Food Wars: The Farm Strikes Back

My aunt from Minnesota mailed me a clipping from the Twin Cities Star Tribune newspaper. The article, called "Farmers trying to cultivate new image," by Matt McKinney told about the conventional ag industry's fight to win back respectability in the U.S. The latest straw is a new movie and book called Food, Inc., that talks about how massive global businesses control a great percentage of the food available in supermarkets.

It's worth watching the movie trailer at the Food Inc. website, then read McKinney's article. He has lots of links to websites that counter the Food, Inc. message.

Here are the first three paragraphs from McKinney's article:

Are farmers the new villains? Cast as uncaring louts in a major food documentary that opened nationwide Friday, conventional farmers already have seen their public persona trashed by bestselling depictions of conventional farms as places that abuse the land and the animals while producing food of low nutritional quality.

Weary of their standing among consumers, farmers, farm organ- izations and agribusinesses have begun spinning back with websites and YouTube videos, some done with slick narration and lighting. Field trips and speaking campaigns have been organized to "educate" urban media reporters and diners alike.

"They don't seem to believe anything we tell them," said Andy Quinn, a corn farmer and ethanol plant member in Litchfield, Minn.