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Summary
Core Theme
The current industrial food system in the United States is broken, characterized by consolidation, exploitation of workers and the environment, and the promotion of unhealthy ultra-processed foods, necessitating a fundamental shift towards more resilient, equitable, and sustainable practices.
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[Music]
food it's a set of [Music]
[Music]
relationships it connects you to the
farmer who grew it it connects you to
the animals or the plants it connects
you to the soil it connects you to the
workers who prepared it so there's a lot
at stake when you sit down to eat
over the last two decades thanks to some
books and movies like the first food Inc
something called the food movement got
started people became keenly interested
in where their food comes from how is it
produced today farmers markets are
everywhere and even in the supermarket
you can buy organic food grass-fed GMO
free so we thought we could create a
values but the food industry is
dominated by a small handful of very
large and very powerful [Music]
[Music]
companies in normal times the power of
the food industry of the monopolies that
dominate it is invisible to most of
us but when the pandemic hit the curtain
was peeled back
and you began to see that this highly
efficient Consolidated food system is a
very brittle
system there were whole crops being
buried Hogs being euthanized cuz they
couldn't be processed Farmers disposing
a flood of
milk at the same time there were
shortages in the supermarket and then
people were lining up for Miles because
they were hungry
so this Consolidated food system could
not adapt to the changes coming so
fast we have built a system that depends on
on
predictability and the one thing we
anymore we need a system that is more
resilient than the one we [Music]
[Music]
have you know we really thought we could
change the the food system one bite at a
time and as important as that is it's
I have been working in the fields since
Mexico people were talking about if you
go to okali you are going to earn $70 a
day and that was just a flat out lie of
recruiters trying to uh just bring
pretenses working in the fields it's
workers the industry wants immigrant
workers because they feel that they can
us if you eat fresh fruits and
vegetables you're connected to
immigrants who are being paid poor wages
and being
mistreated my whole entry into the world
of food and Food Systems was in trying
to understand how in the 20th and the 21st
21st
century we could be abusing and
exploiting the poorest workers in the
United States who are resp responsible
for the healthiest foods that we
eat in a at the height of the pandemic
state government did absolutely nothing
to protect these workers in fact the
state government in Florida even
prevented contact tracing because if
they found people who had Co they'd have
workforce the idea was let's not know
who's sick and get as much harvested as possible
possible [Music]
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you know we're we're fitting the country
so our work is essential but we as
disposable Iowa is always recognized as
those of us that live here understand
[Music]
that good morning take that country on
please how are you guys it's my job to
protect 135,000 citizens in blackw
County very much appreciate your support for
for
there's hardworking Blue Collar good
here thank no this is great appreciate
it thank
you at the beginning of the pandemic we
were fearful what we were going to
face and all of a sudden we had people
testing positive in our clinics
here almost all of our contact tracing
[Music]
plant Tyson is one of the larger
employers here they bring income and
they provide jobs you don't want to alienate
alienate
them but our disease surveillance
officer Public Health director and my
[Music]
plant we saw people working elbow to
elbow and reaching over the top of each
other and no masks no regulation no no
real concerted policy on how to protect
each other and then we're hearing from
people that you know they're they're
stepping back off the line puking on the
floor going right back to work we walked
out of there all of us just going oh my
God this is horrible we are we are in so much
much
trouble by the end of the month they
employees and then it started to seep
out of the plant into our
community you know we had exponential
increases in the numbers of deaths um by
day not by week not by month but by
day we wanted the 10 to 14 day shutdown
of the plant but
Tyson made it very clear to us that it
just wasn't going to
happen the meat packing industry was
worried that local public authorities
were going to shut down their slaughter
houses so John Tyson wrote a letter that
was published in newspapers across the
United States raising a fear that we
might start running out of
meat and then the meat packing companies
went to the president to keep their
slaughter houses open we're working
are we're going to sign an executive
order today I believe two days after the
Tyson letter the Trump Administration
issued an order under the defense
production act to ensure that the plants
would keep
running so the industry got the
president of the United States to do
exactly what it wanted it even helped
write the executive order that he
issued it's a total perversion of the
defense production act to use it to
allow a company to do what it wants to
do the whole point of the ACT is to
force companies to do things they might
public Tyson says that they were doing
this to feed America but we know that a
lot of their meat goes to China and
overseas we also know that Tyson had a banner
banner
they didn't care about our
citizens and way too many people paid
that I am agriculture USA
say born in Freedom I have become the
greatest provider in all
history I am the spirit of
progress I am a way of life the American
way during the Cold War we talked about
why our system was so much Superior to
Union and it was the free market that
was supposedly responsible for the
greatness of this
country the 1950s into the early 1960s
was a period of rising wages for
American workers it's the greatest
period of the growth of the middle class
in American
history and those things are connected
to having real competition and strict antitrust
antitrust
enforcement the basic idea behind
Anti-Trust policy is that no one company
that no two companies should dominate an
entire sector of our
economy there was strict antitrust
enforcement for decades under both
Democratic and Republican
administrations in the 1940s there was
an antitrust suit against
A&P their 14% of the market for
groceries was considered a threat to competition
competition [Music]
[Music]
but one of the big monopolies that
endured was
AT&T it was argued that we couldn't
break it up because we needed one
company to control all the phone
lines uh the country in the long run
will be sorry and I find it difficult to
believe that things will work as well uh
in the in the future as they have worked
in the past but then AT&T was broken up
and pretty soon there were huge
reductions in the cost of making a
longdistance call that opened the way
for cellular phones modems and the whole
internet economy we have
today so breaking up monopolies is
directly linked to creating Innovation
around 1980 antitrust enforcement was greatly
greatly
reduced it was argued that if prices
were low then it didn't matter how much
control over a market one company [Music]
[Music]
had those views came to be government
policy corporations began to buy up
their competitors and they got bigger
and bigger and
bigger back then the four largest beef
companies controlled only 25% of the
market today the four largest beef
companies control 85% of the market
three companies control 83 3% of the
Cold Cereal Market two companies control
70% of the carbonated soft drink Market
two companies control 80% of the baby formula
formula
Market why do companies buy up their
competitors it's because they don't want to
