Local Food Challenge - Update

Ok. The local food challenge is over, but mommy learned something really interesting last night. She went up to an old theater up on Marietta Square that has been renovated. She saw a band play, then saw a movie afterwards called "Food, Inc." (http://www.foodincmovie.com/ ) Then there was this thing called a panel (Q&A Session) after the movie which had a bunch of people talking and answering questions.

A woman from Atlanta Magazine was there (we just got her magazine the day before last and it was about local food). A guy named Farmer D was there. A guy who is a local, sustainable cattle farmer was there. A guy who is a local, sustainable hog farmer was there. A guy who is an organic vegetable farmer was there. A woman who has a small farm, but runs a group called Slow Food Atlanta was there. A woman who is heads up a farm-to-school program for Georgia Organics was there. Mommy said she learned a lot from the movie, but she learned a couple of really pertinent things specific to our state of Georgia from this panel. One of the things that we as a family were curious about was addressed in this panel last night: why we were not able to find local, sustainably produced chicken.

During the movie mommy learned about how there are just a handful of chicken companies that control the majority of chicken production in the country. Georgia is one of the largest poultry producers in the nation... and politics play a part in the reason. Supposedly, farmers are not able to "process" chicken in this state. They can raise them, then have to take them to South Carolina, for instance, to process them and then bring them back.

Interesting, huh?

Mommy said it was a good movie and would recommend going to see it.