Food, Inc. director urges food democracy
By JERRY HAGSTROM
In a city with a constant stream of dull agricultural conferences that make their invited audiences feel good about themselves, CropLife America President and CEO Jay Vroom offered Washington a respite when he invited Robert Kenner, director of the 2009 documentary Food, Inc., to speak at his group’s annual policy conference, which was titled “Lost in Translation: Deciphering the Discourse of Modern Agriculture.”
Food Inc. has enraged industrial agriculture with its critical portrait of modern production, but Kenner proved to be a soft-spoken man who on Thursday quietly gave the gathering of agribusiness executives and activists insights into the making of the film and the differences between food processors and retailers today.
In case members of the audience wondered why they were listening to such a critic of their industry, Marc Gunther, a Fortune magazine writer who moderated the panel, showed a clip of the film and noted that Food Inc. is one of the top 25 grossing documentaries of all time, has sold half a million copies in DVD even though there was a recession when it was released ,and was the No. 1 DVD seller on Amazon.
“It was hard to make a fair and balanced film,” Kenner said, because the meat companies “did not want to talk.”
Walmart, however, asked to be included in the film after executives heard from one of the farmers who was interviewed, Kenner said. The retail giant wanted to publicize the fact that it had decided in 2008 to source their Sam’s Club Great Value milk only from cows that have not been treated with artificial growth hormones like recombinant bovine somatotropin (rbST).
Walmart, Kenner said, "is not only following the consumer, they are leading consumers.”
Kenner remains concerned that food producers do not want to be transparent about their production methods, noting that some companies have opposed efforts to inform consumers about whether meat comes from cloned animals or whether other foods contain ingredients from genetically modified organisms.
Although the film focuses on the presence of corn in most of the foods Americans eat, Kenner said he does not blame farmers for growing it. “I don't think it is the farmer whatsoever,” he said, noting that farmers grow what they get paid for.
But the director said he would quarrel with the industry viewpoint that fighting obesity is totally a matter of personal responsibility. Advertising influences children and also takes advantage of the fact that human beings are “pre-disposed” to crave sugar and salt, he said.
“We are stacking the deck ... in favor of cheap, storable food, but now it is going to cost us money” in terms of higher health care costs, he said.
Several members of the audience noted that U.S. agriculture production is more efficient today and produces more food on less land than in the past. Kenner replied that he recognizes the attraction of cheap food, but questioned whether current production methods based on gasoline and cheap labor are sustainable.
Gasoline is likely to continue rising in price, he said, and “the vast majority of people who work in food are people without rights,” referring to both farm workers and those who work in slaughterhouses and processing plants.
Kenner said he does not believe Americans will be able to continue eating the amount of meat they do now.
He also noted that a family featured in the film did not realize how their eating habits had led to diabetes and other health problems requiring expensive medicines and that the family has changed its consumption habits.
The future, he added, will depend on whether there is a “food democracy” in which consumers influence how food is produced.
The subject of food production, he noted, crosses cultural lines. New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg has insisted on calorie labeling in New York restaurants and tried to limit what food stamp beneficiaries can buy. Publisher Rupert Murdoch bought 75,000 copies of Food Inc. for distribution in London, Kenner said, and televangelists have bought copies to distribute to their followers.
In an interview afterward Kenner said he does not have any more food and agriculture films in the making, but is creating “Small Steps,” a series of animated web and TV spots about the unsustainability of the industrial food system, and is trying to develop other ways to use the Internet to help consumers influence food production.
Kenner also thanked Vroom for inviting him and said it was not his first appearance before an agribusiness audience. When the film came out, agribusiness tried to ignore it or fight the message, Kenner said, but gradually more and more executives have wanted to talk to him to find out how he thinks and what his message means for their organizations.
In a city with a constant stream of dull agricultural conferences that make their invited audiences feel good about themselves, CropLife America President and CEO Jay Vroom offered Washington a respite when he invited Robert Kenner, director of the 2009 documentary Food, Inc., to speak at his group’s annual policy conference, which was titled “Lost in Translation: Deciphering the Discourse of Modern Agriculture.”
Food Inc. has enraged industrial agriculture with its critical portrait of modern production, but Kenner proved to be a soft-spoken man who on Thursday quietly gave the gathering of agribusiness executives and activists insights into the making of the film and the differences between food processors and retailers today.
In case members of the audience wondered why they were listening to such a critic of their industry, Marc Gunther, a Fortune magazine writer who moderated the panel, showed a clip of the film and noted that Food Inc. is one of the top 25 grossing documentaries of all time, has sold half a million copies in DVD even though there was a recession when it was released ,and was the No. 1 DVD seller on Amazon.
“It was hard to make a fair and balanced film,” Kenner said, because the meat companies “did not want to talk.”
Walmart, however, asked to be included in the film after executives heard from one of the farmers who was interviewed, Kenner said. The retail giant wanted to publicize the fact that it had decided in 2008 to source their Sam’s Club Great Value milk only from cows that have not been treated with artificial growth hormones like recombinant bovine somatotropin (rbST).
Walmart, Kenner said, "is not only following the consumer, they are leading consumers.”
Kenner remains concerned that food producers do not want to be transparent about their production methods, noting that some companies have opposed efforts to inform consumers about whether meat comes from cloned animals or whether other foods contain ingredients from genetically modified organisms.
Although the film focuses on the presence of corn in most of the foods Americans eat, Kenner said he does not blame farmers for growing it. “I don't think it is the farmer whatsoever,” he said, noting that farmers grow what they get paid for.
But the director said he would quarrel with the industry viewpoint that fighting obesity is totally a matter of personal responsibility. Advertising influences children and also takes advantage of the fact that human beings are “pre-disposed” to crave sugar and salt, he said.
“We are stacking the deck ... in favor of cheap, storable food, but now it is going to cost us money” in terms of higher health care costs, he said.
Several members of the audience noted that U.S. agriculture production is more efficient today and produces more food on less land than in the past. Kenner replied that he recognizes the attraction of cheap food, but questioned whether current production methods based on gasoline and cheap labor are sustainable.
Gasoline is likely to continue rising in price, he said, and “the vast majority of people who work in food are people without rights,” referring to both farm workers and those who work in slaughterhouses and processing plants.
Kenner said he does not believe Americans will be able to continue eating the amount of meat they do now.
He also noted that a family featured in the film did not realize how their eating habits had led to diabetes and other health problems requiring expensive medicines and that the family has changed its consumption habits.
The future, he added, will depend on whether there is a “food democracy” in which consumers influence how food is produced.
The subject of food production, he noted, crosses cultural lines. New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg has insisted on calorie labeling in New York restaurants and tried to limit what food stamp beneficiaries can buy. Publisher Rupert Murdoch bought 75,000 copies of Food Inc. for distribution in London, Kenner said, and televangelists have bought copies to distribute to their followers.
In an interview afterward Kenner said he does not have any more food and agriculture films in the making, but is creating “Small Steps,” a series of animated web and TV spots about the unsustainability of the industrial food system, and is trying to develop other ways to use the Internet to help consumers influence food production.
Kenner also thanked Vroom for inviting him and said it was not his first appearance before an agribusiness audience. When the film came out, agribusiness tried to ignore it or fight the message, Kenner said, but gradually more and more executives have wanted to talk to him to find out how he thinks and what his message means for their organizations.
