Film Analysis: Food Inc.

Organic Farming or Factory Farming? In the documentary, Food Inc., director Robert Kenner reveals the truth of factory farming and organic farming. In the film, he interviews an organic farmer, Joel Salatin, who owns Poly Face Farm, in Swoope, Virginia. Salatin believes that animals should be fed with grass instead of corn. Corn is a natural resource that both the factory farm and organic farm uses. Factory farming use corn because it is cheap, easy to grow, and makes the animals fat very fast. Salatin lives off everything that he grows and when killing the animals, he does it in the open air. He believes the sun’s disinfecting powers. However, in the factory farm, they kill animals in a building which keep the air tight, so this causes meat to get contaminated. Taking into the account of the environment, raising the animals, and the workers, organic farming is more convenient than factory farming.
Factory farming is an operation that the people created to produce food very fast.
It uses an enormous space of land and machines to help with harvest livestock and resources. The environment of factory farming is cover with machines. These machines cause contamination to the air, water, and soil. So this is life threatening to the people. In the film, there was a mother’s son who died because of the cause of contamination. He couldn’t drink and all he could ask of his parents was water.
The situation of contamination also affects the welfare of the animals. The animals are kept together in small cages that have no sunlight or even windows. The densely populated animals and the limited movement causes the increase of disease. Factory farming also uses antibiotics for all of their livestock. It was used to make the animals grow quicker and prevent diseases. The unhealthy conditions of factory farming not only affected the animals but afterward it affected the people (Beyond Factory Farming). This was also another cause of the death of the little boy in the
film.
Workers in factory farming were immigrants mostly from Mexico. These immigrants who work for the factory farm didn’t have any contracts. When it comes to when capturing these immigrants the factory take no part of the action. The factories don’t care about the immigrants being taken away since they don’t want people finding out that they had immigrants work for them. When working in factories, immigrants were exposed to the contaminated air with dust and gas. Almost at death the immigrants are still willing to work. The factory only care about profits and not about the health of the immigrants.
Factory farming is known as agricultural and not industrial, so they have the right to turn away warrants. They also have “powerful lobbyists that can sway the government agencies responsible for monitoring agricultural practices. Industrial farms are life free to pollute, to hire undocumented workers, and to locate their businesses without regard to the impact that has on surrounding communities” (Sustainable Tale). This causes factory farming to go as they pollute livestock and their workers. Factory farming is a big agricultural and moves in a fast pace. So it’s kept to keep the process food going.
A method that is still used today but is rarely seen is organic farming. Organic farming is a method that uses little negative impact on the environment. They care for the soil that they plant on and the livestock that they breed. Organic farming makes the land “free of known and perceived toxic and persistent chemical pesticides and fertilizers for at least three years…allow animals the space and freedom to behave naturally” (Sustainable Table).
The animals in organic farming are “treated humanely and are permitted to carry out natural behaviors” (Beyond Factory Farming). Organic farming allows animals to feed on grass rather than corn. “If they’re eating corn, you’re going to have to harvest that corn, transport that corn, then you’re going to have to haul all the manure somewhere that comes out the back end” says Salatin. Salatin feed his animals grass all the time because it’s easier and less work.
Workers in organic farming are more freely and are provided in a safe area. They are not forced to do what they don’t want to and they get paid fairly. Organic farming “support local economics by purchasing supplies and materials from local businesses” (Beyond Factory Farming). They are involved in their communities to build a better community.
Factory farming is a process that is created to make our resources faster. Because of its lack of caring for the animals and the over abusing the machines, factory farming is not a method that should be kept to be used. Organic farming is a slow process of producing us food, but it’s a safer way for everybody. It will cause less damage to livestock, the environment, and the people.