to
compete and when they don't have to
compete consumers have to pay more
farmers and ranchers get paid less and
the difference goes to those
corporations as higher Prof profits but
that's not the only problem a highly
Consolidated Market becomes a fragile
Market in 2022 when Abbott had to shut
down a single Factory 43% of the
nation's baby formula was suddenly off the
the
shelves and mothers had to start
scrambling to find food for infants when
you have Monopoly power over baby
formula and one company has a problem at
one Factory suddenly some infants don't
eat Wisconsin is the dairy State it's
not an
accident it makes sense that we're
producing Dairy here we have good access
Seasons so this this is a really great
place to have animals and produce milk
hello there
ladies Dairy is really in the blood of
Wisconsin Farmers but it's crushing us right
right
now we've just had continually low
milk we are considered a mediumsized
when I married my husband in 2007 we
were only milking 250 cows and now we're
at 450 and that's because we're just
trying to run faster to keep our head above
above
water farmers are over producing which
is leading to a lower price and what
people do and what the bank tells me to
do is to just keep trying to produce more
more
we kind of create a vicious cycle
because then we're producing more and
more and then the price is going down
and then we're producing more to try to stay
stay
disaster I think that we're huge at 450
cows and then we're trying to compete
with these thousand cow daies and
they're looking at the 5,000 cow daries
and then the 5,000 cow dar
is trying to compete with the 10,000 and
now you hear about 20,000 cow daries
stop now there are fewer and fewer
processors because they've all merged
with each
other so it used to be that if I didn't
like the price I couldn't find other
processors to buy my
milk but now because of
consolidation I can't move my milk to
price we've lost half of our dairy farms
in Wisconsin since
2007 lots of people going
bankrupt the corporate control pushing
folks like us to just throw up their
the food system is often at war with
nature and one of the great examples is
when you watch a dairy industry move
from wet grassy places like Wisconsin and
and
Vermont to deserts like California and
Arizona how could this possibly make
sense well as dairies get bigger they
move to places where there are very few
regulations where land is cheap and you
can grow crops to feed your cattle all year
year
round but the environmental cost of this is
is
insane the rain will oblig you in
Wisconsin and grow the grass for
you but in the desert this is water that
must be pumped deep out of the aquifers
to irrigate the crops and hydrate the
cattle these meaderies are rapidly
draining the water table and the
Colorado River and leaving neighboring
communities without drinking
water so the logic of capitalism and the
logic of nature are at War it's a
sustainability my great great
1894 my dad came in 1975 and farmed for
the next 40
years and then uh I took over the
operation things have really changed
just from my father's time to
mine in Iowa we used to grow a multitude
of crops you know 100 years ago we used
to have apple orchards and every Farm had
had
livestock but when you drive across Iowa
now you can see nothing but commodity
crops corn and
soybeans because those are the crops the government
government
subsidizes and that's why that's why
farmers do what they do is they follow
the policy because they're in business
to make money just like everyone
else but the thing that is not factored
into that is what is the result to the
land our best resource here in IA is the
richest soil in the
world but because of the Intensive
farming that we've done half of our top
soil is already gone we're losing soil
faster than we're making
it and I get reminded of this every year
as I'm farming next to the fence
lines and you can see a drop off between
the fence line and your field level and
that tells you exactly how much soil you've
you've [Music]
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lost I think any Iowa farm boy growing
up wants to farm
full-time but I farm about 300 acres and
300 acres is not enough to feed a family
comfortably so I work off the farm as do
a lot of folks how pad of seed sound
here later this morning stop by and drop
that I sell seed and I sell Farm inputs
chemicals to help eliminate pests and
weeds so let's look at this field here
we've got a lot of potential potential
value I make recommendations to use
synthetic fertilizers to get the highest
land so I make my living from what a lot
of people would call the industrialized food
system however I have big concerns about the
future that's 40 BS
if we stay on this path where we
continue to subsidize commodity props
that's not good for the long term of our
quality so I'm trying to come up with a
whole new system so farmers like myself
can grow things in a way that changes
Senator how are you I'm very good nice
to meet you nice to meet you as well
former Steve I'm foring all right all
right Cory we're thrilled to be able to
have Senator Corey Booker appointed
earlier this year to the Senate agriculture
[Applause]
committee you have no idea how exciting
it is for me to be standing here in a
field in my own state it was 15 years
ago this month that I was elected to be
the mayor of New Jersey's largest city
if you would have told me 15 years ago
that I would use every point of Leverage
I had in the Senate to become a member
of the a committee I would have not
believed you I want you to know I am so
excited to have the top of my agenda
right now uh dealing with uh America's
food system which is savagely
broken I I've come at this through lived
experience I watched what our food
systems were doing to my family members
and to my
community being on the ground as a local
leader I started seeing that the systems
within New York were really failing kids
families where they didn't have access
to healthy [Music]
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foods these Foods were being pushed in a
way that seemed to me to Prey Upon
lowincome people African-American kids
in the last decade alone have seen their
diabetes rates
double so it just made me want to
drastically change the food systems for
then my community but now of fixing the
broken Food Systems in the United States and
and [Music]
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globally this part of Montana is a place
where Buffalo had a hard time surviving
but you can actually raise a hell of a crop
here in fact I supposed to finish
seeding my peas today but as you can
tell best laid
plans things don't tend to work when it gets
gets
me I never felt appreciated as a farmer
I'm raise food but food was treated like
a commodity it wasn't treated like
something you'd eat
and I said to my wife if we don't do
something to improve our profit margin
we're going to be selling out just like everybody
everybody
else I would say there's about 150 Bush
on the
truck in the late ' 80s we converted to
Organics and we raised Durham for organic
organic
noodles it was the first time since we
had been farming that I actually felt
like I was doing something that people
but now we're seeing an all out attack
agriculture the corporate business model
is killing Rural America it's killing
it and that's not the way it should be
there needs to be people living out here producing
food but as far as changing things
there's really only one one place you
DC we've seen a mass Exodus off the land
in my small town as an
example when I graduated from high
school there was a thousand people in
that town now there's about 600 there
were two hardware stores now there are
none there were three grocery stores now
there's one and maybe the most stressing
is there were five bars and now there's only
only
two I'm in the Senate's only work on a
farmer and I want Rural America to be
here Testa B up how you doing
man good to see
you John tester is he's been a mentor to
me in the Senate he early on talked to
