It was not the idea that the production of food has become increasingly and almost universally industrialized that was most shocking in the film, as this has been the historical trend, but rather the fact that this history has indeed begun to repeat itself. During the Industrial Revolution and afterward, health and safety standards were either not implemented or downright ignored for the sake of production, and unethical practices existed in terms of both the product and producer. As societies have advanced, and discoveries have been made as to how dangerous these elements of production were, entities reacted accordingly, in an attempt to prevent further damage. It can be argued that this is both the governments, as well as the consumer’s role, to not only protect themselves but society as a whole through their actions. When these groups fail to perform this duty is when we as a people have truly not acted in accordance with the benefit of our shared history, and the damages incurred on those before us.

While it can be argued that the industrial system is necessary for our world today, and is unequivocally so for the American lifestyle, it is at our own peril that we fail to update this system. The idea of monopolizing the use of certain dominant kinds of seed is in line with this, drawing distinct parallels between the current day and the monopolies of the golden age of industry. It is not because the industrial system has changed to meet a new standard of efficiency, but rather that the consuming populous has become as complacent in their actions as to have allowed the degradation of the means of production. Even though to very nature of a monopoly is the crowding out of competition, and thus makes combating such a thing difficult in the present, one only needs to look at the past to observe the brand of behavior that led to the current situation and understand that the status quo will only intensify the quagmire.


Here is a U.S. government document regarding the nature of monopolies in the economy:

United States. Federal Trade Commission. J. Thomas Rosch, Commissioner. Monopolies, Innovation, and Predatory Pricing: Observations on Some Hard Questions in the Section 2 Context. Antitrust 2010 Conference: New Administrations, New Cases, and New Economic Realities in Global Markets. Los Angeles, CA: 2010. Web.