For the presentation on food and agricultural policies, I was thinking that we could trace one food product (or meal, although one product would be easier to follow) from its production to consumption, noting along the way all of the legislation and government agencies that have a hand in ensuring its quality. In order to incorporate the agricultural policies, the product would have to contain some form of a grain, fruit or vegetable. Something like frozen pizza should work sell–the vegetables in the sauce, the dough, the toppings, we should be able to follow all of it through from beginning to end. This way, at least, we could show how the policies are enacted today. The poster and our presentation could cover the more historical aspects of it.
I know that food safety policy is extremely convoluted, and I have a feeling that this video would drive some of that confusion home.
Besides, I think it’ll be easier to find clips and photos of farms and productions plants than some visual of “Food/Agricultural Policy.” And posting interviews from different “experts” from YouTube seems like it’ll be too boring–after all, nobody really watches CSPAN. And the major news networks prefer to focus on international (i.e., imported food) scandals.
I really like the idea of using pizza with the variety of foods that make up the toppings- everyone’s interested in pizza (or at least more likely to be so than in any other given meal or dish) so it seems like a great way to make an interesting and informative video. I’m interested to see how you will refine your idea. A possible thought is to focus on organic frozen pizza or pizza produced in a restaurant (either seem like they have their own special set of policies regulating them), or perhaps just consider mentioning how these products would have even more policies they must follow (good way to underscore the complexity you want to convey).
A concern I have with your video is whether you really want to “drive that confusion home.” I feel that this would likely involve making your video confusing. This is a fine approach to take if you feel that making an artful statement on the complexity of food policy is your goal; however, I think making a video that clarifies these concept for the viewers (a more concretely educational approach) would also be valuable.
That would be an interesting project to see–however, I think it will require a lot of additional research on our part. Using the food groups to flesh out an arch of government policies is definitely legit: what happened to wheat in before after Roosevelt’s New Deal etc. We shouldn’t chain ourselves to include all food groups, however. Maybe just mentioning ones that are pertinent over certain period of times. Perhaps the frozen pizza theme can come at the end, a cool breakdown we don’t have to force ourselves to backup, just propose.
I think this is a really great idea. but how are you going to get access to the process? from the start to the beginning?