Source:  NC Pork council, 4/19/10

This Wednesday, April 21 at 9:00 p.m. UNC-TV will broadcast Food, Inc., a 2009 documentary about modern food production in America.

Immediately following the documentary at 10:35 p.m. UNC-TV will broadcast "Views on Food, Inc.," a thoughtful conversation with representatives of the North Carolina Department of Agriculture, NC State University, the North Carolina Poultry Federation and the North Carolina Pork Council moderated by UNC-TV's Rob Holliday.

Views on Food, Inc., offers some involved in NC agriculture the opportunity to give another side to the story and show viewers that Food, Inc., is not representative of agriculture production here in this state.

Representing the pork industry will be Bundy Lane, owner of Sarem Farms in Gates County. Sarem Farms, a 4,800 head multiplier contracted with Murphy-Brown, LLC, is part of a diversified farming operation owned and operated by Lane, his parents, Roger and Rita Lane, and his brother, John Lane.

Other panel participants are: Dr. Kelly Zering, associate professor, Agricultural and Resource Economics at NC State University; Dr. Richard Reich, assistant commissioner for agricultural services at NCDA&CS; Richard Lobb, director of communications, National Chicken Council; and Dr. Nancy Creamer from the Center for Environmental Farming Systems.

In Food, Inc., filmmakers allege that food animals are raised inhumanely on factory farms and that "industrial farms are also dangerous for their workers, pollute surrounding communities, are unsafe to our food system and contribute significantly to global warming."

The film offers solutions to the dilemmas set forth in the film by encouraging viewers to participate in practices like "Meatless Mondays," and to only buy organic food and antibiotic-free meat.

The movie has been criticized for its biased portrayal of food production in the United States. For us at NCPC, an obvious bias is the absence of a pork producer interviewed or featured anywhere in the film. The lack of honest dialogue about pork producers is disappointing because movie producers toured and shot footage at a North Carolina farm and interviewed a NC pork producer. But, when NCPC inquired about what footage would be included in the film from their NC farm visit, we were told that they would not be using anything from their farm visit here because it just didn't fit.

Other critics say that the movie dangerously misleads consumers by arguing that "big is bad" and "small is good," when the reality is that high quality, safe, nutritious food is produced by operations big and small, organic and non-organic, pasture-fed or raised in barns, or produced without antibiotics or produced using antibiotics when needed to keep the animals healthy. Food produced in America is all about choice and the market is big enough for all who want to participate.

Tune in to UNC-TV at 10:35pm this coming Wednesday to see the panel discussion "Views on Food, Inc."

When that discussion is over, create your own opportunities to talk about food production in our country and educate those around you about your role in the pork industry. Don't let someone else do the talking for you!