Exploration 4:Fresh by Miguel Radilla

The film fresh took an appropriate (PG) path to the insight of industrial farming by not showing the disturbing graphic visuals of what pertains to industrial farming of treating of animals (goriness). Their approach was more of lighting a fuse to inquire of what really goes on behind the close doors of industrial farming rather than opening the doors and showing it first-hand(goriness). Important ideas that this film offered me was the repercussions of feeding meat to herbivores, trade offs versus spraying and not spraying pesticides, growth hormones, nature doesn’t have monocultures, natural farming versus industrial farming, and my favorite are the big players who are “controlling seed to plate.” The film definitely sparked curiosity on who are these big players who are “controlling seed to plate.” I related to this film on their idea of eating healthy instead of consuming the “junk/fast food” I think it’s common for us to turn our shoulders and not think of what we’re actually consuming. Like anybody else, if it taste good, I am not going to ask questions. I have a friend that came over to my house and was literally shocked of what he saw in my fridge. He was like “dude, you don’t have anything organic man?” I said to him “quit being such a hypochondriac man, and accept the good tasty sinful things in life.” Once I saw the film, I think it was the last straw that broke the camel’s back and I bought organic groceries that very same day, which was on Monday haha. No joke, bought some organic honey, organic potatoes, organic yogurt, etc. I am actually looking into local natural farms around Delaware as well. I am not saying I am going 100 percent organic, but it definitely made me transition to the organic side of things. I am still going to enjoy some tasty Chinese food, Buffalo Wild Wings, and the all day breakfast menu that McDonald’s is really enticing. Thanks to the film, I am more aware and will second-guess on what I consume.

            This film made me curious of these big players that supply industrial farms. The film mentions that they’re four big players, soon to be three. As aforementioned, the film says that these particular players are the ones who are controlling from seed to plate and the industrial farms are entirely captive and dependent on these big companies. For example one of those companies are ADM and their CEO is Patricia Woertz. “As of 2009, Forbes ranked her as the 26th Most Powerful Woman in the World, and she was the top-ranking woman on Fortune 500's list of the most powerful CEOs around the world.” This already is a sheer sign that these companies are really powerful and with power comes lobbying.  Last year alone ADM had 82.27B dollar sales/revenue.

http://www.celebritynetworth.com/richest-businessmen/ceos/patricia-woertz-net-worth/

http://www.marketwatch.com/investing/stock/adm/financials