Ag advocates start to sound off on Food, Inc.

In just two days, the highly publicized, praised, and criticized movie Food, Inc., will premier in select cities across America. The movie’s website claims that you will never look at dinner the same way again. The website also claims the movie will “lift the veil on our nation's food industry.” But, for most farmers, they won’t need a movie to show them how food is produced. The dairy industry has become a part of the image of the movie, as a Holstein cow with a bar code digitally imposed on her side is the front image on the movie’s website and much of its promotional materials.

From reading the website, the filmmakers suggest adopting a food system in which food is produced and sold locally — using practices like organic. They also call for increased legislation on food safety. Unfortunately, the film’s site also lists an alliance with HSUS, a known opponent to animal agriculture. Several websites (like this one, and this blog) have started to separate the facts from the myths in the Food, Inc., film. Do you think it will have an impact on what consumers demand in the dairy case? Or will producing cheap food, highly efficiently, forever be a trademark of American agriculture?

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