me about the absurdities in the a world
and you could make money t it's this odd
combination of a guy from Montana and a
guy from New Jersey and yet we have so
much Common Ground if you want to
reestablish Rural America again if you
want to have people that are able to
live there you got to have opportunity
and if you're going to have opportunity
then you got to have fair prices but
when you have
consolidation now now you've got people
setting prices they can go out on a golf
course and play around a golf and
determine what you're going to get for a
bushel of wheat or
or or whatever whatever you're talking
about but as long as we're uh doing
nothing you're going to continue to see
more consolidation and you're going to
continue to see the demise of the family
farm in many ways they're picking
winners and losers the winners are their
handful of multinational corporations
losers is all the rest of us we are so
connected the challenges in my community
are directly connected to a system
that's driving Farmers out of business
hurting our soil and our Rivers hurting
the food workers hurting the end
consumers and as a nation we are
dramatically subsidizing with our tax
dollars the foods that are making us
sick I don't want the government to be
telling someone what to eat but I sure
as heck don't want my tax dollars
subsidizing the things that are making
people sick and now we have to pay for
the health care costs of of the chronic
disease that we're fueling with our food
system so this is a conundrum to [Music]
[Music]
me we have here the world's largest
potato Hest say that's a large potato
and here's what's in it that have I've
had a long career about looking at food
and nutrition as ways to examine really
important problems in in society food
connects to [Music]
[Music]
everything by the 1980s agricultural
production had increased so much in the
United States that the number of
calories in the food supply increased to
about 4,000 calories a day per person
and that's twice as many calories
available in the food supply as anybody
needs this puts enormous pressure on
food companies how are they going to sell
food companies areen businesses with
stockholders to
please the profits have to get bigger
and bigger sales have to increase and
increase and food companies figured out
lots of ways to do that wind's bacon
eater is the ultimate bacon
cheeseburger they opened up fast food
places all over the
world they made Foods in larger portions
one enormous s
if you are presented with a very large
amount of food our biggest Entre ever
all of the research shows that you're
going to eat more from that portion than
you would if you were given a small
portion and then food companies made
Foods available any place that you could
think of you go into a clothing store
and there's candy bars at the checkout
counter hot donuts with Kentucky Fried ch
ch
so food companies are doing everything
they can to get people to eat any time
any place day or night in large portions
what better way to sell Foods whether
people need it or not it's time for
fourth meal the late night meal between
dinner and [Music]
[Music]
breakfast so I think it's just very hard
to resist a food environment that is
just yelling at us all the time eat more
[Music]
more in the 1980s I working as a
Paulo since then we have observed a
decline in child
malnutrition and an increase in
obesity we had in Brazil each year 1
million new cases of obesity our
research found a decline in the purchase
of salt cooking oils table
sugar and and then they say wow these
are supposed to be the determinants of
obesity right if they are declining
that's this does make
sense but then we realiz that that
traditional Whole Food foods like rice
and beans were being replaced by soft
drinks packaged snacks sausages instant
noodles all these products are
formulations of nutrients and
additives colors and flavors emulsifiers artificial
artificial
sweeteners these are chemical compounds
totally unknown to our
metabolism and and these foods are
submitted to intensive
processing so we decided to call these
food group outra processed
foods we raised the hypothesis that uh
consumption of outr processed food could
be the main driver of diabetes and other chronic
chronic [Music]
[Music]
diseases in
2019 one researcher caving Hall decided
to test our
hypothesis I was first pretty skeptical
of this idea and I would ask what is it
about alra processed foods that causes
people to
overeat is it the nutrient that's
driving this or perhaps it's something
about the processing of these
Foods so I decided to design two diets
in the ultra processed diet we had 80%
of calories coming from Ultra processed
foods whereas in the minimally processed
diet we had 0% of calories from Ultra
processed foods but the meals were
matched for the calories matched for
salt sugar fat fiber and
protein we told people to eat as much or
as little as
desired when people were exposed to this
ultr processed diet they ended up eating
about 500 calories per day more compared
to the mostly unprocessed
diet usually a in studies of this type
you find a difference of 30 to 50
calories a day but 500 I mean that's an unbelievable
unbelievable
result on the ultra processed diet
people gained weight and gained body fat
and when we switch them to the
unprocessed diet those people
spontaneously lost weight and lost fat
and so this study suggests that there's
something else about Ultra processed
foods independent of the salt the sugar
and the fat and the fiber that's driving
overeat the easiest way to explain the
different categories of processing is
corn corn on the cob unprocessed it's
been peeled and washed canned corn
minimally processed salt has been added
but Dorito chips have colored texture
processed food you can make at home
outra processed foods you don't have the
ingredients you don't have the additives
and you don't have the [Music]
[Music]
machines the reason you process food is
not that there's anything wrong with it
in its natural state it's that you make
a lot more
money you know the money in the system
is not at the farm end the farmer is
getting less than 15% of your food dollars
dollars
no the money is going to the processor
who's benefiting from the fact that
we're overproducing and driving down the
cost of raw
materials the food processors buy those
cheap agricultural
Commodities and then turn it into the
panoply of ultra-processed food products
in your
Supermarket if you complicate that food
in the form of flavor or
novelty that's where the money is
outer processed food assures that a
consumer will buy more and more and more
because these products are made to be
consumed in [Music]
excess eating worked pretty well for
humans for an awfully long
time we ate what we needed our needs
were in balance with our appetite and
it's really only recently that something
about our relationship with food got
Disturbed distorted now we find
ourselves literally eating ourselves to
death animals have similar nutritional
needs to ourselves so what do they do
they on some intuitive level know what
to eat it's called nutritional
wisdom these mam cows are over in this
field eating Alfalfa because that's rich
in protein and they're supporting a
fetus so they need the protein but these
steers they're over here in this field
and they're eating Ry grass which is got
sugar and carbohydrates in it cuz
they're laying on fat and they do this
on their own they're somehow attracted
to the food they need and humans are no
different millions of years ago our
ancestors walking around the jungles of
Africa there was no label on the fruit
that they ate they didn't know about the
calories but this experience of just
looking for the food that tasted the
best is what nourished them it's how
they had a nutritious diet you think of
something like a delicious Peach that
flavor that we experience is the brain's
system of analyzing the nutrition that's
within a food flavor is Nature's
language of
nutrition for decades now we've been
manipulating the sensory characteristics
