Review of Documentary: Future of Food

The Future of Food. That is something I have always thought of. I feel that from watching this film, our ancestors who spent there lives gathering and planting seeds would be disgusted if they learned that today we live in a world of genetically modified foods.

That's what this documentary, Future of Food, mainly focused on. A company by the name of Monsanto. One of the largest agricultural companies that has had a history of selling genetically modified seed. This has not always been a problem. The history of seed gathering and planting dates back many of years. The events of WWI, with the production of Nerve gas led to a use of this gas for crops. It was classified as an insecticide and would help crop yields. The start of nitrogen for a fertilizer was also being used. This made a great move into the market. Greener crops were being produced. This technology would increase production and bring down the purchasing price. It seemed that many people liked this, of course if you can get food cheaper with the same great taste who wouldn't love it. The era of new technology being used for agriculture was labeled as the "Green Revolution," but what people didn't see coming next was a new era that would be called the "Gene Revolution".

The company Monsanto produced a genetically modified seed that would already be injected with a gene to make it Roundup ready. Roundup is a herbicide that is usually used to kill weeds and help plant growth. Because Monsanto did this they would be able to patent that seed as their own. What was happening was that Monsanto's product would get blown or somehow placed in a large farmers field. When a Monsanto tester would take some of this crop and conduct a study on it, they would find it to be Monsanto's seed. This resulted in Monsanto filing lawsuits against many farmers, even thought these farmers had no idea how that seed got there. This situation would devastate the farmers. Some farmers were able to fight back with enough support that Monsanto would simply drop the case but make them agree to never talk about the details. Two of more popular Monsanto lawsuits were against Percy Schmeiser and also against Greg Nelson. As one said in the film Monsanto was a large enough company that they were filing lawsuits to scare other farmers into buying their seeds.

Monsanto would change the genes of these seeds by means of injecting the seed with a virus or bacteria that simply replaces a part of the gene and copies itself. This led to the first genetically modified food, the Flavr savr tomato. This hit the market huge but after studies done on rats found that this food was showing signs of lesions, which is a abnormal tissue found on an organism. The product was then removed from the market.

Due to farmers concerns the government set up an agency called the EPA, Environmental Protection Agency. People were proud of this happening but in the end it would be disappointing. The EPA was practically controlled by Monsanto. So decisions that were to be made would be made by a corporation that has been destroying the old farms of America. When I saw this sections in the film that listed all the members of the department I was stunned. Practically every seat in the agency is filled by a Monsanto member.

The starting point of genetically modified food has severely impacted farmer. The passing of the law that allows patenting of foods may have been one of the worse turning points for many farmers in America as well as other countries that import our seed. If that law never would of been enacted I feel it would be a much brighter present for everyone.

My Thoughts

I found this documentary absolutely interesting. I think everyone did. I can recall people shaking their heads during the section when the listing of EPA members was being shown. I was doing the same thing. I can't believe the government creates an agency to help out farmers concerns but yet basically puts it in control of the people the are harming these farmers. I lived on farm for 10 years. My father farmed 80 acres of land for most of his life until calling the quits in late 1990's. He grew mostly corn, but also wheat, and barley to feed the livestock. I remember he used to gather his own seed from the harvest and replant it the next year. I can't recall the exact time but I remember a following year he had switched over to purchasing seed. I hope that the future outlook for farmer is better than what it has been. To many people don't appreciate the few we have left. I know I am going to plan on shopping more at places like the Co-Op to support Americas farmers.

Terms

Herbicide - an agent used to destroy or inhibit plant growth

Gene Modification - The chemical repair of a gene's defective DNA sequence.

Nerve Gas - an organophosphate chemical weapon that interferes with normal nerve transmission and induces intense bronchial spasm with resulting inhibition of respiration

Nitrogen - a colorless tasteless odorless element that as a diatomic gas is relatively inert and constitutes 78 percent of the atmosphere and that is a constituent of organic compounds found in all living tissues

Virus - the causative agent of an infectious disease

Bacteria - are a large group of unicellular microorganisms