Exploration Five Naomi Hillman

I love animals and seeing them in factories makes me sick to my stomach. This film is “Fresh”, is a community of advocates for healthier, more sustainable food, a film that’s used all over the world as a platform to raise awareness and connect people to solutions in their community. A lot of issue stuck out to me like how they treat the animals such as pigs, cows and chickens in the factories. I believe that in the film, in the chicken factories parts of there beaks had to be cut off so they wouldn't fight or hurt each other.I know that's a procedure but it feels like animal cruelty to me. In the film they talk about whats going on inside these factories. One issue inside the factories was the drugs they were giving to to animals. Cows are herbavors rights? So why feed them mean in there grain. Cows could be eating grass which helps them get the food that they need. “Animals feeld the plants, plants feed the animals.” What happens is that people would invent a drug to give to the animals that would help them grow faster but finding something something that works then applying into everything else. Some chemicals don’t work that way. Nature doesn't have monoculture. Use antibiotics to keep animals alive, while pesticides keepis it healthy? Not necessarily the case. Spraying crops can lead to a big disaster, eliminating risk in algraculture is not good for the environment nor the economy. “TAKE CARE OF THE GRASS, GRASS TAKES CARE OF THE ANIMAL,” someone said in the film. These factories aren't good for the animals nore the environment due to the dieases that can get in the food. Filling all these animals up with drugs and chemicals can really effect our food sources.

Pigs in factories all crowded up together. they need sun

and non polluted food.

Exploration #5-Hunter Bayer

An Important issue in "Fresh" was the idea of Quality vs Quantity. The film looks at what industrial agriculture gas done to the majority of farming and what small are doing to preserve the old traditions. In this idea of quality vs quantity, the small farmers are the quality while industrial farming is the quantity. While industrial farming is much cheaper and the mass amounts of products made through it are much higher than normal farming, the overall cost and health issues caused by it are problematic and can ruin a farmer if not careful. Small farmers like Will Allen and Joel Salatin grow there products in the most natural ways with no health risks. The end result is meat and vegetables with the freshest value. This comes at a cost however, with the low amount of product made and how expensive the food can be. When it comes down to what side is better, Micheal Pollan provides a great quote to determine the winner. He says "Food is never cheap. If you don't pay for it at the register, you'll pay for it somewhere else". He is referring to the health effects or the environmental effects of cheap food. While it's better on your'e cash, your health would take the risk with diseases such as Ebola developed from the ground beef you could have bought at the store. The environment takes a blow from it as well. Industrial Agriculture reduces the variety of products by 90%, and 30% soil is ruined in industrial agriculture.

The difference between dead soil and healthy soil

http://www.freshthemovie.com/

Exploration Five from Austin Craig

I have heard GMO for as long as I can remember, but I never knew exactly what it meant until we watched Fresh. News stations and other outlets can broadcast the subject and not provide examples or interviews. I saw the clusters of cows, chickens both chicks and adults, and pigs all living in filthy, unhealthy environments. I'm not sure which is worse, the clusters or the chemicals they are being fed in order to increase body mass. Many animals become sick as a result and become toxic to themselves and humans as we saw with Russ Kremer when he was stabbed with a boar tusk. "Feeding dead cows to cows" (Joel Salatin) is my favorite quote from the documentary; feeding humans to humans is inhumane, so why would we feed cows to cows? Not only is it ethically wrong, it is unhealthy. Cows are herbivores by nature, which means anything they produce is going to be natural and more healthy if they graze. Russ Kremer also provided details after he decided to go back to organic farming. He included the amount of money he saved by ridding his animals of antibiotics and other drugs, which estimated to around fourteen thousand dollars in a year. Aside from animals, many chemicals are used in conventional farming to keep insects and other pests out of farm land. Herbicides and pesticides are used in convention while organic uses crop rotation and manual pulling of weeds for a healthier environment.
Source: http://www.healthguidance.org/entry/11320/1/Organic-Farming-vs-Conventional-Farming.html

Dirt is dirt, but what's more appealing?