of food thanks to flavor technology we
can make anything we want taste like
whatever we want it to taste like fake
flavors but also artificial icial
sweeteners we haven't really questioned
what the consequences of this has been
we've just assumed it's a good idea well
now we have new research that is showing
that this is actually a terrible idea
that we're actually interfering with the
brains and the body's ability to
metabolize food my interest is in how
the brain processes food
reward I did the first Nur Imaging study
um of feeding in
humans we were measuring brain response
as they were eating little pieces of
chocolate I really wanted to understand
areas of the brain that represent the
pleasure of the of the
food Pepsi was interested in our
research I think they wanted to try to
understand how to make healthier
foods and so they came to me with the
question is it possible to decrease the
amount of calories in a typical sugar
sweetened beverage without compromising ing
ing
reward so in the lab we created a series of
of
beverages where we manipulated the
sweetness independent of
calories so that way we have equally
sweet drinks but drinks of different calorie
calorie
amounts you're going to be receiving
liquids through the mouthpiece
okay we looked at the brain areas that
are responsible for
reward what we thought was that the
highest calorie beverage would become
the most liked
beverage but that's not what we found
instead it was actually the middle doses
where sweetness and calories are matched
that was eliciting the greatest brain
response in nature the relationship
between sweetness and energy is pretty
stable so when you manipulate sensory
information without regard for the
nutritional content you're essentially
creating mismatches
and so we conducted follow-up studies to
see what was going on comfortable under
there yep and what we found was that
when sweetness matches the calories then
the body metabolizes that energy but
when something was too sweet for the
amount of calories or not sweet enough
for the amount of calories the body's
ability to metabolize those calories was was
was
blunted those calories are not being
used as a fuel instead they might be
converted into
fat so if you reduce calories by adding
artificial sweetener you could actually
be doing more harm than
good when I saw the findings I shared it
with our collaborators at Pepsi right
away but this result that I thought was
super exciting because we're going to
learn something new this is really cool
um had the opposite effect that I
thought it was going to have I received
a bunch of emails from Pepsi saying that
the data made no sense really saying
that they didn't believe what we were
reporting uh they they pulled our
funding and it wasn't until much later
that I realized the problem was not that
they didn't believe me but in fact that
they did believe me and that's what made them
worried the moment you know that
something is bad for health ethically
you have to correct it I think they
wanted deniability because what our
research suggested is that their
products could negatively impact Health
ways when you walk into a supermarket
it's not just artificial sweeteners
there's a whole arsenal of additives
designed to mislead the brain there's
fat replacers artificial flavors
so-called natural flavor flors so how
does your brain react when it keeps
getting fooled by the food it
eats the best way to think about it is
the fuel gauge on your car imagine if
you looked at it instead it was full but
it might be empty it might be half full
imagine it was uncertain in the way that
modern food has become uncertain what
Would You Do Well you you'd fill your
car up a whole lot more often well
that's what your brain does when it
keeps getting fooled when one day
sweetness means calories and the next
day it means no calories or just some
calories it goes I better eat more food
to make sure I don't get ripped off
we're short circuiting an evolutionary
process that's hundreds of thousands of
years old and we've learned through the
Ingenuity of Food Science to fool the
human body um but you pay a price for
that in losing your taste for real food
and as we lose our taste for eating
plants we lose all those antioxidants we
lose all those protective
factors when you have that pre-made meal
it's hard to know that it's
unhealthy but it's all been designed to
manipulate you the eye The Taste Buds
and get you to eat as much as possible
ideally to addict you to [Music]
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it in United States the average
consumption of outr processed food is
about 58% of total energy
intake but in most of the world
consumption of outr processed food is
much lower and most calories still come
from Real
Foods today these big food companies
they are targeting markets in many
[Music]
K I have worked in fast food for over 20
years I've worked at McDonald's I've
worked at at
Bell I have two children my kids are my
world but it's been hard there have been
times I can't afford the heating bill
there been times where I can't afford to
pay my rent there been times where I
couldn't afford to put food on the table
I have a gas bill a light bill internet
bill rent 7115
if I miss a day one of these becomes a
shut off notice a disconnect
notice my biggest fear is winding back
up in a position that I had to crawl out
of and living out of my car and living
children this is everything we
own our clothes
clothes
shoes this is me and my family's prize
possession it's all we
own I don't ever want my family to have
to experience that again but it it's
hard on the wages we make and you almost
survive most people would say that these
jobs are for people that are just
starting out but the average fast food
workers is a 30y old woman not not not a
kid this this is someone's mother
someone's sister trying to make it to
feed their
family on a regular coffee for1 today
the cost of living is steadily going up
but our wages
aren't how could I go to work for these
billion dollar companies and feed all
these people all to come home to hear my
but for the ones that has all the saucer
room they're cheap
cheap
$4 so right now we at
13.97 all righty I do not get sick leave
care as an adult I've never been able to
afford to see a doctor I 20 40 60 I'm
tired and nobody knows how tired I am
except for those people that go through
me today the federal minimum wage is
$725 an hour it's been at that level since
since
2009 adjusted for inflation it's almost
50% lower than it was in the late
1960s so the poorest workers have seen
their pay
cut in
half the CEO of Yum brands which owns
Taco Bell earns more in an hour than the
typical Taco Bell worker earns in a
year and we're paying so that they can
have cheap labor Walmart and McDonald's
are two of the largest employers of
workers who are dependent on food staffs
and on Medicaid so it's taxpayers who
are supporting these companies as
opposed to these companies supporting their
their
workers it's not only fast food and
Supermarket workers it's millions of
other workers in the food system who are
being exploited in ways that are hidden from
from [Music]
view the agricultural industry depends
workers agriculture has always been a
place where exploitation has
happened because it
slavery when slavery was abolished it
didn't disappear it just changed
forms one farmer looked at this and said
will you used to own our slaves now we
them the whole industry was still just
refusing to recognize that the workers
beings today slavery continues to happen
even though it's a
crime one case of modern days slavery
happened in our
community workers escaped from a U-Haul
truck where they were tied with
chains the defendants have been accused
of threatening slapping and kicking Farm
Workers chaining them to a pole beating
them locking them inside U-Haul trailers
keeping them in debt and forcing them to
work for
free so so as workers we organized to
fight back when I got involved with the
Coalition of imali workers we were
focusing on The Big Tomato
