Yeah what a way to start off a film, but that's the way King Corn made its debut today in New York City.  As you already know  I'm a vegetarian and I absolutely do not eat any food items that include corn syrup or high fructose corn syrup, but I have to tell you by the end of the film I felt that I should have my hair analyzed too. 

We grow a whole lot of corn in this country.  Try 90 million acres planted this year.  Friends Ian Cheney and Curt Ellis who made the film King Corn in Greene, Iowa demonstrate how and why farmers grow corn by growing just one acres worth which in the 21st century will yield 200 bushels.  That yield helps to outpace the newest of grain elevators which stretch as high as the eye can see.  Images flash across the screen of mountains of corn kernels.  The Swiss Alps having nothing on us--no kidding.  Bittersweet farming events in Iowa include the controlled burn of outdated two-story grain storage buildings.

And oh my god are we in even more trouble than that.  Think about this...60% of a cow's daily diet is corn.  And that's not the corn you and I expect to get when we sit down at the table.  That's genetically modified, starchy crap you couldn't eat if it were boiled for a week and then slathered in butter and salt.  It's corn grown for feed and to be turned into high fructose corn syrup.  That means that the hamburger you just bought at McDonald's is full of sugar, fat and chemicals.  Remember the old "Where's the Beef?" commercial?  Well who knew it was ahead of its time? And think about what would happen if your diet were made up of 60% of one starchy, chemically altered food?  What would that do your system?  Well it does the same thing to a cow's system so much so that cows need mega doses of antibiotics to help stem the effects.  And guess what, you're consuming those antibiotics one way or another too.  That's the way our cows are fed and why?  It helps to fatten them up faster--it gets them to the slaughter houses in 150 days instead of several years.

Another point in the film that made an impression on me is the way GMO or genetically modified foods actually work.  The corn in all those fields is genetically modified which means it is "linked" to specific pesticides.  In other words, the weeds in our corn fields can be killed by pesticides that do not harm the corn because the corn has been chemically altered to resist the pesticide.  But this also means that you have to grow the specifically altered corn that matches the weeds in your fields and of course use the appropriately linked pesticide.  Why the hell did feeding us have to be come so technical?

This all started with farm subsidies and Americans supposed desire for cheap, abundant food supplies.  Frankly, I think that's a load of crap.  I never remember begging Congress for cheap, worthless food.  I don't remember asking for supermarket aisles full of 50 different kinds of sodas, chips and cookies.  Did you call your Senator or Congress person and specifically ask for this?  No, of course not.  The trouble is we're not calling them to rebel either.

One could be other worldly about this and wonder what an alien would think if he/she were looking down on all of this. Frankly though, I just wonder what the Amish think.  And yet just one more reason to Buy Local!

Go see King Corn.  You won't be loosing two hours of your life, I guarantee you could add ten years to it.  And just ignore the popcorn on your way into and out of the movie theaters unless of course it's organic and locally grown.

Editor's Note:  Here's a challenge--wouldn't it be great if we could do something truely worthwhile with all of that corn?  How about using it for packaging in place of styrofoam and other harmful materials?