Entry #7 Fresh

 

Fresh (2009) is a documentary meant to act as a wakeup call to society and more specifically American consumers of the dangers of an overindustrialized agriculture industry. The film explores common practices within the industry that many would find shocking and disturbing, one that stuck out to me is the substitution within a cow’s diet. Cows are herbivores that primarily eat grasses, shrubs, flowers, or herbs. Some farmers decided that it was too inefficient, so they then started feeding the cows grains, primarily corn. They then took this further and decided it was even cheaper to just feed other dead cows to their livestock, thus resulting in diseases as cows aren’t meant to eat other cows. The story that Fresh shows about a cow’s diet can even be seen as an allegory for the film entirely. Substitution taken to the extreme. Almost all aspects of our agriculture system are unnatural to the point of being harmful. The agriculture industry is being pushed to extremes that it was never supposed to go to due to the greed and over industrialization of our nation.

Fresh is a film that can raise awareness about this proliferating and unsustainable system and how to counter it. The film shows several examples of sustainable fresh farms that could realistically be implemented everywhere. This made me realize that not only is the current issues facing our food system avoidable, but they are also completely man made. Our food system wasn’t made from necessity or scarcity but because of convenience. It is just more convenient for the average American to have a super industrialized farm to keep the cost of food down. In the beginning of the film, they claim that Americans are afraid of one thing, Inconvenience and I believe the point of this film is to get America to start facing that fear.

Overall, I feel that the film does a good job creating a sense of urgency to sway the audience to their side. This film is a great way to get people to care about what we are eating and how we are producing. It does so in a more logical way rather than just showing disturbing images and claiming farmers are evil. The blame is put on the country as a whole and gives valid reasons why you and I should care. Personally, I won’t be changing my shopping habits, but I will be thinking about it when I go to buy those $2 eggs.