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Background

The majority of the European farmers has been ruined by the so called “Green Revolution”. From two million farms in Germany in 1950 less than 400 000 survived, which means less than 20%. Together with the family farms animal breeds and plant varieties unsuited for industrial production disappeared. Similarly traditional products, such as local cheeses or sausages and handed down recipes vanished. Now the globalisation exports the ruin of family farming worldwide, simultaneously with consequences like dependence on agricultural and chemical companies.

The Film

The Mauritanian camel milk dairy at the edge of the Sahara, the First Nation People in Minnesota, harvesting rice with their canoes and the cheese producers in Gouda/Netherlands have the same adversary, the industrial agriculture and the global trade. It is not the farmers of the industrial countries who profit from globalisation, but the agrarian-industry. The small scale producers are the victims, whether they are fishermen, nomads or farmers, whether they live in Europe, the USA or in the developing countries.

Trade barriers and competing cheap imports, patents, dependence on seed producers and chemical companies are the weapons in the war against small scale producers. „If we will not be able to keep our food and agriculture GMO-free, we will never ever be able to defend any other freedom”, is the provoking statement by Vandana Shiva. She is known worldwide as a radical fighter against global players who make their money out of resources like water and seeds.

It’s up 2 u – you decide! You decide by what you buy whether the farmland is being polluted and the animals are tormented in factory farming, whether there is biodiversity and diversity of goods or the same industrial products worldwide. The money we spend has probably more impact on political decisions than the cross on our ballot papers.