Tuesday, March 26, 2013

Exploration 9

The most important theme in this film is to let people know how much industrialized farming is the way our world works. It talked about how Americans fear inconvenience and when we find something that works and that is convenient, we stick to it and apply it to everything. Michael Pollan talked about how nature doesn't have or can't handle monoculture and we can't have so much of one thing in one place. That's exactly what farming has turned into- too much of one thing in one place and its effecting our health, our environment, our community, and our economy. Americans get too obsessed with productivity to even consider or care about the consequences.

I guess I didn't realize how industrialized farmers farmed their crops and animals today. I had never really wanted to think about it because I couldn't handle the reality of how the animals were treated and how they were confined to such small places. I had no idea that it was as bad as it is. It's amazing how many pigs and chickens were stored in each "factory farms" or "feed lots." Or that chickens would have their beaks and claws cut off when the reason they have them in the first place is to eat bugs which is a functional purpose that was just completely overlooked and ruled out. I thought it was interesting when the film had talked about how we tipped the balance of nature too far. That's exactly what is happening in our world today.

I was very inspired by every farmer that was interviewed after the shift of the film. Joel talks about how her respects the design of nature and how he always keeps things moving. I was impressed to see how he would move his livestock daily to a different pasture so the would have new fresh food to eat while the food (plants) in the pasture they were in before could grow and replenish. I had never even thought of it that way before. I would let his chickens in the morning and would let them run around. He talked about how there are no boundaries to creativity and I believe that 100%. He fed his animals what they needed to stay healthy and what they were made to eat; not feeding cows dead cow because that would just cause diseases. I was very interested to hear Russ Kremors story about how he came to his realization about how industrialized farming was not the way to go. It was impressive the way he completely started over and became a successful unindustrialized farmer and saved himself about $14,000 in one year merely from not having to buy the vaccines to inject his animals with just to keep them alive. Will Allen had an amazing story as well. I loved how he recreated the natural environment for plant growth from the waste of his fish and how he had worms that broke down the soil that would be healthier for the plants.

All of these farmers were very successful at what they were doing and took great pride in the fact they they didn't use any chemicals or fertilizers or any other harmful additives. They realized that they cant feed the world with their food but its better for the environment. It's much more convenient and cheaper just to buy food from the store but most of that food has lost its nutrients because of how much it has been processed. It's sad to think that this is what our world has come to and seems almost impossible to revert back on our old ways. If only there were many more people dedicated to farming right then we would be able to "feed the world" with the food that came from the unindustrialized farmers. Their food is more healthy for us and is from better taken care of animals. Like the film said, "Food is at the foundation, but it's really about life!"

3 comments:

  1. You made a very well done post with many good examples of people who have changed from industrialized to organic, smaller farms. The quote you gave at the end of the post is a good way to sum up what this film was all about.

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  2. I thought it was pretty cool too, how Russ Kremer made a complete shift from being a large scale industrialized farmer to the opposite, and how happy he is that he made the switch.

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  3. I agree with you that the balance of nature is now off. I had never realized how badly animals are treated in the factory production. I like how you quoted the movie at the end of your blog because that really is what its all about.

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