Robert Kenner's "Food, Inc." and American industrial food production

Food Inc.

Robert Kenner's film Food, Inc. is a documentary about industrial food production in America, and the problems associated with it. The film depicts animal food production facilities, showing how animals are treated when they are being raised for mass slaughter. In addition to showing where American meat is coming from, the film shows how large-scale agriculture works in the United States. As with the factory-raised meat, the agriculture production in the United States works fairly well from a business perspective, but entails the use of potentially dangerous chemicals. In conjunction with these issues, Kenner discusses the problems with corporate control of food, which is why the film's name is Food, Inc. Food production, manufacturing, and marketing is big business, and it is linked to other big business sectors including chemicals and petro-chemicals. Companies are capitalizing on trends in consumer demand, such as for "organic" and other presumably healthy items, which are still being controlled by the major food conglomerates. Among the interrelated issues that are discussed in Food, Inc. includes problems like obesity and health issues, the ethics associated with factory farming, and consumer empowerment. The film is divided into three segments to address in detail the specifics of each area.

First, the filmmaker discusses the forces leading to mass production of food in America. Kenner shows how the origins of agro-business started in the early twentieth century, when trust in science was higher than the mistrust of business. Small scale farmers were poor, and easy targets to get bought out by burgeoning food industry conglomerates. The discovery of synthetic corn products such as high fructose corn syrup bolstered interest in massive replanting of America's land for monocrops like corn and soy. Within a relatively short period of time, much of America's farmland was concentrated into the hands of a few major companies. This was true for agriculture as well as for animals. The forces leading to mass production started with the Great Depression, leading to World War Two, and through the middle of the twentieth century. America went from economic hardship to prosperity relatively soon after the end of the Second World War. The image of America as the land of prosperity was fostered in part by the country's ability to produce massive amounts of food efficiently using new technology and the chemicals that had been discovered and developed during wartime by the military. It is impossible to ignore the connection between military chemical production and the need to sell off the chemicals for other business sectors so that companies could still make a profit in peacetime. Monsanto is the prime example of a company that links chemicals with food. Chemical industries worked together with agribusinesses to ensure that both sectors thrived, with the assistance of course of the government. Whatever could not be practiced in America, in terms of chemical pesticides and other banned substances, would be used on subsidiary farms in partnering regions in Mexico and elsewhere.

Second, the filmmaker shows the toll of mass food production in America. At first, the food production model being used by agribusiness was viewed as a boon. In the blissfully ignorant era of the 1950s and early 1960s, it seemed like America was a utopia of agriculture in which no person needed to go hungry. Then, exposure in the media about the harmful nature of pesticides and other chemicals used in agriculture spawned a revolution in awareness and political activism. The government banned chemicals like DDT, because they were deemed harmful to human beings. However, Mexico and other nations allowed the same companies to use harmful chemicals without government regulation. The toll of these practices can be seen in human health and also in the health of the local water system and ecology. Pesticides and chemicals are in water supplies as well as food. Moreover, the toll is taken on ethics. Animals are being mistreated in the massive food production plants. The toll is also felt in American health statistics, as processed food replaces real food. Obesity, diabetes, and other preventable illnesses are rampant in America. Much of the consumer public remains ignorant, which is why this film is important. Interviews with farmers also show that agribusiness is hurting the American economy, by forcing small farmers to either join the evil empires or struggle financially.