Exploration 5 by Regan Ross

     Fresh is a film about how our food in America is not the way it is naturally supposed to be. The film shows you many different ways animals and crops are farmed. The reason why farmers use certain techniques and products to raise their agriculture is explained by knowledgeable sources.
     One of the main concepts in the film is factory farming. Factory farming is a system of raising livestock in which large numbers of animals are raised indoors to maximize production at minimum cost. This way of producing food that goes onto millions of plates everyday causes many problems for the consumer and for the farmer. Farmers are feeding these animals meat because it is cheap and makes the animals grow faster. All livestock animals are herbivores naturally, feeding these animals meat may be linked to diseases like mad cow disease. As for consumers and people in general, factory farms are not good at all. These can farms pollute waterways and can pollute the air because of the chemicals large amounts of manure can give off. When thousands of the same type animal is packed into a tight space, disease can occur very easily. This can contaminate the meat we are eating and causes farmers to overuse antibiotics to prevent disease from happening. When people eat large amounts of antibiotics found in the meat they are eating, it makes them more immune to antibiotics when they are sick.
     A farmer named Joel Salatin does not agree with factory farming. "Respect the design of nature." This quote is what Joel uses as a motto for his farm. He explains that in nature, animals are always moving, that is why he rotates his animals into different fields. He also only gives his animals fresh plants not grains or other meats. He also doesn't use monoculture because it does not occur in nature and it increases his livestock's chances of survival as a whole.
     Fresh is a great documentary that more people should watch. It is great because it opened my eyes more about what I was putting into my own body. I always try to eat organic but this film really gave me more information and incentive to buy organic foods.

Source: http://www.factoryfarmmap.org/

An example of how unnatural factory farms can be

Exploration Five by Grant Davison

     I felt that an important issue that I noticed was the facts about the Good Natured family Farms. The issue I saw was that they talked about how bigger stores like walmart and target are taking small family stores out of business. This is an issue as the big name stores sell more of the processed foods. The great thing about good nature family farms is they sell good food made from organic farmers. It might be more expensive than walmart and the deals people get there, but they pay for less nutrition. Good natured family farms is a connected community of 75 farms. They plan to spread and have more supermarkets but it is hard when big name stores come in nearby but it takes away business. One thing that George Naylor said was that "Americans fear inconveniences".

Good Natured Family Farms logo

     Good natured family farms consists of a community that lives by the statement "Buy fresh buy local" and i think that shows there dedications to selling fresh food. They know that the prices are higher than walmart but they want to help bring the price down if more people are selling fresh food.

http://www.goodnaturedfamilyfarms.com/Home_Page.html

Exploration 5: Amanda Gifford

In the beginning of the film, Fresh, George Naylor gives a quote from his Pakistani roommate, “Americans fear one thing inconvenience”. Considering this statement many do not take time to reflect on the abuse the animals suffer and the chemicals spread on the crops to reach this convenience. The industrialized farmers sign contracts with their providers and with loans, buying and selling back are stuck within the system. It takes years of this process to pay for the half million dollar buildings consisted to house them. With the animals being packed into buildings with almost 30,000 to one, the living conditions are poor. The animals are being mutilated and given antibiotics and hormones to increases their growth. Also, the famers idea of recycling the carcasses of other animals to herbivores creates grounds for antibiotic resistant diseases not safe for the animal or consumer. Russ Kremer is a former industrialized hog farmer whose perspective changed after contracting an infection from a tusk wound. Within the disease threatening his life, he changed his operation towards tradition ways.  His method of allowing the hogs to roam free and not exposing them to many antibiotic treatments allows for healthier livestock. Russ states, “I am a farmer that does more than advocates or protests. I am doing something to show the better way. Sustainability is an economic and social model of hope”.  With famers realizing that organic methods are achievable and cost effective we can only hope many more make the changes required to improve the environment and community.

  

Industrialized hog farm building. 

 https://www.farmaid.org/blog/russ-kremer/

Exploration 5: Fresh by Gabby Biliran

The most important specific issues and ideas in the film Fresh were the concepts of "fresh eating," and the idea that processed is not better. "Fresh eating" meant eating non-processed, locally grown, rightfully raised food.

Processed food was more for convenience. George Naylor said: "Americans only fear one thing: inconvenience." This is true in the sense that more people eat only what is easiest to get. Big industry only wanted to market the system; raising animals a specific way so they could grow faster and grow more, and genetically modifying plants so they were bigger and brighter and appealed to consumers more. According to statistics, 64% of people eat out at least once or twice a week and get fast food.

However, big industry, while supplying America's need for convenience, also affects health and income. Local, homegrown food is better for people. It provides jobs for farmers, better food, and more health benefits. While America fears inconvenience, they also do not take into consideration that homegrown does not take longer and turns out better. "35% of all households in America, or 42 million households, are growing food at home or in a community garden, 17% higher than in the past five years."

After watching this documentary, it's easy to say that while it's a little bit harder, fresher is better. More Americans are becoming more aware of what they eat, and in turn eating better, and supporting locals who farm for a living.

organic farming goes from "farm to plate"

healthy farmed cows graze on grass

http://www.statisticbrain.com/fast-food-statistics/
http://garden.org/learn/articles/view/3819/