King Corn - and the Real Story Behind the Demise of the Family Farm, the Rise in Obesity, Type II Diabetes & Fast Food

“For the first time in American history, our generation was at risk of having a shorter lifespan than our parents. And it was because of what we ate.”

—Curt Ellis, KING CORN filmmaker

This documentary, filmed & produced by two likable college buddies, is a must see!  It's about a serious subject - how a simple innocent plant - commercial corn - has contributed to the demise of the family farm, the rise of the factory feedlot, the increase in obesity, the development of Type II diabetes at young ages, the growth of the fast food industry, the invention of high fructose corn syrup, the increased use of animal antibiotics, and the rise of inflammatory Omega-6s in our food supply.  And 1973 is the year it all began.  Whew, that's a mouthful!

If you've wanted to read Michael Pollan's Omnivore's Dilemma, and didn't have the time to spend   reading it--do yourself a favor & watch this enormously engrossing entertaining "Cliff Notes" version of Pollan's award-winning book.  It's only 90 minutes long!

My husband was a little skeptical when I brought this film home, but we were hooked from the start!
I may never again let corn-fed beef or chicken pass my lips.  Grass-fed, yes.  Corn-fed, no.  And finding grass-fed anything is near impossible these days!

I don't want to spoil any of the surprises, but just to let you know---the road to our industrial food supply fiasco began somewhere around 1908 with the Nobel Prize winning invention of nitrogen fertilizer.  Fast forward to 1973 and U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Earl Butz comes up with a well-intentioned plan to stop paying farmers to not plant--and to start subsidizing them to grow as much corn as they can.  And the rest is a story you won't read in a history book. The Law of Unintended Consequences!

"Behind America’s dollar hamburgers and 72-ounce sodas is a key ingredient that quietly fuels our fast-food nation: corn. In KING CORN , recent college graduates Ian Cheney and Curt Ellis leave the east coast for rural Iowa, where they decide to grow an acre of the nation’s most powerful crop.

Alarmed by signs of America’s bulging waistlines, the filmmakers arrive in the Midwest enthusiastic about their new endeavor. For their farm-to-be, they choose a tiny town in Floyd, County, Iowa—a place that, coincidentally, both Ian and Curt’s great-grandfathers called home three generations ago. They lease an acre of land from a skeptical landlord, fill out a pile of paperwork to sign up for subsidies and discover the U.S. government will pay them 28 dollars for their acre. Ian and Curt start the spring by injecting ammonia fertilizer, which promises to increase crop production four-fold. Then it’s planting time. With a rented high-tech tractor, they set 31,000 seeds in the ground in just 18 minutes. Their corn has also been genetically modified for another yield-increasing characteristic: herbicide resistance. When the seedlings sprout from Iowa’s black dirt, Ian and Curt apply a powerful herbicide to ensure that only their corn will thrive on their acre......"    Read more about the film on the PBS Independent Lens Web Site

The Web Link for the 2 minute preview is here if you aren't seeing the video.

You'll find the film at Netflix, some public libraries (but not many), and on the Independent Lens of PBS.

Ian Cheney & Curt Ellis are a charming refreshing departure from the attack-dog style of Michael Moore.  Their moms must be awfully proud of them!

Comments

[babs]

I just reserved it from my library. After watching the You Tube video, I can't wait to see it, although I fear that I will be left with very little to eat.

[Carex]

You can find local grassfed suppliers at eatwild.com and localharvest.com. Also, see if you have a local farmers market when the weather warms - you'll often find a local producer there.

There are also a number of farms and ranches that ship direct - just google, for example, "grass fed beef." If you do this, be careful about the paid links. Sometimes those will show up in the search "grass fed beef" because the advertiser paid for the term "beef." Some unscrupulous producers will even use the words "Grass fed" in their copy, even tho they are not. Your best bet is to go for suppliers that show up in the regular search links. Most of them have been around for a long time, and are for real.

Your even better bet is to find grass fed organic products!

Good luck!

[The Healthy Librarian]

Dear "Carex",

Thanks so much for posting those links! Very helpful--the Local Harvest link didn't open for me, but I was able to find it here: http://www.localharvest.org/

As far as a know (and I haven't looked very hard)the only way to get pasteured (grass-fed) food products is via a CSA (community supported agriculture), a farmer or a co-op. Am I correct, that as of now you aren't going to find them at Whole Foods, Trader Joe's or grocery stores. Does any one else want to weigh in on this?