"The Future of Food" movie

mrpink · #21 11/26/10, 08:38 PM

http://www.thefutureoffood.com/

Trixie · #22 11/26/10, 08:50 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mrpink

http://www.thefutureoffood.com/

Thank you!

Joshie · #23 11/26/10, 09:46 PM

I find posts confusing. Humans have genetically engineered crops for thousands of years.

jacqueg · #24 11/26/10, 10:00 PM

"Humans have genetically engineered crops for thousands of years."

Humans have selected for genetic traits for thousands of years, and they have crossed closely related plant species for thousands of years.

They have *not* bombarded plant nuclei with chromosomes from distantly related plants, insects, fungi, and animals.

You may not think there's a difference. Plenty of people would disagree.

Paquebot · #25 11/26/10, 10:07 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jacqueg

They have *not* bombarded plant nuclei with chromosomes from distantly related plants, insects, fungi, and animals.

Insects, fungi, and animals? Any leads on which ones those are?

Martin

fishhead · #26 11/26/10, 10:44 PM

We could produce a lot of bacterial protein in our wastewater plants if we fail to stabilize and then reduce our population. When the food bubble pops in the next few decades that might be the best worst option we have left.

Patt · #27 11/27/10, 12:23 AM

I have seen The Future of Food and Food, Inc and enjoyed them both.

I recommend them both to friends and have given away copies of Food, Inc. I think it does a good job of summing up all the issues in our food supply today while still being hopeful.

#28 11/27/10, 08:09 AM

What the heck are ya'll eating? My Brother in law is all the time trying to tell me about some half fish, half corn hybrid or something. Of course, he's the same one that 20 years or so paid for a coffee enema. Every time since then, when he comes to the house, I offer him a cup of coffee. "How you like your coffee? I ask him. "In a cup? Or up your ---?"
Well, now he can have his coffee with a bowl of fishflakes, I guess.

MaineFarmMom · #29 11/27/10, 08:25 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by zong

What the heck are ya'll eating? My Brother in law is all the time trying to tell me about some half fish, half corn hybrid or something. Of course, he's the same one that 20 years or so paid for a coffee enema. Every time since then, when he comes to the house, I offer him a cup of coffee. "How you like your coffee? I ask him. "In a cup? Or up your ---?"
Well, now he can have his coffee with a bowl of fishflakes, I guess.

Fish have been crossed with fireflies. If he had that kind of fishflake he could eat in the dark and still see his food.

willow_girl · #30 11/27/10, 08:37 AM

Quote:

Of course, he's the same one that 20 years or so paid for a coffee enema. Every time since then, when he comes to the house, I offer him a cup of coffee. "How you like your coffee? I ask him. "In a cup? Or up your ---?"

ROTFL! That's the funniest thing I've read all week.

arabian knight · #31 11/27/10, 09:24 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jacqueg

They have *not* bombarded plant nuclei with chromosomes from distantly related plants, insects, fungi, and animals.

Wow, that is some far out thinking there, without a link to back it up, and I mean one that is using science, telling us all about such things.

PhilJohnson · #32 11/27/10, 09:53 AM

I've been around confinement operations and they are pretty nasty places. However I do think that there is a lot of miss-information out there about farming. I've heard quite a few people complain about how farmers are loading up milk with anti-biotics. Having worked in the diary industry for some time I can assure you the last thing a farmer wants is anti-biotics in their milk. That is referred to as a hot load and can not be used for human consumption (usually it is dumped down the drain). The farmer also has to pay for all the contaminated milk too.

A few years ago I went to an alternative energy fair. There was a guy talking about Amish farms. I've hauled milk on and off for the Amish for years so I decided to listen to this guy. He went on and on about how Amish can milk was so much more healthy than a regular farmers and that all Amish farmers were organic. Amish farms were sustainable versus mechanized farms. There were about a dozen people lapping this up. I tried to mention I hauled Amish milk and the man promptly cut me off.

Now I can say most Amish are definitely not organic, they use the same fertilizers and pesticides that any other farmer would use. Horses are extremely inefficient compared to tractors and on the average Amish farm at least a quarter to a third of the land is devoted to growing feed for horses. A tractor running on bio-mass would be much better use of resources. Milking into a bucket has to be the dirtiest method of obtaining milk from a cow. It doesn't hit you how unsanitary it is until you watch a cow take a big wizz with urine splattering everywhere (or a little cow crap winds up in the milk causing it to be chocolate milk). Also most Amish are too cheap to change the water in their tanks so especially in the summer cans will be sitting in warm water. And a lot of them will leave the lids off their can so the cream will "get out". I never was able to figure out the logic behind that one. Had to scold a few of the farmers after the dumper at the plant dumped out dead frogs and mice. I remember during Asian beetle season having to continually clean out the screen because the milk would be loaded with so many beetles.

