Ripe For Change
How to view: http://www.snagfilms.com/films/title/ripe_for_change
Director: Emiko Omori | Producer: Jed Riffe
Produced | Country: United States
Run Time: 54 Minutes | Language: English
Synopsis: California -- always a fascinating marriage of
opposite extremes -- is at a cross-roads in agriculture. Many Californians are
struggling to fend off overdevelopment and the loss of farming lands and
traditions while embracing innovative visions of agricultural sustainability.
At the same time, California is where fast food was born and a center of the
biotechnology industry and large corporate agribusiness. The debates raging in
California over issues of food, agriculture, and sustainability have profound
implications for all of America, especially in a world where scarcity is the
norm and many natural resources are diminishing.
This fascinating
documentary explores the intersection of food and politics in California over
the last 30 years. It illuminates the complex forces struggling for control of
the future of California's agriculture, and provides provocative commentary by
a wide array of eloquent farmers, prominent chefs, and noted authors and
scientists.
Opinion: The film examines a host of thorny questions:
What are the trade-offs between the ability to produce large quantities of food
versus the health of workers, consumers, and the planet? What are the hidden
costs of "inexpensive" food? How do we create sustainable
agricultural practices?
Recommendation:
Viewer: Brittany Collins
Stream for free: http://www.thefutureoffood.com/onlinevideo.html
About:
Director: Deborah Koons Garcia | Producer: Catherine Butler and Koons Garcia
Produced: 2004 | Country: United States
Run time: 1:29:00 | Language: English
Synopsis: The Future Of Food offers an in-depth investigation into the disturbing truth behind the unlabeled, patented, genetically engineered foods that have quietly filled U.S. grocery store shelves for the past decade.
Opinion:
- Starts off with background information about how the food system has changed over the past couple of centuries
- Quickly transitions into how the Green Revolution became the Gene Revolution, setting the tone for a narrow focus on genetic engineering
- Lots of anti-GMO, especially anti-Monsanto segments, as well as explanations of how companies have patented living organisms
- Interviews with farmers who have been sued by Monsanto for violating their patent
- Big focus on biotech revolution
- Mentions it is cheaper for Mexico to import corn from the U.S. than to grow its own because of U.S. subsidies
- U.S. subsidizes crops, Europe subsidizes farmers, Canada and Mexico subsidize neither
- University research can't challenge conventional wisdom (corporate control of genetic research)
- Mentions dangers of multinational companies continuing to consolidate the food system
- At around 1:10:00, states that world hunger is not about the amount of food (the people starving today used to be farmers themselves)
- Talks about local food, CSAs at the end
- Very heavily focused on issues of GMOs and patents
- Does not focus so much on the future as the title would suggest
- Much more problem-oriented than solution-oriented
- Outdated (7 years old)
Recommendation:
- Some segments may or may not be worth showing to Oxfam supporters
- Would have to update such figures as "800 million malnourished" (to 925 million)
- Not really the most appropriate film for Oxfam events
- Appropriate audience
- Easily understandable for anyone interested in the issues of GMOs and U.S. patents
- Does not align with Oxfam/GROW
