Ethical Issues In King Corn

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Corn is one of the principle agricultures in the United States. King corn is a documentary film made by two college students Ian Cheney and Curt Ellis. They made this documentary in order to know more about the importance of the agriculture in American life. In fact, the interest of the two students in corn agriculture originated after the shocking results which show that the body of American people is made of corn. Moreover, the two students discovered that all products in American markets are made by corn, including meets where lambs, pigs, and chickens are fed by corn.
The film discusses many issues in American economy such as the overproducing of resources. America is overproducing corn and using it in everything from food to fuel. But the film shows how this process is not totally good or bad. There are positives and negatives to the overproduction of food. One major benefit is decreasing the prices of food. The cheap costs of food achieve a kind of food security in the society so that people in the country can provide themselves and their families with different kinds of food. On the other hand, there are many negative consequences of decreasing the prices of food which is caused by overproducing. …show more content…

Butz, the secretary of Agriculture in Nixon’s era who changed the U.S. farm program by supporting farmers to invest more areas and plant them with corn to increase the crop. Butz states in an interview with the filmmakers that under the old farm program, “We paid farmers not to produce, one of the stupidest things we ever did, I think.” According to Butz, increasing agricultural production in this country will drive food prices down. In Butz’s opinion, the small farms cannot compete and cannot make any difference in prices. For these reasons, when Butz was a secretary of agriculture told the farmers “get big or get out”. In fact, this policy was a win for major agribusiness corporations, but a disaster for small family

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