The Future of Food

Summer Corn Field

The Future of Food

Being tired of the computer the other night I was looking for a place to relax. There is a lot online that makes me tense. Well, for one thing, I work a lot online. Technology changes daily now and I am not the only one who feels the thing is alive and thinking. Anyway, I thought I would go to Hulu.com to see what would relax me. Needless to say, I found a program, a documentary I thought would be fun and relaxing. It turned out not to be relaxing but raised my anger and kept me awake for a good part of the night.

The documentary The Future of Food is long, about an hour and a half. It is an in-depth investigation into how engineered foods have found their way onto our grocery shelves. Little did I realize that 90% of the variety of our natural foods has disappeared since the beginning of the 20th century. This is a video that is worth watching. It makes me angry. There are big companies that have patents on life.

Did you know that? I didn’t. I didn’t know you could patent bacteria and plants. The subject is corn and Monsanto is an agricultural company. Who says they apply innovation and technology to help farmers around the world produce more while conserving more? They help farmers grow yield sustainably so they can be successful, and produce healthier foods, better animal feeds, and more fiber, while also reducing agriculture’s impact on our environment.

Well, Monsanto also sues small farmers. They sue small farmers for having a genetically altered corn plant in their crops that they have no idea how they got there. These plants have shown up in Mexico. Not only did Monsanto sue farmers with this corn but they won because the judge said they had a patent on the corn.
This is crazy. The average person on the street doesn’t know about what is in this video and the Bush administration did not help us know about it either.

After watching this video I have a better appreciation of organic food and a high awareness of what is in the grocery store, especially because I am one of these highly allergic people. Our grocery stores are filled with artificial food. It also has made me aware of the damage a big corporation can do just because they have money and all they care about is making more. They do not care about people.