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'The Future of Food'

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Dimitrius

Dimitrius

Rising Star
If you are a human being and you eat food, I recommend this documentary for your awareness of what is happening to the worlds crops.


The Future of Food


The synopsis of the film from IMDB:

THE FUTURE OF FOOD offers an in-depth investigation into the disturbing truth behind the unlabeled, patented, genetically engineered foods that have quietly filled U.S. grocery store shelves for the past decade. From the prairies of Saskatchewan, Canada to the fields of Oaxaca, Mexico, this film gives a voice to farmers whose lives and livelihoods have been negatively impacted by this new technology. The health implications, government policies and push towards globalization are all part of the reason why many people are alarmed about the introduction of genetically altered crops into our food supply. Shot on location in the U.S., Canada and Mexico, The Future of Food examines the complex web of market and political forces that are changing what we eat as huge multinational corporations seek to control the world's food system. The film also explores alternatives to large-scale industrial agriculture, placing organic and sustainable agriculture as real solutions to the farm crisis today. The Future of Food reveals that there is a revolution going on in the farm fields and on the dinner tables of America, a revolution that is transforming the very nature of the food we eat.
 
I haven't seen future of food.. but Food Inc is a great documentary that I can highly recommend... it comes from a completely realistic perspective, really treated the whole story with respect and kinda blew my mind...
 
As a general supporting of genetically modified food I find these documentaries grossly misleading. But let me explain.

GMO can reduce our environmental impact. There is little doubt of this if you understand the facts. GMO can improve drought resistance which would benefit places like Africa, GMO can reduce the need for pesticides, GMO can increase yield and therefore allow more wild areas to come back.

However there is a problem with the modern GMO industry and the conflict between organic and GMO industries. The GMO industry is abusing patent law in my opinion. What I mean is when they make a new crop and that crop mixes with another crop and they claim they own it and fight in court over it. That should be illegal. So thats problem number 1. Also the industry is trying to apply its monoculture model with GMO crops which eventually will backfire for similar reasons pesticides backfire (resistance).

The second problem is that the organic industry is completely against GMO without realizing that the combination of GMO and organic farming practices could completely revolutionize agriculture. Lets face it if the whole world just switched to organic farming only we would be screwed. Yields would go down. More land would need to be cut down for agriculture. This would be a double whammy for the environment.

I want to see the practices combined. GMO and organic. We could minimize pesticide use, we could maximize yields, we could mix resistances genes and drought resistance with all kinds of varieties of crops. The possibilities are huge. But instead supporters of organic farming are completely opposed to progress of this sort. They create a divide in the mind of the public "your with us or against us" and then they create all these irrational fears at the same time instead of focusing on the real problems in the industry.

Unfortunately this combination won't happen until the public wakes up and stops listening to BS documentaries and fear tactics of organizations like 'greenpeace'. People need to stop being irrationally afraid of GMO crops. Once they are they can also change the mind of the courts to fix the problems with patent law which would help shape up the industry. Furthermore it is my firm opinion and the opinion of many experts that a combination of GMO with organic practices could feed the world and at the same time lessen our environmental impact.
 
burnt, have you seen Food Inc? I don't think it fits in the same category you're talking about... not the typical greenpeace agenda. .. actually I think it must be something different all together, because that one isn't really about farming practices or gm crops, it covers it, but it's not the focus of concern.
 
Yeah, watch Food inc, it's cool... basically what it taught me is that the governments of the world demonstrate the same level of ignorance towards food as they do towards drugs.
 
Yeah I saw the trailer for Food Inc. just a couple days ago. I would like to watch it too.
 
King corn was very interesting. Now I always check to see how many products really do contain high fructose corn syrup. Its like 90% of everything in the US has it.

Also yea watched most of food inc yesterday. It was good I am glad how they focused a lot on farmers and people in the actual industry.

RGBH (the bovine growth hormone that makes dairy cows produce tons more milk and some people think it is also contributing to why girls are hitting puberty at a much younger age then they used to in the US).
Click to expand...

Yea that was theory me and friends had in college as to why all the freshmen girls had bigger tits then we remembered. Maybe it was just us though...


I think overall the problem comes down to a well intentioned maybe in its origin, patent and subsidy system gone horrible wrong. Patenting genes is shady to me and I am pro biotechnology. Unless you invent the gene (ie engineer a totally new gene). But then as soon as that gene mixes with someone else you can't claim ownership over it anymore. So yea we need to fix patent law. Companies may complain it ruins there chances of making new technology but thats largely BS because it the technology could be made at universities where it would benefit society faster and more directly. If someone made a safe (and there is safe GMO) GMO seed that anyone could buy and breed you'd still make money and it would be useful for everybody not just a few.

The other major issue is farm subsidies. Why the heck are farmers growing corn at a loss? There is plenty of other crops people could be growing and earning profit and not living in debt to grow them. There are plenty of people who need jobs to work on farms too but this partially ties into the whole illegal immigration issue which is again something the government turns a blind eye too. I have no problem with immigrants but they need a legal way to work in the U.S. Its not the end of the world if food prices in america go up a bit either. They probably should go up because the market is so distorted its unsustainable. Especially meat prices. Obviously american's are living beyond their means as well living in debt etc.
 
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