The Future of Food
The Future of Food
In his lecture “The Pleasures of Eating,” Wendell Berry famously stated that “eating is an agricultural act.” By the choices we make in the food market we are supporting and therefore perpetuating a particular philosophy and practice of agriculture. Unfortunately, not only does apathy and laziness effectively prevent many from investigating what they put in their mouths—and then protesting their discoveries, but there is also a serious dearth of objective information available to the public. Others mean to change that. Farmers, scientists, journalists and film producers are spreading the word: We need more accountability in the food business, and that is only going to happen if consumers care.
What is Happening Today?
Today, the USA (and many other countries) is witnessing a disturbing and unsustainable trend. The sustenance of large populations depends on a paucity of plant and animal species (and more and more chemicals). Not only are we seeing a dangerous decrease in the biodiversity of our food, but we are also seeing an alarming consolidation of the food market. The future of our food is found in fewer and fewer hands; our seed, our milk, our beef, our eggs, our processed foods are provided by an astonishingly small number of corporations. This unprecedented dependence of so many on so few is not the way of health or security.
The full-length documentary “The Future of Food” addresses such vital subjects as agricultural chemicals, the patenting of life, genetically modified foods, food safety and labeling, food politics and culture, world hunger, and alternative agriculture. Although it does not have time to address each of these topics at length, I do think that it serves as an important introduction. As producers, consumers, and the parents of future generations, I believe we each have the responsibility to educate ourselves further. We will find unsettling facts, but also reasons and paths to hope.
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Friday, July 31, 2009