Growers thinking that they will have to
us there were articles about
slavery our company's name was listed
because we're one of the largest Growers
here in Florida
we've always heard about wage theft of
sexual harassment of bad
operators but you never think it's going
house when you've got labor contractors
providing workers to a farmer it creates
an environment where there's a step back
from any responsibility about how
they're being treated how they're being paid
paid [Music]
[Music]
The Growers just Clos the door on our
nose they didn't care about our demands
or about anything that we had to say so
we need to widen our understanding on
what can influence this
industry and then we realize that the
market power was with the corporations
that buy millions of dollars of tomatoes [Music]
[Music]
these companies want to create a
friendly image towards the consumer that
buries behind all the abuses that are
part of our lives and we knew that if we
bring this message that injustices are
going on behind the food that everybody
respond the Coalition of imuk workers
started we call the campaign for fair
food we created alliances all over the
country students were organizing in
support of the workers so we were able
to bring the power of consumers to be
rights one of the most encouraging
developments has been the emergence of
consumers who want to reform the system
who want a more Humane system a more
sustainable system but it doesn't always
work because they're up against such
powerful corporations that they can be
thwarted at every
turn for example one of the most brutal
conditions under which our food animals
live are female pigs who spend their
lives in a gestation crate it's called
that is barely bigger than they
are the voters of California voted by a
significant margin to Outlaw the sale of
pork from animals that were living in
gation crates and the industry would not
let that stand so they took it to the
Supreme Court where they nearly
succeeded in getting this law tossed out
so we have allowed these giant
Consolidated food companies to
accumulate so much power that they
exercise a veto over the consumer and
they have also perfected the art of
obfuscating the role of the meat
industry in climate
change no single food contributes as
much to global warming as
cattle and in fact onethird of
greenhouse gases are produced by the
food system alone that's second only to
Transportation but we're up against a
very powerful
industry the food industry spends more
on lobbying than the defense industry
that has bought them an incredible
measure of power in
Congress but there are corporations out
there that fully recognize that the
consumer wants to see a different kind
of meat industry the question is what
are these corporations going to do with
this is this going to drive real change
[Music]
I was a professor at Stanford my job was
basic biomedical research just trying to
understand how cells work how genes work
I had a sabatical and I decided to use
it to try to figure out what would be
the uh most impactful thing I could do
uh next and uh very quickly I came to
the conclusion that it's too completely
replace animals in the food system even
if we just replaced cows we could give
ourselves a 30-year pause in the rise in
greenhouse gases and possibly more
important is that the total number of
living mammals birds reptiles amphibians
and fish on earth is less than a third
what it was 50 years
ago the collapse in global biodiversity
is overwhelmingly caused by habitat
destruction to raise livestock or raise
crops to feed
them and you see it happening in real
time when you watch the Amazon burning
to expand animal
agriculture so I quit my job at Stanford
the job that I loved I felt like okay
this you're not going to solve the
problem by trying to persuade people to
change their diets that's never worked
you just have to realize that people
aren't going to stop wanting meat we're
way our first challenge was to
understand what makes me taste like meat
the answer was that animal tissues
contain very high levels of a
biomolecule called he and it turns on
the chemistry of meat flavor and
Aroma we've genetically engineered a
Pat Brown's not making a big Health
claim for his products it wasn't
designed to be a health food it was
designed to fake the meat
experience so this is your not so secret
ingredient you can taste it if you
like we've done a lot of work thinking
about how to bind the burger together
and we needed to make it something so
robust that you could stick it on a
grill and flip it without fall apart
wouldn't fall apart and you know you
could make meatballs with it so what was
the Breakthrough can you um you know
methyl cellulose was a really big
Improvement for us sounds like a tree
product it is a tree product cellulose
comes from trees um it's a really
abundant molecule in the world and where
do you get it I think it's a byproduct
from a lot of the paper industry and and
uh wood
pulp it's cleaned up enough that it
this is a facility that has none of the
slaughterhouse I think we have a pant
based food with a fraction of the
environmental footprint of covering the
planet with [Music]
[Music]
cows you can make a case that the
impossible Burger represents a good
alternative to meat as we now produce it
it doesn't have hormones in it no
antibiotics in it but make no mistake
this is built on commodity
Agriculture and it's an ultr processed
food so there are
trade-offs I like a burger experience as
much as the next guy and if I can have
it without implicating a cow all the
problems that come with cows maybe
thing we are at a very interesting
moment food science is being dedicated
to a nobler goal than it has in the past
to move us off of a heavy meat diet onto
a more plant-based
diet The Impossible Burger is now in
every Burger King in the country there's
a willingness on the part of the
consumer to experiment with these
products but they're questionable um
they may solve one problem and create
another I think the thing that troubles
me most is the implication that this is
health food because the phrase
plant-based has a has this Aura of
greenness of health and that is [Music]
[Music] deceptive my relationship with food is
deceptive my relationship with food is complicated very
complicated very complicated because I have type 1
diabetes you know I think most of us love food but we don't have to think
love food but we don't have to think about it every day every
about it every day every hour I measure my blood sugar before and
hour I measure my blood sugar before and after every meal and the simpler I eat
after every meal and the simpler I eat the More Level my blood sugar
the More Level my blood sugar [Music]
[Music] is as a
is as a journalist I am very much interested in
journalist I am very much interested in new foods' been able to extract proteins
new foods' been able to extract proteins from it I needed to find out how they
from it I needed to find out how they were made find out what it might mean
were made find out what it might mean for my own body is it clean label like
for my own body is it clean label like clean as it gets our products are 95%
clean as it gets our products are 95% mushroom roots with some flavoring we've
mushroom roots with some flavoring we've got a super salmon filet made entirely
got a super salmon filet made entirely out of plants without hurting a single
out of plants without hurting a single fish I worry that these new food
fish I worry that these new food companies um are following the footsteps
companies um are following the footsteps of big food with foods that are empty
of big food with foods that are empty calories high impact on my blood sugar
calories high impact on my blood sugar now what are the proteins that you're
now what are the proteins that you're producing that's something we we can't
producing that's something we we can't talk about on camera right now these
talk about on camera right now these founders of startups have compelling
founders of startups have compelling ideas that they're so passionate about
