Science & Outdoors
Stevens Point community inspired by “Fresh” look at food
The Pointer
jlutz715@uwsp.edu
After years of industrial food business growth, farmers and communities everywhere are looking to find a way back to the “old days” where farmers didn’t use pesticides and chickens weren’t mass-produced.
The movie “Fresh,” which is co-produced by Will Allen, was shown to the students and community of Stevens Point on Monday night during Will Allen’s visit to the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point campus. Allen came to share his experiences with organic farming and inform the public about industrial farming. His film came with an important message.
The movie brought the audience through the industrial farms where pigs lived with diseases and dead cows were fed to hungry cows. Chickens’ beaks and claws were cut and they lived based on survival of the fittest.
Organic farming is becoming more popular every day. Will Allen showed the audience his organic farm and other organic farmers following the movement. Organic farming does not use pesticides on the crops or medications on their livestock which is leading to better products for the health of consumers.
“I felt the movie was eye-opening. I never thought about what I ate. Seeing them treat the animals as poorly as they do makes me think twice,” said Sara Ladowski, a UWSP student.
After the film, was a panel discussion which included Will Allen, Chris Malek from Malek Family Stewardship Farm and Central Rivers Farmshed, Jasia Steinmetz from UWSP Health Promotions and Human Development and Central Rivers Farmshed, Dick Okray from Okray Family Farms and Jeremy Erickson, a student at UWSP and co-president of Sustainable Agriculture in Communities Society.
The audience was invited to ask any questions pertaining to the film. One of the main questions that came up was, “Where do we start?” “It starts with every one of you. I’m worried about the youth and getting the message to them. They are the future,” said Allen.
“We can spread the message through education. It’s already starting. People are aware; it just needs to build.” It was stated that a recent survey showed that the majority of people would choose organic and local if they had a choice.
“We just need to make it available,” said Allen.
One concern with organic food is the price. A bushel of apples grown with pesticides usually costs less than those grown with none. “If people appreciate the product they will pay for it. When we make money we can hire more people and then the community makes more money,” said Chris Malek, a local farmer.
To get involved, students can simply buy local. There is a farmers’ market in downtown Stevens Point every Saturday and Emy J’s is now starting an indoor winter market. They can also write to our senators to push for a compost building on campus to make use of our wastes.
“This is not a movement anymore; it’s a revolution,” said Allen.
