The price of cheap food
November 13, 2009
A new short film made in Cornwall questions the sustainability of current food production. It’s the first part of The Price of Cheap Food project.
Kerris Farmers is about four Cornish farmers. It’s been produced by Barry Cooper, lecturer in digital media at University College Falmouth.
The film’s being premiered at the Cornwall Film Festival in Falmouth this Saturday 14 November. Screening will be part of the Cornish Shorts in the Phoenix Cinema, Falmouth starting at 2pm.
Camel Community Supported Agriculture is pleased to hear that The Price of Cheap Food project will also look at experiments in alternative agriculture, local food and allotments.
Barry says:
“In this film four Cornish farmers and family say how things are in an environment where food often costs more to grow than supermarkets eventually pay for it.
“Jeffery was eventually paid 18p per packaged cauliflower even though each one cost him 34p to grow. In the supermarkets they sold at around 78p.
“Adding to the pressure on farmers is the rising cost of fertilizer, fuel and a shortage of labour; farmers are an ageing community. Alan, the beef farmer runs his farm on his own and is totally reliant on a fleet of machines which he has adapted to do all the work by himself.
“East European and other migrant workers did the work in recent years but now that sector seems to be shrinking. So eventually the film leaves us with a question, who will grow the food in the future?”
Further parts of The Price of Cheap Food project seek to explore experiments in alternative agriculture, local food and allotments, along with surviving Chinese and Bulgarian pre-industrial farming cultures and the strategies of the supermarkets to globalize production.
* Find out more here about the LoveWadebridge initiative in Cornwall. It’s arisen out of concerns about the impact of another supermarket on Wadebridge in the north of the county.
