King Corn, Research Paper Example

In an unexpectedly engaging way, 2007’s King Corn, a documentary tracing the efforts of two friends as they invest their energies into growing a single acre of corn, presents a fascinating look at a truly startling landscape.  The film’s technique is deceptively simple, as the enormity of the corn industry is captured through this extremely modest effort.  More to the point, and with particular meaning in environmentalist terms, King Corn conveys the real and sometimes striking omnipresence of the crop as a staple for American life and commerce.

Ian Cheney and Curt Ellis basically embark on a sort of agricultural and cultural experiment; college-age, they have witnessed rising obesity trends all around them, and this creates speculation as to just how influential corn, the mainstay of their ancestors’ livings as farmers, is today.  Through the lens of the single acre, they reason that following through on the potentials of their minimal harvest will give them a real sense of the processes by which corn contributes to diet, and in ways not especially healthy.  From the start, the young men perceive the importance of the crop, in that the government will pay them $28 to grow their acre.  Then, the planting itself is undertaken in a completely modern way, as genetically modified (GM) seeds are sown in soil treated with ammonia fertilizer.  These actions, echoed by agribusinesses of great scale, go to creating one result: the highest possible yield.  It is disconcerting in environmentalist terms to accept that such artificial processes are required by the demands for the corn, as Cheney and Ellis are intrigued by how high-tech, and non-rural, their farming seems to be.

It is what happens when the corn is ready for harvest, however, that raises some serious issues, both for the young farmers and for the viewer.  They first investigate the use of their corn as cattle feed, and consequently learn of controversies here based on altering traditional feed.  As a rancher informs them, grass is the correct food for cows, but market size and demands have changed their diet.  Simply, it is far less expensive to raise and feed cattle in a confined environment, and corn permits this.  Corn-fed beef is less nutritious and more fatty, and the cows themselves suffer poor health from it, but the difference to the beef industry is too astronomical to forgo.  There are other consequences, as when  relentless efforts to improve and refine yield led to the GM Starlink product in 1998, a corn intended only for cattle consumption.  Unfortunately, the milling processes allowed for Starlink to enter into other productions and, as the GM type had not been approved for humans, massive recalls of everything from Kraft tacos to muffin mixes were mandated (Grace, 2006, p. 170).  From an environmentalist point of view, the lesson learned is critical; corn, merely by virtue of its presence in so many variations of food, must be regulated with absolute efficiency.  Also, and given the inescapable reality of the food chain, it is grossly irresponsible to feed one form of life with corn modified in an unhealthy way, as that life will go to feeding the society.

Equally pertinent to human diet, Cheney and Ellis also explore corn syrup.  The humor of their attempts to make this in their own kitchen gives way to a larger and disturbing reality, as they learn how the sweetener encourages Type II diabetes in urban communities.  This section of the film follows a sad and informative trajectory, even if one made entertaining.  From planting to unloading their corn, the men have come to see a vast and irresponsible network of commercial and industrial supply and demand essentially perverting a natural product.  Nutrition, it seems, is not a concern, nor is maintaining the environmental integrity of the farming.  New GM alterations are continually explored in corn production, simply because billions of dollars of related industries depend upon more of the product.  King Corn is amusing and skillfully done, but the greater part of its impact lies in just how removed from its natural state corn today actually is.

References

Grace, Eric S.  (2006).  Biotechnology Unzipped: Promises and Realities. Washington, D.C.: Joseph Henry Press.

Woolf, Aaron (Director). (2007).  King Corn (Documentary). United States: ITVS.