Director's Statement from Singeli Agnew and Joshua Fisher about "Pollen Nation"

From the beginning, we were interested in the idea of a science film that felt more like an American road movie. It was also clear to us that this was not just a story about bees and a little known migratory subculture, but a much larger tale about agriculture, and the human relationship with the natural world.

We started Pollen Nation in the fall of 2006, well before the news of a great bee die-off swept through the media. In the middle of production, two of our characters - Jeff Anderson and Dave Hackenberg - lost a substantial number of hives to what later became known as colony collapse disorder. We were suddenly in the midst of a national story, one which had been developing for years but which most people thought was brand new. Meanwhile the beekeepers had their heads in their hives simply trying to keep themselves in business. For many, this was just another setback in a long string of troubles.

What struck us about the news, and the public anxiety that followed, is that there was a great focus on finding a single culprit. After delving into the issues it was clear that there was not an isolated solution – identifying a pest, eliminating GM crops or a specific pesticide. This was a chronic problem, intimately connected to the demands of industrial agriculture that sustain our food economy. The beekeepers, in their struggle to keep their businesses alive, are caught in a cycle of short-term fixes that is leading to the long-term collapse of the honeybee. And modern agriculture, with its emphasis on efficiency and profit, has exploited the natural interactions that sustain it to the breaking point.

We've drawn inspiration from the ancient tragedies; the archetype of the tragic Greek hero and structural elements such as the Greek chorus. The beekeepers, like Aristotle's tragic heroes, are trying to do the right thing in a situation where the right thing cannot be done. Their livelihood is linked to an agricultural system that places unsustainable demands on the creatures in their care. Our relationship with the bee – one that once was revered as sacred – has become one of dominion and exploitation.

Pollen Nation is the first film to delve into the issues behind the bee die-off that plagued beekeepers this year, but it goes way beyond the headlines (this year’s problems were simply a crisis on top of a crisis, as May Berenbaum puts it) to deliver a clear-eyed message about the fragility and hubris of this industrialized food system. The beekeepers speak for themselves, painfully aware of their reliance on an agricultural system that is faltering at its base.

We hope that after watching Pollen Nation, our audience will not only better understand the honeybee problem, but also the importance of supporting farming and land use that works with - rather than against – natural systems: it's not just the bees or the beekeepers who caught up in this flawed cycle, but all of us.

Farm Facts

Farm Facts
Re-printed from Miranda Productions.com

Only 0.2% of U.S. population is producing most of its food. The average age of U.S. farmers is currently fifty-six.
US Census Bureau

We suffer a net loss of 32,500 farms a year. 88% of average farm household income is derived from off-farm.
PrairieFire for Rural Action

U.S. farmers apply nearly 45 billion pounds of synthetic fertilizers each year. From 1990-1994, food processors and manufacturers showed an annual average return on their investment of 17.9%. Farmers during the same period showed a 1.98% return on their investment.
PrairieFire for Rural Action

In 1971 a new tractor cost $20,000 and wheat was $1.71 a bushel. In 1994 a new tractor of the same horsepower cost $100,000 and a bushel of wheat was $2.66.
Des Moines Register 7/16/94

Soil loss costs the U.S. economy around $44 billion a year. Worldwide, the number is well over $200 billion.
Dr. David Pimentel, Science magazine

Every pregnant woman in the world today has chemicals in her body that disrupt the endocrine system. These are transferred to the fetus as it grows. She also has measurable concentrations of endocrine disruptors in her milk that are transferred to the infant.
ERICE Statement 5/30/96

The World Resources Institute reports that, measured by traditional methods, the average farm shows an $80 per acre profit. If we calculate in all the costs of soil loss, water contamination, and environmental degradation caused by conventional farming practices, the average farm would show a $29 per acre loss.

Food in supermarkets travels an average of 1300 miles between production and consumption.

Out of every dollar Americans spend for food, ten cents goes to Phillip Morris, and six cents goes to Conagra.
PrairieFire for Rural Action

In a USDA study of twelve common food crops, from 35% to 80% of all samples tested had residues from one or more pesticides. This was after the samples had been washed, peeled and cored. In these residues were 12 different carcinogens, 17 different neurotoxins, and 11 different endocrine disruptors.
Environmental Working Group

Tree bark gathered from ninety sites around the world, from the tropics to the treeline, bears traces of chemicals related to DDT, lindane, chlordane, aldrin, and to 18 other pesticides and fungicides. Some chemicals used decades ago are still affecting the environment, often thousands of miles from where they were sprayed.
Associated Press 9/30/95

4.7 billion pounds of pesticides are annually applied to food crops worldwide. 1.25 billion pounds of pesticides were used in the U.S. in 1995, an all-time high.
EPA draft document June 1996

Assault rifles kill an estimated 250 people each year and pesticides kill an estimated 10,400 people each year, yet assault rifles have been banned while the use of pesticides is expanding.
Environmental News Weekly

Every spring, 18,000 pounds per day of herbicides wash down the Mississippi and into the Gulf of Mexico.
Environmental Working Group

Between 1950 (the beginning of the Chemical Age) and 1988, the incidence of all forms of cancer increased by 43.5%, adjusted for age. Mortality rates from cancer rose by 2.9%.
Environmental News Weekly

In the United States, despite the use of pesticides, 35% of potential crops are lost to insects, diseases, and weeds. In 1945, before synthetic pesticides came into use, crop losses were 33%.
Dr. David Pimentel, Cornell University

Sales of U.S. organic products increased from $2.31 billion in 1994 to $2.8 billion in 1995. This is a 22% increase, and the sixth year in which sales have grown by more than 20%.
Natural Foods Merchandiser survey, June 1996

The USDA states that total organic cropland is approximately 1,127,000 acres in 1996, up from an estimated 550,267 acres in 1991. The number of organic farmers almost doubled between 1991 and 1994, increasing from 2,841 to 4,060.