Monsanto’s Food, Inc. “Facts”

Posted on June 12, 2009 by Matt Embrey in Media+Internet

Monsanto should patent their modification of the word “Fact”

While I was working on my review of the movie Food, Inc. I happened upon Monsanto’s “Fact Site” about the movie and thought I’d address some of their “Facts.” I highly recommend you watch the movie and judge for yourself, but until then here is Monsanto’s position on the film…

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“Food, Inc. is a one-sided, biased film that the creators claim will “lift the veil on our nation’s food industry, exposing the highly mechanized underbelly that’s been hidden from the American consumer.” Unfortunately, Food, Inc. is counter-productive to the serious dialogue surrounding the critical topic of our nation’s food supply.

“Throughout this film, Food, Inc.:

Demonizes American farmers and the agriculture system responsible for feeding over 300 million people in the United States.

Presents an unrealistic view of how to feed a growing nation while ignoring the practical demands of the American consumer and the fundamental needs of consumers around the world.

Disregards the fact that multiple agriculture systems should – and do – coexist. ”

My take on their claims…

“Food, Inc. demonizes American farmers.” Not once in the movie do they vilify, demonize or wag their finger at a single farmer. They interview a number of farmers and illustrate how corporations like Monsanto, Perdue and Cargill have systematically victimized and bullied farmers large and small. They go on to say “The film, Food. Inc, suggests the food supply is dominated by corporate farms.” Also not true, the film suggests that corporations, like Monsanto dominate the food supply, in a large part because of the dominion they hold over family farms.

“Food, Inc. presents an unrealistic view of how to feed a growing nation.” Monsanto would like everyone to believe that there is a shortage of food but that simply isn’t the case. In fact we produce enough food to put it in our car’s gas tanks, have the most obese people in the world and be one of the largest agricultural exporters in the world. Furthermore, sustainable agriculture does not mean every farm has to be a tiny backyard garden. Large commercial farms can farm sustainably and efficiently without GMOs.

“Food, Inc. disregards the fact that multiple agriculture systems should – and do – coexist.” The film doesn’t dispute this at all. What the film does, is shed light on a few of these systems and says that the public should have the right to see where their food comes from and ultimately either choose or shape the systems that feed them. Unfortunately these companies don’t want us to see how their systems operate, probably because they are afraid that, as consumers, if we knew what we were really eating and how it came to our plate we’d opt for other systems.

When all is said and done the only “fact” I found on the site was this one “Food, Inc. is one-sided.” Absolutely, the film is one sided, or at least they don’t convey Monsanto’s (or the other Corporations mentioned) side, but they also don’t proport to present both sides. Just because something is one sided doesn’t mean it’s not true.

The movie opens today in LA, NY and San Fransisco so if you are in the area go see it and judge for yourself.

Tags:

agriculture, documentary, food, health, Michael Pollan, policy, video

12 Responses to “ Monsanto’s Food, Inc. “Facts” ”

Helene

12. Jun, 2009

Amazing how delusional this company can be!

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Mike Haley

13. Jun, 2009

As a farmer I am going to have to agree with Monsanto, unfortunatley Kenner did not show any interviews of farmers that gave their support to Monsanto.

The film may not demonize farmers, but most farmers will be sick when they see this film because it does not tell the truth behind the technologies that we use everyday.

There is ample food in this country! why? beacause of the technologies that Dupont, Monsanto, and several other companies have developed. If we went back to the technologies that we had in the 1950’s then everyone would be begging farmers to adapt new technology so they could have cheaper food.

The public has every rigt to find out how their food is produced, and the ones that want to know already have. We choose what we put into our mouth no one force feeds us. If U want organic buy it, free range buy it, don’t legislate it!

Reply to this comment
- Matt Embrey
  
  13. Jun, 2009
  
  Mike, as I stated in the post, I don’t think it was his intent for the movie to be a balanced look at the issues. It is clearly propaganda, however, propaganda isn’t inherently wrong or bad. The movie frames one side of the argument, but it does so in a tasteful way and to the best of my knowledge does not present false information. They are trying to lead the conversation a certain way, but not misleading people with their message.
  
