Tuesday, March 9, 2010

Farmville Files: Where Does Food Come From?



Compiled by Matthew Fluharty and Ian Halbert

From our ongoing investigation:

Exhibit K: The video above is from the first episode of celebrity chef Jamie Oliver's new series Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution. Here, Oliver is offering a first grade classroom in Huntington, West Virginia a pop quiz on basic vegetables. 

Exhibit L: An excerpt from "Not Quite Urban Farming," an article by Rachel Brugger in the Spring 2010 issue of Urban Farm:
When the Zynga company came up with the farming concept, they believed it would unite people from different backgrounds. As players have found, the game can be quite addicting, but not necessarily reflective of life on the farm.

"It doesn't deal anything with crop rotation to save nutrients in the soil and erosion from over-farming. You get the same price whenever you sell or harvest crops," says Kristen Everman, a Farmville player in Ohio who spent summers on a real farm growing up.
Exhibit M: But that's not to say that experts aren't available to "help you feel great about your farm:"