"CornFarmers" news and stories

It's not often that midwestern farmers speak out against a motion picture, but the movie Food Inc. may have hit a bit too close to home. Inspired by the blockbuster books The Omnivore's Dilemma and Fast Food Nation, the movie's criticism -- that industrialized crops are detrimental both to our bodies and the environment -- centers on corn. Hollywood has expressed its de facto support by nominating the film for Best Documentary; now the corn industry is responding. Loudly.

Bob Dickey, a farmer in Laurel, Nebraska, doesn't usually comment on the Academy's voting process, but as the chairman of the National Corn Growers Association, he has something to say. "U.S. corn farmers are proud of their work," he insisted in an official NCGA response to Food Inc. "This film's producers don't like the steps government, the food industry and commodity groups like NCGA have taken to keep food prices low and help feed the world's hungry. We have the least expensive food of any nation, and for that we're grateful."