Food Inc
by digby
Following up on tristero’s post from this morning about “foodie elites” I thought I’d throw out this fascinating documentary that appeared last night on PBS called “Food Inc.” (You can watch the whole thing online at the link.)
I think the part that struck me the most (after the horror shows of animal cruelty and killing, as always) was the news that Monsanto patented a genetically modified soy bean seed and since the 1990s has pretty much taken over all soybean cultivation in the US. The problem is that since they “own” the patent, they also own the seeds and so farmers aren’t allowed to keep them and use them for next years crops anymore. Those that Monsanto suspects of doing this are tracked down by private detectives and sued by the company, often losing tens of thousands of dollars in the process, just trying to defend themselves. They interviewed a bunch of farmers, some of whom had never even used the Monsanto seeds but ended up with some through that high tech method called pollination, who were so ground down they just gave in. It was something out of a dystopian novel.
And that’s just one small segment of the problems with our food supply. The biggest is that we are all subsidizing the growing of the crops that are making us the most unhealthy, almost to the exclusion of anything that is. It explains a lot.
BTW:I’m privileged to live just blocks away from a world class Farmer’s Market,so buying tasty, just picked produce in season is easy and cheap. (I don’t know what this guy is talking about.) We’re lucky that way. If that makes me a foodie, then I’ll wear the label (dripping with Chandler strawberries and heirloom Brandywine tomato juice)proudly.
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