This March, check out The Future of Food.

Percy Schmeiser, on his truck bed full of wheat after a long day of harvesting his fields outside of Bruno, Saskatchewan, Canada. Photo courtesy of Lily Films.

Delving into the hidden side of our agricultural model, The Future of Food reveals the true costs of farming North America’s main crops (canola, corn, soybean, and cotton): environmental degradation, health impacts, and social fragmentation within the farming community.

The Future of Food examines and explains the not-so-“green revolution” of agriculture, showing how genetically modified monoculture crops have taken over traditional farming’s diverse crops and seed saving practices. Corporate agribusiness, without regulation, has been able to introduce super crops designed to withstand the harshest pesticides and herbicides, such as Monsanto’s Round-Up Ready Canola, or BT Corn, which was genetically engineered to kill off pests who dared to take a bite. Through cross-pollination and gene-flow with non-genetically modified crops (or even weeds), future plant progeny have been drastically affected, and have compromised not only traditional seed stock, but also farmers’ livelihoods, consumers’ health, and of course the environment.

Offering accounts from farmers, The Future of Food reveals the extent of corporate dominion over seed and gene patents, and how these have forced farmers to shift their skills away from actual farming (including traditional seed saving) toward in-depth knowledge of patents and lawsuit legalize. Really farmers are fighting for their right to farm, but agribusiness corporations are amongst the largest corporations in the world, and are willing to absorb traditional farmers into their farming paradigm via whatever means necessary to guarantee its success.

Raising alarming issues of morality and political complacency over the corporate control of seeds and farming practices, The Future of Food demonstrates both farmers’ and consumers’ resistance to genetically modified farming, which has led to a vigorous movement pushing for the labeling of all products that contain genetically modified ingredients. This would enable consumers to make an educated decision when at the grocery store, where currently no labeling or regulation is required.

The Future of Food is an incredibly informative must-see for anyone in pursuit of all things green, and certainly reminds us of the importance of buying certified organic products, which legally cannot be derived from genetically modified seed stock. Finding your local grocery store a little lacking in the organic department? This film encourages you to try joining a CSA (community supported agriculture), which offers boxes of organic produce for pick up or delivery, or check our your local farmer’s market for fresh and organic veggies.

For more information on biotechnology and the movement to label genetically modified ingredients, check out the following sites:
The Campaign
The Organic Consumer’s Association’s Million’s Against Monsanto Campaign
The Non-GMO Project
Greenpeace
The Union of Concerned Scientists
The Nature Institute