FARMAGEDDON: The Unseen War On American Family Farms

On Tuesday, May 1 at 7:30 a powerful new documentary about the unseen war on American family farmers, and the escalating fight for food rights in America will screen with discussion and reception on Tuesday, May 1 at 7:30pm at the Let’s Eat: Food on Film  Series Co-Presented by Slow Food Huntington at Cinema Arts Centre, 423 Park Ave, Huntington 631-423-7611 www.CinemaArtsCentre.org  http://www.cinemaartscentre.org/event/3161/ 

Guest Speaker: Andrea Mastellone, Weston A. Price Foundation / Farm-to-Consumer Legal Defense Fund

$9 Members / $13 Public / Includes reception. Tickets can be purchased online, www.CinemaArtsCentre.org at the box office during theatre hours or by calling Brown Paper Tickets at 1-800-838-3006. 

Americans’ right to access fresh, healthy foods of their choice is under attack. Farmageddon tells the story of small, family farms that were providing safe, healthy foods to their communities and were forced to stop, sometimes through violent action, by agents of misguided government bureaucracies. Filmmaker Kristin Canty’s quest to find healthy food for her four children turned into an educational journey to discover why access to these foods was being threatened. What she found were policies that favor agribusiness and factory farms over small family-operated farms selling fresh foods to their communities. Instead of focusing on the source of food safety problems — most often the industrial food chain — policymakers and regulators implement and enforce solutions that target and often drive out of business small farms that have proven themselves more than capable of producing safe, healthy food, but buckle under the crushing weight of government regulations and excessive enforcement actions.  

Farmageddon highlights the urgency of food freedom, encouraging farmers and consumers alike to take action to preserve individuals’ rights to access food of their choice and farmers’ rights to produce these foods safely and free from unreasonably burdensome regulations. The film serves to put policymakers and regulators on notice that there is a growing movement of people aware that their freedom to choose the foods they want is in danger, a movement that is taking action with its dollars and its voting power to protect and preserve the dwindling number of family farms that are struggling to survive.  

Slow Food Huntington is the local chapter of Slow Food USA, an International non-profit that seeks to promote food systems that are Good, Clean and Fair. Slow Food USA offers educational events and activities to promote sustainability and biodiversity and connect farmers, cooks, educators, students and everyone else who cares about their food and the environment. http://www.slowfoodusa.org
Visit Slow Food Huntington on Facebook <http://www.facebook.com/pages/Slow-Food-Huntington/111833608364>
Slow Food Huntington Contacts: Ann Rathkopf (631) 697-8228 ann@maiarellistudio.com  Bhavani Jaroff  (516) 238-3616 Bhavani@ieatgreen.com

Let’s Eat! Films on Food is an ongoing series at Cinema Arts Centre exploring the world of food, including informative insights into common and rarely seen ingredients, the different mechanisms used to get food on all of our plates, and the current trends in the food industry. Programs include receptions with health-conscious food choices, and often feature cooking demonstrations that complement the theme of the film.

Story by Susan Finkelstein