  The major issue I have with these large Agro-industrial corporations like Monsanto, is the concerted effort to prevent the public from having access to information, eg, anti-food labeling lobby, veggie libel laws…
  
  Also, you said “If U want organic buy it, free range buy it, don’t legislate it!” I can agree with that, but in that same vein we shouldn’t have government subsidies indirectly dictating our food policy and laws that favor the big boys making it difficult, if not impossible, for smaller farms and alternative systems to compete.
  
  Reply to this comment
- Mitch
  
  17. Jun, 2009
  
  The problems of our food industry stem from the economics of food production on out.
  
  The small farm is definitely feeling the squeeze of economics. They’ve been forced to adapt to commercial tactics just to survive.
  
  Price subsidies/fixing and property tax breaks for large crop producers are hiding the true costs of foods.
  
  Constant inflation is creating wage/price discrepancy and boom/bust cycles throughout the economy which hurt those on the bottom more than those on top (first come/first served if you will.)
  
  Quite frankly, there isn’t the type of competition there should be in the food market. Strong lobbies help influence policy and keep the status quo and reduce competition among viable alternatives. It’s not that there aren’t alternatives it’s just that access and education to alternatives is limited. Costs are slanted upwards for those processes not favored by policy.
  
  When I discuss cost I do not mean the true cost mind you, just the cost that people actually see when they make their final purchases (that goes for businesses and consumers.) The true cost of production is far beyond common thinking in most cases.
  
  If we really tried to find the true cost to society we’d have to add in the negative cost of health care from diseases such as hearth disease, cancer and diabetes to some extent as well (not saying food is the only factor, but it definitely is a factor.) The propaganda of recent times against animals fats and for vegetable oils (who cares if many are produced in unnatural forms and promote the free radicals that we’re just supposed to eat blueberries to fix.)
  
  Who cares that pasteurization is a great tool to mask poor production quality. Who cares that processed foods have overtaken the market and that generational food knowledge and the tools of its production are being lost.
  
  There’s a reason why we need to hear this one side of the story. The other side of the story gets told everyday.
  
  Reply to this comment
Helene

13. Jun, 2009

Hi Mike, the problem is at this point we can’t choose to buy gmo-free foods because companies like Monsanto to date have successfully lobbied the government not to require gmo-foods to be labeled. In some states they have even gone so far as to ban (or are in the process of banning) milk farmers from labeling their milk as having come from cows that were not injected with BGH. That doesn’t give the public much choice does it?

I have to ask though are you completely convinced about the safety of GMO foods given the lack of long term studies? and also the recent findings coming out about the possible health risks of gmo foods? and if so I would really love to know what you base that on?

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S

15. Jun, 2009

I really want to see this film now… thanks for the insight and the thoughtful response to Monsanto’s claims.
Matt, I hate to do it, but I have to say that although your report was good and I support your view, I found it hard to ignore the multiple typos/misspellings in your article. “Coperations”, “corperations” (multiple times on that one), and “utimlately”… all take away from the credibility of the article. Maybe your passion for the topic had your fingers flying but spellcheck would have been a good idea.

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- Matt Embrey
  
  16. Jun, 2009
  
  Thanks for the heads up S. My fingers were flying to get the post up then I had to run to work. My editor was out camping and the spelling just slipped through the cracks.
  
  Reply to this comment
treeNinja

19. Jun, 2009

GMO’s have proven to grow faster and make famr production more efficent. However we are seeing the ill effects of cross polination and we are also learning the negatives to our own health. Both of these are significant and need to be addressed. To expose a GMO seed to nature is my largest concern, it is a mistake we wont easily be able to reverse. Already the negatives are showing themselves.

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Buddhism Facts

16. Sep, 2009

Buddhism is basically about an end to suffering and many practitioners say they bring to their business lives..

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dietnutritionprof

17. Oct, 2009

A dietary supplement containing high doses of the antioxidant vitamins C, E, beta-carotene, and zinc provides the first effective treatment for slowing the disease’s progression.

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