ideas that they're so passionate about so at Sund Foods we're making
so at Sund Foods we're making plant-based chicken wings with only
plant-based chicken wings with only eight ingredients and you are the
eight ingredients and you are the founders of the company we're both
founders of the company we're both co-founders we actually met in a class
co-founders we actually met in a class at UC Berkeley so all of this started as
at UC Berkeley so all of this started as a school
project the new food has become the cause for every Tech investor they want
cause for every Tech investor they want something in their playbook that speaks
something in their playbook that speaks to saving the world we we produce Dairy
to saving the world we we produce Dairy without a cow so we've made molecular
without a cow so we've made molecular coffee we're the first ones to make it
coffee we're the first ones to make it without coffee beans so it's world's
without coffee beans so it's world's first uh real honey made without bees
first uh real honey made without bees some of these startups are raising
some of these startups are raising hundreds of millions of
hundreds of millions of dollars Tyson JBS hormell they've all
dollars Tyson JBS hormell they've all invested in alternative meat
invested in alternative meat companies but what happens down the road
companies but what happens down the road these big companies are only thinking
these big companies are only thinking about their
about their profit what's it going to be like for
profit what's it going to be like for the everyday consumer walking through
the everyday consumer walking through the supermarket how will they navigate
the supermarket how will they navigate the new
landscape so now food made by scientists has led to cultured meat meat that is
has led to cultured meat meat that is the multiplication of actual meat cells
the multiplication of actual meat cells this really is meat so this is called
this really is meat so this is called epic epic when I was practicing as a
epic epic when I was practicing as a cardiologist the question was what if I
cardiologist the question was what if I practice for the next 35 years I would
practice for the next 35 years I would likely be you know involved in Saving
likely be you know involved in Saving 3,000 4,000 lives get through this but
3,000 4,000 lives get through this but what if if we could start saving
what if if we could start saving trillions of animal lives and also
trillions of animal lives and also positively affecting billions of human
positively affecting billions of human lives when I was working at the Mayo
lives when I was working at the Mayo Clinic we would have patients that would
Clinic we would have patients that would come with a very large heart attack so
come with a very large heart attack so we would take stem cells from that
we would take stem cells from that patient and we would re inject them into
patient and we would re inject them into the heart to regrow the heart muscle
the heart to regrow the heart muscle that's where my idea came from of
that's where my idea came from of growing meat directly from animal
growing meat directly from animal [Music]
[Music] cells I always want to know how does
cells I always want to know how does this product connect to the Farmland to
this product connect to the Farmland to the Earth what's its relation to
the Earth what's its relation to Nature here they're not on any kind of
Nature here they're not on any kind of farm you're back in a lab manufacturing
farm you're back in a lab manufacturing a broth out of amino
a broth out of amino acids so any of these cultivators here
acids so any of these cultivators here can grow chicken or beef or pork or the
can grow chicken or beef or pork or the same cultivators depending and you can
same cultivators depending and you can put different things in them any
put different things in them any species essentially we've got a couple
species essentially we've got a couple tanks here that are holding the the feed
tanks here that are holding the the feed for the cells and uh we have a recipes
for the cells and uh we have a recipes of nutrients for each type of animal
of nutrients for each type of animal we're making there's actually Chicken in
we're making there's actually Chicken in there yeah there's chicken imagine if
there yeah there's chicken imagine if this is outside of this is a body of an
this is outside of this is a body of an animal right inside of it there's cells
animal right inside of it there's cells that are growing those cells are
that are growing those cells are doubling every 24 hours and after a
doubling every 24 hours and after a certain number of doublings you have a
certain number of doublings you have a lot of cells in there in a in for
lot of cells in there in a in for instance a cultivator like this every 5
instance a cultivator like this every 5 days you can have a batch of
days you can have a batch of meat meat of the future could be local
meat meat of the future could be local it could be Regional just like you go
it could be Regional just like you go out and see beer being made you could
out and see beer being made you could also go and see how your Meats being
also go and see how your Meats being made
made M this is all chicken I was going to ask
M this is all chicken I was going to ask you about the ingredient label it'll be
you about the ingredient label it'll be chicken
chicken cells when we started off that small
cells when we started off that small piece would be a couple of thousand
piece would be a couple of thousand dollar and the challenge is to makeing
dollar and the challenge is to makeing it at a cost that is Affordable
it at a cost that is Affordable ultimately in 5 to 10 years we'll be
ultimately in 5 to 10 years we'll be able to get to prices that are very
able to get to prices that are very similar to what people will be used to
similar to what people will be used to paying for let's say an animal that is
paying for let's say an animal that is butchered
right could have fooled me in fact we were fooled we
me in fact we were fooled we subsequently learned that the chicken
subsequently learned that the chicken breast I sampled did not come from the
breast I sampled did not come from the tanks we were shown but from a more
tanks we were shown but from a more costly and labor intensive process the
costly and labor intensive process the technology to produce whole cut chicken
technology to produce whole cut chicken at scale is not as close as the industry
at scale is not as close as the industry would have us
believe if alternative meat products can help shrink the industrial meat system
help shrink the industrial meat system that' be great but I think there is a
that' be great but I think there is a place for animals in American
place for animals in American Agriculture and any agriculture when
Agriculture and any agriculture when it's done sustainably and animals are
it's done sustainably and animals are used in such a way that they're feeding
used in such a way that they're feeding the soil feeding the plants uh that you
the soil feeding the plants uh that you have this closed loop of animals and
have this closed loop of animals and plants recycling nutrients that's a
plants recycling nutrients that's a sustainable Farm to me so I don't think
sustainable Farm to me so I don't think the goal needs to be eliminating meat
the goal needs to be eliminating meat but we sure need to shrink the meat
but we sure need to shrink the meat system there's no question about
system there's no question about [Music]
that last Friday I resigned uh from my position as a uh Pioneer Seed rep so
position as a uh Pioneer Seed rep so that I can put a lot more focus into uh
that I can put a lot more focus into uh this project that's called the stock
this project that's called the stock Cropper I think a lot of people will
Cropper I think a lot of people will look at it and think Zach you're
look at it and think Zach you're completely insane it's probably uh
