TEACHING MATERIALS FOR KS 3&4: FOOD, FARMING AND GLOBALISATION Contents 03 USING THE SUPPORT LITERATURE 04 SYNOPSIS 05 STOP-THE-FILM TESTS 07 WORKSHEETS 09 GENERAL QUESTIONS 10 DISCUSSION TOPICS 11 BACKGROUND INFORMATION 11 SMITHFIELD FOODS PROFILE 19 SMITHFIELD AND SWINE FLU 22 SMITHFIELD AND JOB CUTS 24 A MULTINATIONAL AT WORK 31 PORK PRODUCTS 36 EUROPE AND THE BATTLE FOR POLISH FARMS 43 THE ROLE OF THE EUROPEAN BANK 46 ANIMAL WELFARE OR PROFITS 52 BRITAIN'S WELFARE STANDARDS 55 PIG-KEEPING: THE FIVE FREEDOMS 62 WORKING CONDITIONS IN FACTORY FARMS 64 POLLUTING PIG FARMS 67 FILM CONTROVERSY Using the e-Book toolkit The aim of this support e-Book is to help you use the video, both as a teaching and a learning resource. All the material can be photocopied for teaching purposes. Every effort has been made to make it as flexible as possible, and to be useful across the widest range of age levels and ability ranges. Stop-the-film tests are questions linked to specific sections in the video. These are designed to be attempted following a viewing of one particular section of the video and can usually be answered with relatively short responses. General questions presume one or two complete viewings of the video and are designed to be answered with longer, possibly written, responses. Discussion topics also assume reasonable familiarity with the video and are designed to stimulate group discussion of the wider issues raised by the video, These may well then form the basis of further written work. A synopsis and full script of the video are also available to make it easier not only to prepare lessons and courses, but also to relate questions and exercises to the content of the programme. Background information provides further information on the subject matter in the video together with original documents and source materials relevant to the film. The film and support material can be used together in many different ways, but one popular method is as follows. Play the film once all the way through. Then show the video again, stopping after each section to consider the stop- the-film tests. The general questions might be attempted later, drawing on the script and background information as needed. Synopsis PIG BUSINESS Four years ago seasoned campaigner, eco-warrior and mother of three Tracy Worcester set out to discover who was paying the true price for the cheap imported pork for sale in Britain's supermarkets. Documenting her investigation into intensive pig farming and the damaging impact it is having on the quality of our food, the environment, and the health and welfare of agricultural communities, the film follows Tracy as she infiltrates farms in Europe and America and confronts the biggest firm in the pig business, Smithfield Foods. The film reveals that these huge meat factories overcrowd and mistreat animals, pollute air and water in the vicinity, endanger the health of workers, local residents and consumers, and put small farmers out of business. Former workers and local residents complain of the stench of the effluent, a local doctor confirms that employees and neighbours are poisoned by the cocktail of 400 gases inside the sheds, and when waste from the putrid slurry lagoons is sprayed onto nearby fields. Living in crowded and unsanitary conditions, the pigs are routinely given antibiotics in their feed to prevent disease and promote growth. The over-use of these drugs is helping to create antibiotic resistant strains of diseases such as MRSA and E. coli which can spread into human populations and cause serious illness or even death. While the European Union subsidises this operation in the name of helping Poland become more competitive, small-scale farmer Alicia complains that the giants out-compete her traditional farming methods, as they give their animals antibiotics to make them grow faster and collect huge subsidy cheques. Tracy Worcester’s message is that as consumers, we have a choice. We need not stand by as corporations ride roughshod over communities, destroying democracy and culture. ‘’If we demand accurate supermarket labelling, so that we can buy British, and thereby support the farmers in raising their animal welfare standards, or if we reconnect direct with farmers via local butchers and farmers’ markets’’, she says, ‘’we ourselves can reclaim high- quality, small-scale humane farming, we can help restore communities, and we can protect animal welfare, the environment, and human health’’. Stop-The-Film-Tests A. Play the film until the caption WHERE IT ALL STARTED: AMERICA. Stop the film and answer the following questions. 1. Why, according to Tracy, are small family farms going bankrupt? 