Seeds of Hunger

Seeds of Hunger offers a simple, sobering message: sweeping changes in the way the world raises and consumes food, along with global warming, imperil not only the three billion people who are hungry (a third of whom are actually starving) but the rest of the human population as well. “What we're witnessing today,” the narrator says, “is quite simply a food crisis.” Filmmakers Yves Billy and Richard Prost traveled to four continents to document how “incoherent” agriculture policies and other forces are harming economies, ravaging the land, and pushing small-scale farmers into overcrowded cities. The Chinese now grow less soy, switching to corn to feed livestock as living standards rise and demand for meat skyrockets, while drought attributed to climate change has slashed Australia's wheat production in half. Argentina's forests are burned to make room for genetically modified soybeans and corn (which require applications of Monsanto's petroleum-based Roundup herbicide) that are then used as livestock feed or to create ethanol. In a striking example of interconnectedness, food riots broke out in Mexico when the United States increased biofuel production—cutting exports of corn, which in turn led to a 50 percent increase in tortilla prices. Interviews with those who support the status quo, GMOs (genetically modified organisms), and industrial agriculture are unconvincing compared to the comments here from leaders of various agencies at the forefront of the movement for sustainable farming. A powerful look at a timely and important topic, this is highly recommended. Aud: C, P. (F. Gardner)