Coastline replication that's what's powerful not consolidation
there is another way here that we can be proud
proud of we got really good at fishing right
of we got really good at fishing right too good maybe we'll really get good at
too good maybe we'll really get good at Solutions this time
Solutions this time [Music]
around here in Florida the fair food program has implemented agreements with
program has implemented agreements with Growers from the AG cultural
industry now there is a code of conduct that guarantees that the abuses that
that guarantees that the abuses that happen will not be
happen will not be tolerated workers are protected to speak
tolerated workers are protected to speak free of
free of retaliation and they receive a bonus at
retaliation and they receive a bonus at the end of the week so it's an increase
the end of the week so it's an increase in
in [Music]
[Music] wages when we signed the fair food
wages when we signed the fair food agreement I got some some pretty nasty
agreement I got some some pretty nasty phone calls from our competitors SL
phone calls from our competitors SL friends in the industry does it impact
friends in the industry does it impact my bottom line sure but doing the right
my bottom line sure but doing the right thing running a clean business is always
thing running a clean business is always going to cost more than Breaking the
going to cost more than Breaking the [ __ ]
[ __ ] law today 90% of the tomatoes being
law today 90% of the tomatoes being produced in Florida are covered by the
produced in Florida are covered by the fair food
fair food agreement and 14 corporations that buy
agreement and 14 corporations that buy from this grow
from this grow have signed on to
have signed on to it but not everybody has come on board W
it but not everybody has come on board W these decided to actually cut purchases
these decided to actually cut purchases from Growers for adhering to the fairf
from Growers for adhering to the fairf food program instead they went to Mexico
food program instead they went to Mexico to buy from Mega Farms that do not
to buy from Mega Farms that do not respect the rights of the
respect the rights of the workers if Wendy's were to join the fair
workers if Wendy's were to join the fair food program and pay an extra penny a
food program and pay an extra penny a pound to farm workers it would cost
pound to farm workers it would cost maybe $500,000 a year it's a tiny
maybe $500,000 a year it's a tiny portion of their annual revenue and
portion of their annual revenue and might increase the cost of a Wendy's
might increase the cost of a Wendy's hamburger by
hamburger by 130th of a
130th of a penny there are other corporations that
penny there are other corporations that refuse to participate on the fair food
refuse to participate on the fair food program but if they would sign onto it
program but if they would sign onto it then we would see an increas in wages of
then we would see an increas in wages of almost double
almost double and now the fair food program has become
and now the fair food program has become the blueprint for labor relationships in
the blueprint for labor relationships in many other parts of that
country in Latin America many countries are making progress to reduce
are making progress to reduce consumption of outr processed
foods in Chile they used black warning labels saying too much sugar too much
labels saying too much sugar too much saturated fat too much
saturated fat too much calories and in Mexico for instance they
calories and in Mexico for instance they say if a product has a warning lab they
say if a product has a warning lab they cannot have any other thing saying the
cannot have any other thing saying the product is good no Health
claims in Brazil every day we have 40 million meals prepar in public schools
the Brazilian diic policy is that real food is essential cooking is essential
food is essential cooking is essential and basically avoiding outer processed
foods children that have access to this program really are acquiring healthy
program really are acquiring healthy eating
eating habits
for this program promotes the demand for healthy
healthy foods the municipalities they are
foods the municipalities they are obliged by law to buy unprocessed and
obliged by law to buy unprocessed and minimally processed
minimally processed foods and they should buy 30% of food
foods and they should buy 30% of food from local family farmers
come on guys get in line normally school districts purchase
line normally school districts purchase food from a Distribution Company but the
food from a Distribution Company but the camn city school district is now
camn city school district is now providing food direct from the farmers
providing food direct from the farmers to the table right in our school
to the table right in our school cafeterias we have asparagus fries today
cafeterias we have asparagus fries today with Parmesan it's so successful there
with Parmesan it's so successful there are more students selecting salads than
are more students selecting salads than ever there was a time where they're
ever there was a time where they're going to walk past it get a cheeseburger
going to walk past it get a cheeseburger get tenders get
get tenders get whatever to be able to serve fresh fresh
whatever to be able to serve fresh fresh fresh produce straight from the farm it
fresh produce straight from the farm it makes all the difference in the
makes all the difference in the world it makes them want to come to
world it makes them want to come to school yeah we're partnering with the
school yeah we're partnering with the common market to build relationships
common market to build relationships with our local farmers so those were
with our local farmers so those were grown on farms near here we saw there
grown on farms near here we saw there needed to be a link that connected
needed to be a link that connected communities like ours with the abundance
communities like ours with the abundance of farmland and the abundance of good
of farmland and the abundance of good food that's grown in our region
food that's grown in our region it's largely federal policy that is
it's largely federal policy that is supporting these large multinational
supporting these large multinational companies who are selling cheap and
companies who are selling cheap and processed
processed food programs like ours demonstrate the
food programs like ours demonstrate the kind of policy change that we want to
kind of policy change that we want to see policy that's beneficial for both
see policy that's beneficial for both farmers in rural places and urban
do you feel good about hearing today yeah the Coalition around these
yeah the Coalition around these nutrition issues has grown from family
nutrition issues has grown from family Farmers to civil rights activists to
Farmers to civil rights activists to environmental justice people they see
environmental justice people they see this potential Coalition that could
this potential Coalition that could really make real
really make real change good luck thank you very much I'm
change good luck thank you very much I'm now the chairperson of a powerful
now the chairperson of a powerful subcommittee on
subcommittee on nutrition and I want to be a part of
nutrition and I want to be a part of letting people know a lot of these de
letting people know a lot of these de pressing realities that moved me to want
pressing realities that moved me to want to deal with our food
system so it's uh tremendous privilege and responsibility to focus Washington
and responsibility to focus Washington on an issue that I believe is at the
on an issue that I believe is at the center of human life American life now
center of human life American life now let's be clear the majority of our food
let's be clear the majority of our food system is being now controlled by just a
system is being now controlled by just a handful of big multinational