I would drink milk from a huge confinement operation way before I would drink milk from a small Amish farm. Less technology doesn't always equal better food and in this case I would say it equals much worse.

Heritagefarm · #33 11/27/10, 10:05 AM

I've seen "The Future of Food". The only thing I didn't like was that it didn't go much into the science of the process of GE, which would have been helpful. It was, however, good at showing what Monsanto has/is/will do to us if we allow them to continue.

Heritagefarm · #34 11/27/10, 10:09 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Paquebot

The problem is that it faults any advances in technology which must labor the soil to continue to double Earth's needs about every 20 years. The dimensions of the Earth are finite but being asked to support millions more annually than what was intended. If a farmer has X number of acres which can feed X number of livestock, 2X may survive but suffer. 3X is just under starvation. 4X does not happen. Amazing what we've accomplished to avoid 4X among the humans.

Martin

LOL!
Much of the food we have right now is surplus. It takes 35 pounds of corn to get 3 1/2 pounds of beef on a cow in a feedlot, and 1/3 of al the corn is used for ethanol. No, this isn't about feeding the world. This is about lining the corporations pockets with money. The "Feed the world" stuff is bulls***.

MO_cows · #35 11/27/10, 10:41 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Heritagefarm

LOL!
Much of the food we have right now is surplus. It takes 35 pounds of corn to get 3 1/2 pounds of beef on a cow in a feedlot, and 1/3 of al the corn is used for ethanol. No, this isn't about feeding the world. This is about lining the corporations pockets with money. The "Feed the world" stuff is bulls***.

That surplus is insurance against crop failures, higher prices, and possible famine. Don't you have a surplus of supplies or food at your house? Well it's a good idea on an industrial scale, too.

"Lining the corporations pockets with money." Hello, that's what business is about, making money. It isn't evil or wrong to turn a profit!

Food companies aren't inherently evil, they are just BIG. They are slower to react and change. But they do eventually. Maybe you are too young to remember, there was a time when if you wanted organic food, you grew it yourself. Now organic products, cage free eggs, etc. are all available in the major grocery stores. Big ag responded to the demands of consumers and social pressure. And they will continue to do so as more is learned about nutrition through research.

Heritagefarm · #36 11/27/10, 10:44 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MO_cows

"Lining the corporations pockets with money." Hello, that's what business is about, making money. It isn't evil or wrong to turn a profit!

No, what is wrong is doing it at the expense of public health.

MO_cows · #37 11/27/10, 11:10 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Heritagefarm

No, what is wrong is doing it at the expense of public health.

Well in that case you should shift the focus of your crusade to the liquor companies. Alcohol abuse is at the root of all kinds of tragedy and human misery. And extremely profitable. Why aren't you railing against them????

arabian knight · #38 11/27/10, 11:29 AM

Too easy to do it against a large company instead, that has had all sorts of misinformation put on the net about it that is why.

HermitJohn · #39 11/27/10, 11:29 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MO_cows

Well in that case you should shift the focus of your crusade to the liquor companies. Alcohol abuse is at the root of all kinds of tragedy and human misery. And extremely profitable. Why aren't you railing against them????

Uh, alcohol isnt a food, its a legalized drug to which many people have become addicted.

You cant protect the stupid and foolish. Better to let their self destruction eliminate them from genetic pool soon as possible.

HermitJohn · #40 11/27/10, 11:40 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by PhilJohnson

Horses are extremely inefficient compared to tractors and on the average Amish farm at least a quarter to a third of the land is devoted to growing feed for horses. A tractor running on bio-mass would be much better use of resources.

Unfortunately big tractors dont give birth to small tractors in the barn. So you got to figure in all the cost of minining, refining metal, making that metal into the castings and structural steel necessary, not to mention all the petroleum necessary to move all these things around while they are processed into the final product.

So sure horses are inefficient IF you have cheap petroleum or other cheap energy supplies around. However petroleum isnt going to get cheaper, its going to spike big time in price soon as any demand comes back into the market. Look how its fluctuating in price right now as speculator money is looking for commodities to park itself. Demand isnt there that justifies any price increases in commodities except for weather influenced food supplies. But we are getting it anyway. Spiking energy prices will spike other commodities. The steel and other metals from ore to finished product takes lot energy. So does all the transportation of various components along the way. Plastics are mainly petroleum based, they will rise in price. Those horses arent dependent on petroleum so still think they are inefficient?