2. What two things has Tracy long been campaigning about? 3. Why is Tracy worried about where meat comes from? 4. Where should you go if you want to be sure about where your meat comes from? 5. In which country was intensive farming pioneered? 6. What's the problem with intensive pig farming? B. Play the film until the caption THE THREAT TO SMALL FARMS. Stop the film and answer the following questions. 1. Which industry did the American industrial pig farmers copy? 2. How many pigs might there be on an intensive farm? 3. How does cleaning the floor of the farm affect the worker interviewed? 4. What system is used to dispose of the pig waste? 5. How much faecal waste do ten million hogs produce? 6. What kind of the gas is released by the giant pig farms? 7. What do the people living near the pig farms complain of? C. Play the film until the caption HOW CAN YOU LIVE HERE? Stop the film and answer the following questions. 1. Who bought out livestock farms in the 1990s? What was the result of the drop in pig prices? 2. What price did pigs go down to in the US? 3. Who opposed the factory farming in the US? 4. What was the result of the protests against factory farming in the US? 5. Why did Smithfield Foods decide to set up operations abroad? 6. Who are Smithfield's annual sales? 7. How many pigs do Smithfield process each year? 8. How many people do Smithfield employ? 9. What was the attraction of Poland to Smithfield? Stop-The-Film-Tests D. Play the film until the caption HOW WILL POLAND’S SMALL FARMS BE AFFECTED? Stop the film and answer the following questions. 1. How many pigs were housed in the Polish factory farm in 2004? 2. What kinds of illnesses are people living near the farm experiencing? 3. What happened to children who swam in the lake near the pig farm? 4. How have fish been affected by the factory farm? 5. How did Tracy get pictures of conditions inside the factory farm? 6. How did Smithfield respond to the allegations about their lagoons and conditions 7. inside the factory farm? E. Play the film until the caption A FUTURE OF CHEAP MEAT? Stop the film and answer the following questions. 1. What problems does the small farm owner in Poland face? 2. Why do the factory farms get large EU subsidies? 3. How is Europe involved in the multinational takeover of Polish agricultural life? 4. What size loan did Smithfield receive from Europe? 5. What is the mission of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development 6. in former communist countries? 7. What is the view of the European Commission of the future for farming? F. Play the film until the caption AND WHAT ABOUT BRITAIN? Stop the film and answer the following questions. 1. What ambitions does Smithfield have for the UK? 2. What is the “food service industry”? 3. Who does Robert Kennedy claim Smithfield is doing to American food? 4. How does the Smithfield boss defend his company against Tracy’s charges? 5. What is Rick Dove’s answer to the problem of over-powerful multinationals? 6. What, according to Kennedy, are big companies doing to the small US farms? 7. Does the Smithfield boss admit his company pays politicians for their help? 8. What forces does Kennedy see as the big danger to democracy in the US? G. Play the film until the end. Then answer the following questions. 1. Why did UK farmers demonstrate in London in 2008? 2. How much of the pig meat sold in Britain comes from abroad? 3. What does the circled UK/EC mark on pork products mean? 4. How does the factory farming system put us at risk of pig MRSA? 5. How is British farming being affected by cheap imports? 6. What is Frank Henderson’s answer to the problems facing Britain’s pig farmers? 7. How can consumers make a difference? Work Sheet 1. It is important to know where our meat comes from because not all countries have the same ____________________________________________. 2. Intensive pig farming was pioneered in ______________________ and the idea was taken from the _____________________ industry. 3. Pig waste is disposed of through the _____________ and ____________ system. 4. 10 million pigs produce more faecal waste than ______________________. 5. In the 1990s ______________________ became the main buyers of US pigs. 6. Put a cross against any of the following statements that are false. a. The gas from intensive pig farms may contain up to 400 substances. b. Tracy was permitted to film inside the Polish factory farm. c. Factory farming is causing the spread of a pig form of MRSA. d. Factory farming has led to a rise in the price of pork. e. In Poland Smithfield bought the state slaughter house and 21 state farms. 7.