporations to practice and conduct business this way. The USDA and FDA are not the only players who are to accept blame in this unethical practice. State and federal laws should investigate and collaborate with those agencies to develop, execute, and retain safe and clean practices. Perdue Farms should also accept personal responsibility and be concerned about their workplace, their employees, the animals that make them money, and the consumers. The ethical theory being put into place

I am so ashamed that I had not known most of the information that was shared in Food, Inc. I definitely agree that we need to have a policy change regarding our food, it should be cheaper to buy carrots than chips at the grocery store. I, like many college students, want to eat healthy but it is expensive and most of us are on a “ramen budget”. There also needs to be tighter laws regarding the illnesses that can come from improper handling of the meat and crops. I believe that there needs to be a huge change in the agricultural world, the farmers should not have to be scared of losing money or being sued because of big companies, such as Monsanto. The huge companies are going to be making money no matter what without much work. Whereas a farmer puts in work day in and day out and sadly they do not make much money. I also believe that the film had an extremely negative outlook on how modern farming practices in agriculture are. I believe that Food, Inc. focused on the negative outlook of modern farming but did not mention about the different practices or how they have also positively impacted our

"I believe in the future of agriculture, with a faith born not of words, but of deeds." These famous words from "The FFA Creed" by E.M. Tiffany outline the basic beliefs of FFA members and agriculturists around the world. But these values, although crucial to the sustaining of our world's ever-increasing population, are growing more and more detached from the people not involved in agriculture. Although food and fiber production has increased in recent years, providing more bushels per acre and more meat per head of cattle, the agriculture industry has come under fire due to an overwhelming majority of people being totally disconnected from the agriculture industry. Today, we'll examine the primary causes of this disconnect, the negative effects on agriculture and our society as a whole that results from it, and how you can help solve this ever-growing problem.

Farmers are paid to overproduce corn, which is sold for less than the cost of production. Much of the excess is used as a cheap sugar substitute in various products, and much of it used to feed cattle; to produce bigger, meatier cows. It is at this point we learn of the unintended consequences of constantly putting quantity before quality, in the chapter aptly titled ‘unintended consequences.’ Cows fed a corn diet produce deadly strains of e-coli, leading to numerous safety recalls of beef in recent years. Pollan at one point tells us that simply feeding cows grass for a period of five days would virtually eliminate any strains of the contaminate, but that this is seen as a fiscally excessive exercise by the corporations. He is presented as somewhat of an authority on the matter, but all we are really told is that he is an author with interest in mass produced foods, an attempt at ethos that falls somewhat flat. Instead of doing this however, a new industry has emerged: one that combines ammonia with hamburger filler for the companies, killing any strains of e-coli before they can reach the consumer. The film attempts to portray a deadly cycle, where untested solutions often produce deadly side-effects; which are in turn fixed with even more untested solutions, a technique that seems quite effective.

American agriculture can produce more food on less land and at cheaper cost than any other nation. Did anyone ever wonder why or how? The documentary Food Inc., produced by Robert Kenner, is designed to put the spotlight on the unsafe preparation of food products, the inhuman treatment of animals being used, and the unethical treatment of workers in corporate farming. Robert Kenner uses multiple rhetorical analysis to get his aspect across to his viewers. Throughout the movie, there are several claims to appeal of ethos, pathos, and logos in order to uncover the true secrets of the American food during its journey to the table.

In addition to his solutions, Pollan’s modern narrative sheds light on the façade of our food industries; asking us to rethink what we know. Despite the mention of certain inhumane acts in All Animals are Equal, Pollan takes us one step further to uncover the reason for which we continue to purchase our corrupt food. We all know animal abuse exists, but the average consumer like myself is more worried about the best price and the fastest way to get a burger rather than how fairly the animals are treated in the process. Whether it be the confined living space of chickens or the mental and physical torture of pigs, we continue to blind ourselves from reality. Is it purely out of selfishness? Or are we too ignorant to come to terms with our wrong doings? Like Pollan explains, it takes seeing the abuse before the shame of our disrespect can be felt (pg.6). After seeing Pollan’s truth, I might now think twice before eating out and the choice to support organic produce can make a dramatic difference for those farmers who promote the ethical lifestyle.