handful of big multinational corporations these food companies
corporations these food companies carefully for uh formulate and Market
carefully for uh formulate and Market nutrient poor addictive ultr processed
nutrient poor addictive ultr processed foods which now comprise
foods which now comprise 2third of the calories in children and
2third of the calories in children and teens in their diets in the United
teens in their diets in the United States and these companies want us to
States and these companies want us to believe that the resultant diet related
believe that the resultant diet related diseases such as obesity and diabetes
diseases such as obesity and diabetes are somehow a moral failing that they
are somehow a moral failing that they represent a lack of willpower or a
represent a lack of willpower or a failure to get enough
failure to get enough exercise that that is just a lie it's a
exercise that that is just a lie it's a lie and so I believe we need to rethink
lie and so I believe we need to rethink the way we approach food and nutrition
the way we approach food and nutrition policy Our Lives literally depend upon
policy Our Lives literally depend upon it by fixing our food system we will
it by fixing our food system we will create health and well-being in in every
create health and well-being in in every aspect of our lives but the forces of
aspect of our lives but the forces of Washington right now are really invested
Washington right now are really invested in sustaining these broken systems
in sustaining these broken systems because it's creating big profit for
because it's creating big profit for very powerful interests Tyson Foods in
very powerful interests Tyson Foods in the last quarter of
the last quarter of 2021 their net income Rose from
2021 their net income Rose from $469 million to $1.2 billion that's one
$469 million to $1.2 billion that's one quarter okay I've got a piece of
quarter okay I've got a piece of legislation right now to put more
legislation right now to put more transparency on those big meat packing
transparency on those big meat packing companies and have a special
companies and have a special investigator with subpoena power make
investigator with subpoena power make sure these folks aren't doing antitrust
sure these folks aren't doing antitrust activities but make no mistake there's
activities but make no mistake there's going to be a lot of money thrown
going to be a lot of money thrown against me they're going to say we're
against me they're going to say we're not going to let some big moue senator
not going to let some big moue senator from Montana stop us and so bring it on
from Montana stop us and so bring it on guys how' the hearing go really well
guys how' the hearing go really well yeah now we're being filmed doing an
yeah now we're being filmed doing an illegal activity where Jay walks in here
illegal activity where Jay walks in here I think the light's going to change for
I think the light's going to change for us maybe you think so sometimes the law
us maybe you think so sometimes the law has to catch up to where you are that's
has to catch up to where you are that's [Music]
[Music] right I really think that this is a
right I really think that this is a moment in history where we can expand
moment in history where we can expand the Innovations going on in the American
the Innovations going on in the American food system to show people that there's
food system to show people that there's a better way of doing
this it's all doable it's all fixable if we tackle the big problem of antitrust
we tackle the big problem of antitrust and agricultural
and agricultural policy we need to change the incentives
policy we need to change the incentives so the government is subsidizing healthy
so the government is subsidizing healthy calories not unhealthy healthy calories
calories not unhealthy healthy calories just imagine if the government decided
just imagine if the government decided to step in on the side of the consumer
to step in on the side of the consumer and the citizen rather than on the side
and the citizen rather than on the side of the big food
of the big food companies we had a pandemic and saw how
companies we had a pandemic and saw how brittle things were so let's create
brittle things were so let's create resiliency by empowering the folks that
resiliency by empowering the folks that raise their food in our local and
raise their food in our local and Regional Food
Regional Food Systems the future doesn't have to be
Systems the future doesn't have to be cornfield after cornfield if we want to
cornfield after cornfield if we want to see change happen we have to change
see change happen we have to change agricultural
agricultural policy we get the right policy and we'll
policy we get the right policy and we'll start taking care of our soils which in
start taking care of our soils which in turn makes healthy food like it's not
turn makes healthy food like it's not rocket
rocket science this is our chance to chart a
science this is our chance to chart a new course we can actually grow good
new course we can actually grow good food create good jobs while we're also
food create good jobs while we're also healing the planet that's sort of the
healing the planet that's sort of the world I I I'd love to live in
I want to see everybody treated fairly we are the ones that make this
fairly we are the ones that make this company successful who runs this Taco
company successful who runs this Taco Bell
Bell we I want to see life I want to see
we I want to see life I want to see people living life not just fighting to
survive we can have a food system that produces healthy food for
produces healthy food for consumers that provides a safe workplace
consumers that provides a safe workplace and decent wages to workers that treats
and decent wages to workers that treats animals like they're living beings and
animals like they're living beings and not industrial
not industrial Commodities that treats the land in a
Commodities that treats the land in a way that's sustainable and not
way that's sustainable and not destructive we not only can do it we
destructive we not only can do it we have
to This Land Is Your Land [Music]
[Music] this land is my
California well to the New York island from the Redwood
island from the Redwood Forest to the G stream
Waters I tell you this land was made for you and
land was made for you and [Music]
[Music] me as I went
me as I went walking down that ribbon of a
highway I sound of me all that endless
Skyway now I saw below me that golden
valy and I said this land was made for you and
land was made for you and [Music]
[Music] me as I was
walking now they tried to stop me they pull up a sign that
me they pull up a sign that said always said private
property well on the back side you know it said
side you know it said nothing so it must be that
nothing so it must be that side was made for you and me
[Music] one bright sunny
one bright sunny morning well in the shadow of the
morning well in the shadow of the Steep down by the Ware of
Steep down by the Ware of f i saw my
f i saw my people you know now they still hungry
people you know now they still hungry [Music]
[Music] I stood
I stood wondering I was Wonder it if this
wondering I was Wonder it if this land was made for you and
land was made for you and [Music]
[Music] me this land is your
are to stand in our L we all down to
L we all down to Georgia a don't forget to say
Georgia a don't forget to say Philadelphia a we M on down to
Philadelphia a we M on down to Mississippi a Houston Texas
Mississippi a Houston Texas La hey you know this land is your
La hey you know this land is your land I
land I this land is my
this land is my land oh this land is your land oh you
land oh this land is your land oh you got to believe oh it's
got to believe oh it's my
[Applause] oh oo this man was made for you and
me made for you and me a this land this is your
is your [Music]
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