There are different types of calamities that we must face when it comes to food security. Many of us are aware that perfectly good food is wasted everyday. Farmageddon: The Truth About the Food Industry directed by Kristin Canty shows another way which food is wasted under pretenses to protect certain organizations.
One of the driving points of Farmageddon is that we are disregarding thousands of years of human experience with agriculture and animal husbandry. Instead, the government is promoting regulations and policies which put smaller farms at a disadvantage. For example, small farmers have to go through an inconvenient amount of paperwork in order to be able to sell their produce. Are the farmers supposed to farm or should they be required to go through an unreasonable amount of bureaucracy?
There is also a certain amount of bullying that smaller farmers have to face. For example, a family farm which was milking European sheep had to face tests and waiting periods to be able to use their sheep. These sheep were eventually slaughtered under false pretenses. These farmers were threatened and warned not to go to the media or speak about the issue to anyone otherwise the farm would be shut down. The owner of this farm believed that the power is in the reigns of the people who have the money such as the packers and slaughters. Eventually it was found these sheep had no connection to Mad Cow's disease or any way that they could be related to the disease.
According to the movie we have seen many of the small family farms be replaced by large farms due to government policies. For example, 88 percent of the dairy farms have been shut down. By favoring processed food instead of a more natural diet we see that 70 percent of the country has become obese. What I found surprising is that raw milk does make your body stronger such as helping people with asthma and allergies. It would make sense since humans have been drinking this type of milk for thousands of years. However, we have been led to believe that if we do not drink pasteurized milk then it is not safe for us. Thus, while we are allowed to eat fast food, smoke, and consume other harmful substances we are "protected" from consuming raw milk. The only farm crop more regulated than raw milk is marijuana. Is something that we have been consuming for so many thousands of years suddenly so harmful?
What many want is the simple choice to understand what raw and pasteurized milk are. If they so decide that raw milk is better then they should have the ability to buy and consume such milk.
An interesting fact for me is that if raw milk is legal to sell and consume in some states then it is still illegal to transport it across state borders even for personal consumption. When I first heard this I thought of alcohol and even that is legal to transport across state borders. In fact people do it regularly to save on taxes in some states. There have also been a lot of raids on farms with suspicion of having the ability to sell raw milk.
One of the driving points of Farmageddon is that we are disregarding thousands of years of human experience with agriculture and animal husbandry. Instead, the government is promoting regulations and policies which put smaller farms at a disadvantage. For example, small farmers have to go through an inconvenient amount of paperwork in order to be able to sell their produce. Are the farmers supposed to farm or should they be required to go through an unreasonable amount of bureaucracy?
There is also a certain amount of bullying that smaller farmers have to face. For example, a family farm which was milking European sheep had to face tests and waiting periods to be able to use their sheep. These sheep were eventually slaughtered under false pretenses. These farmers were threatened and warned not to go to the media or speak about the issue to anyone otherwise the farm would be shut down. The owner of this farm believed that the power is in the reigns of the people who have the money such as the packers and slaughters. Eventually it was found these sheep had no connection to Mad Cow's disease or any way that they could be related to the disease.
What many want is the simple choice to understand what raw and pasteurized milk are. If they so decide that raw milk is better then they should have the ability to buy and consume such milk.
An interesting fact for me is that if raw milk is legal to sell and consume in some states then it is still illegal to transport it across state borders even for personal consumption. When I first heard this I thought of alcohol and even that is legal to transport across state borders. In fact people do it regularly to save on taxes in some states. There have also been a lot of raids on farms with suspicion of having the ability to sell raw milk.
There are many chemicals we can avoid consuming. Chickens in big farms are forced to live in small confinements where they live with their own excrement. Since many of these areas are unhygienic and not cleaned properly the chickens end up breathing in the evaporated feces. This is one reason so many antibiotics are needed to give chickens. I was surprised to see what a real grass-fed, free range chicken looks like. While I may be a vegetarian I still have reason to be concerned about the eggs which these chickens produce. While small farms are being put through inconveniences, there are many citizens who are concerned that the United States Department of Agriculture(USDA) is not doing enough to actually inspect the food. Instead, farmers are just having to do formalities while nothing is actually being accomplished.
Obviously, we all want to be able to consume healthy and safe food. However, we are not even doing that right now. The processed food which we eat now, though the effects are not immediate, is detrimental to our bodies and our society. As California moves towards legalizing marijuana for recreational use will we legalize raw milk. As Ron Paul says in the conclusion of the documentary, it is up to the people to get fed up and make it in Congress' favor to produce change.
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