Asparagus! (A Stalk-umentary)

[missemsnitchesss]

i love asparagus. we grow it. well we grow A LOT of veggies but the asparagus is my favorite.

[CptJimEd]

outstanding job!!

[aklnj]

Does anyoe know if NEEM is an effective replacement for these chemicals?. Its quite obviously not healthy to eat these products with all these cancer causing residue on it.

[pottygeist]

Congratulations to the filmmakers for exploring the dark side of Free Trade long before it became a convenient talking point on the campaign trail. Hilarious and insightful!

[philcoagogo]

A surprising movie. At first, its quirky and fun, but moves on to explore and explain how America fails to look after its own. Whether its outsourcing jobs or outsourcing food production, the quest for cheaper is not always better, nor is it sustainable.

[stephenrcameron]

Nice job Kris! Such bittersweet memories of picking asparagus for those slave-driving farmers back in my youth :)

cheers,

Steve

[netrabharas]

I used to pick asparagus as a teen in Oceana County. It was hard work then, but apparently not as difficult as convincing our lawmakers that importing food that can be grown right here in the US doesn't make sense.

[jbobier]

Looks like a great documentary on free trade's effect on small farming in america. I can't wait to see it!!!

In the US it currently takes 7-10 calories of energy to produce 1 calorie of food. This is not sustainable and certainly flying crops from south america to the US is part of the problem.

[stephenrcameron]

Jason,

not sure what kind of food you reference that requires 7-10 calories of energy inputs (I'm assuming this excludes the sun's energy) but it varies greatly based on what you are producing, the cropping methods, etc. Also not sure what bearing imports from S. America have on the energy inputs required to produce crops here. Please expalin :)

cheers,

Steve

[jbobier]

Hey Steve,

That's the current estimate with modern farming methods if you include the fuel used to grow, fertilize (a tremendous amount of fertilizer is petroleum based), harvest, and transport food across the country.

We are literally eating petroleum because of how we fertilize our crops.

Jason

[glowingfilament]

I saw this at a film festival, and it was great fun. Highly recommended!

[annetory]

I'm a native of Oceana County, the place where this was filmed. My father used to grow asparagus on our farm... This movie paints a very, very accurate picture of our community's strengths and weaknesses, and it details the plight of our asparagus farmers. Please check it out!!

[ipotatoe]

I...LIVE...in Oceana County, and I take part in the things that fund our Asparagus farmers. There is no way that those Peruvians are just going to take away everything we've worked towards, even if it is free trade.

We don't have to be dependant on other nations if we can supply it right from our own soil. It's something that will probably never make sense.

[faster1237]

I can say I've seen this film and it's a wonderful wonderful small town American story with heart, humor and plenty of wisdom to spare.

[SandiCarroll]

great story! I had no idea the asparagus industry was being endangered by the drug war...another one of the multitude of ways this administration is hurting the little people...

[sevrinanne]

Wow! With the local and organic movements picking up steam, everyone should know about this. I can't wait to see the film.

[rroozeboom]

It's getting harder to find domestic asparagus all the time. Hopefully this film will change some minds - maybe some legislation?

Also, I watched the whole trailer, and my pee didn't smell weird afterwards like when I eat asparagus. Eat your (Oceana County in Michigan) vegetables, kids!

[velvetmischief]

A friend in Australia just sent me the link to this because i telephoned Green Giant yesterday and told them i will no longer purchase their products because on the can label it says Product of Peru!! And they do it because there are not enough being grown here. I said there are farmers in the midwest crying for help and losing their farms and there is plenty of arable land here to grow enough.

This is the proof of it. Everyone should insist on home grown products in our markets.