we feed the world

director erwin wagenhofer had some familiar criticisms of globalisation (small business vs big corporations with only an eye on the bottom-line) but the film was miles away from the strident first-person docu-style of michael moore. nevertheless, some facts stuck: the price of european agricultural goods sold in africa is one-third the price of locally-produced goods, effectively decimating local agriculture. the film also points out that we don't think about where our food comes from. even if we read about it in 'my year of meat' or 'fast food nation,' watching the mass production and assembly-line slaughter of chickens still has the power to jolt. not just from squeamishness, but to wonder at the cost exacted of producing 50,000 chickens a day, of the feed required, which comes from jungle-cleared plantations in brazil. is global demand for food too high to be sustainable?
yet the flip side is that global hunger persists despite the fact that more than enough food is produced to meet demand. as economist amartya sen had previously demonstrated, famine is not really about inadequate food production, but the result of various socio-economic factors.
the ironic title is also the slogan of pioneer, one of the world’s largest seed producers. however, the genetically-modified seeds can only be used for one season, whereas traditional farming meant that seeds for the next crop could be saved from the current one, thus saving on the purchasing of new seed.
www.we-feed-the-world.at/en/index.htm