Our nation’s industrial farming has become more than just feeding people; it has become a way for the food industry to make more money as human population continues to grow. Jonathan Safran Foer in his book Eating Animals, illustrates the effects factory farming has had on animals meant for human consumption. Furthermore, Foer asks many questions to the reader on what will it take for us to change our ways before we say enough is enough. The questions individuals need to be asking themselves are: how do we deal with the problem of factory farming, and what can people do to help solve these issues? Eric Schlosser in Fast Food Nation, also illustrates the animal abuse that goes unseen within the food industry as well as Bernard Rollin and Robert Desch in their article “Farm Factories”, both demonstrate what is wrong today with factory farming. Foer gives such examples of employees who work in slaughterhouses giving accounts of what goes on in the kill floors, and stories of employees who have witnessed thousands and thousands of cows going through the slaughter process alive (Animals 231). Namit Arora in the article “On Eating Animals”, as well as Michael Pollan in his book The Omnivore’s Dilemma, both address some of the issues that animals face once they hit the kill floor. The food industry has transformed not only how people eat, but also the negative effects our climate endures as a result of factory farming as illustrated by Anna Lappe in “The Climate Crisis at the End

For example, in the 1990s, there was a food scare, called Alar. “Alar was a chemical conventional growers sprayed on apples to help them ripen. In 1990 the Environmental Protection Agency found that Alar could cause cancer” (Pollan, 2009, p. 117). Since the EPA found that Alar could cause cancer, the was a huge jump in the demand for organic foods. In the book, Omnivore's Dilemma, it states, “According to the book Omnivore's Dilemma, it states,¨In a shed attached to the mill sit vat of liquid vitamins. Beside them are fifty-pound sacks of antibiotic drugs¨ (p.55). Industrial farmers who raise cattle, use antibiotics and other medications to make their cows grow faster and fatter. In conclusion, industrial organic is better for your family because there aren’t harmful chemicals like Alar, being used to produce your crops. Also, the farmers don't feed the animals medications and drugs to make them grow fat. They use organic feds which are better for the animals and resulting in a better tasting

Have you ever been in a rush, low on cash, and looking for something to eat so you didn’t really have a choice but to grab a burger with fries at your local fast food place? Have you ever paused or stopped to think about where the burger really came from, or the process that went in to be made? The Food Inc documentary investigates and exposes the American industrial production of meat, grains, and vegetables. Robert Kenner the producer of the film makes allegations in this film and he explores how food industries are deliberately hiding how and where it is our food is coming from. He emphasizes that we should find out where our food comes from and why is it that the food industry does not want us to know. Food Inc. does not only uses compelling images, such as hundreds of baby chickens being raised in spaces where they do not see an inch of sunlight, it also includes the speeches and stories of farmers, families, government officials, and victims of the food industry. The four current problems facing today’s food industry are the reformed usage of the false advertisement within the labeling of products , mistreatment of farmed animals, and the harmful chemical in our meats. The documentary Food Inc uses very persuasive tactics that demonstrates strong elements of pathos, ethos, and logos make an effective appeal, while uncovering the dark side of the food industry.

The food we eat and the quantity of it is what industries base their investments on; they use this to their advantage and produce more quantity than quality for us to consume, without taking into consideration the effect this might have on us or on the world as a whole. In the article “When a Crop Becomes King” written by Michael Pollan we see what the excessive use of a crop can do to our health and the environment. The vast production of products made with corn has made it the crop which is grown more than any other in the United States, but the process of adapting to the high consumption of corn came at a high cost. While corn is the easiest and cheapest substitute for sugar and animal food it is also linked to the cause of chronic diseases and serious, long-lasting damage to our ecosystems. The production of certain things is something we might not have control of but what we should have control of is our health and what better way than denying anything that we know might give us a hard time the power to do

Nations are judged and measured by their production and selling of goods and services. Not only has increased consumerism resulted in ecological imbalance, it is also depleting earth’s natural resources, which in turn is creating an environmental crisis. One of the biggest products being consumed is food. Rapidly growing world’s population requires increased food production. Author Anna Lappe does an excellent job expounding on the impact that food production and distribution has on the environment. Lappe (2015) argues that modern practices of food production directly contribute to air pollution and increases carbon dioxide emissions (par. 11). Crop production uses an absurd amount of land, artificial fertilizer, and harmful pesticides that seriously pollutes the environment and threatens young children and wildlife species. Author Sandra Steingraber (2015) also argues that increased consumerism has led to a high usage of harmful chemicals to produce products for consumers (par.

One issue the documentary highlights is the abuse of animals and workers by the food companies, in order to reveal how the companies hide

Watching the documentary Food Inc, there were a few points that stood out most to me. I think one of the most important concerns that were brought up is the consumers not knowing the truth behind the food. Whether there is actual harm in our food or not, we still need to know what is going into our food. The harm that may actually be inside our food can be caused by how easy it is to produce crap food now days. Making mass produced food is a lot easier than it has been in the past because genetics have changed animals into growing faster and fatter. This causes harm to the environment by creating factories for these foods to be made, which causes pollution by emitting many CO2 gasses. However this isn’t a concern for the producer. The producer is mainly focused on money they receive even if it causes harm to the environment or the consumers. The use of pesticides and other substances are used in foods, whether it’s in the production of corn growing or in the food in general to help keep germs out. This also causes harm to the consumer and environment that we should be aware of.