If you grocery shop at a standard American grocery store, you most likely see beautiful pictures of pastoral farm scenes in the decor and on food packages, and you assume that’s where your food comes from. The truth is that most of it comes from industrial food systems run by large agricultural companies. They:
- spray lots of pesticides
- use genetically-modified seeds
- create chemicals that make food-like substances taste like food
- keep livestock in deplorable conditions
Big Ag also bankrolls lobbyists who influence your congressional representatives to vote for subsidies that keep soft drinks, candy and fast food cheap, plentiful and ubiquitous … and dairy, meat and produce substandard.
There is an alternative to Big Ag: it’s a food system championed by small farmers, and by parents who believe that feeding their children nutrient-dense food will make them robust and keep them healthy … but this food system is at risk. For example, the U.S. has lost 88% of its dairy farms in the last 40 years, according to David Gumpert, author of The Raw Milk Revolution: Behind America’s Emerging Battle Over Food Rights.
I recently attended a screening of the new documentary, Farmageddon: The Unseen War on American Family Farms, and it’s an important story well told. The message is that your right to access fresh, healthy foods of your choice is under attack. First-time filmmaker, Kristin Canty’s quest to find healthy food for her four children turned into an educational journey to discover why access to these foods was being threatened. What she found were policies that favor agribusiness and factory farms over small family-operated farms selling fresh foods to their communities. Canty presents a compelling story that makes you ask, “What can I do to help?”
Kristin Canty and David Gumpert were at the Boston screening I attended, and they had an engaging discussion with the audience after the film. Read David’s thoughts on Farmageddon. Real food blogger Kimberly Hartke was also at the Boston premiere; read her blog about why this documentary is so important.
If you’re in San Francisco this week, you’re in luck; Farmageddon is showing at San Francisco’s Roxie Theatre and the Rafael Theatre in San Rafael. Here’s a thoughtful review of the film by Gar Smith for the Berkeley Daily Planet.
So what can you do? Watch the trailer above and then visit the Farmageddon website to see if it’s being shown in your area. You can also request a screening for your group. Will you please help spread the word about this important film? Be well.
“Farmageddon is a powerful film documenting the U.S. government’s constant attacks on innocent farmers and consumers in an attempt to protect massive corporate interests. When the government controls the food you eat and the healthcare you receive, sickness is pervasive – this is exactly what has happened in the U.S.”
Dr. Joseph Mercola
The Healthy, Happy Eater 