''Bitter Seeds'' is a 2011

documentary film A documentary film or documentary is a non-fictional motion-picture intended to "document reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction, education or maintaining a historical record". Bill Nichols has characterized the documentary in te ...

by American filmmaker and director and political commentator

Micha Peled Micha X. Peled or Micha Peled is a San Francisco based Israeli film maker. He is known for his ''Globalization Trilogy'', a series of three films including '' Store Wars: When Wal-Mart Comes to Town,'China Blue'' and ''Bitter Seeds'.'' Biogra ...

. The film is the third part of Peled's globalization trilogy after '' Store Wars: When Wal-Mart Comes to Town'' (2001) and '' China Blue'' (2005).

Synopsis

Micha Peled's documentary on biotech (Bt) farming in

India India, officially the Republic of India ( Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the ...

observes the impact of genetically modified cotton on India's farmers, with a suicide rate of over a quarter million

Bt cotton Bt cotton is a genetically modified pest resistant plant cotton variety, which produces an insecticide to combat bollworm. Description Strains of the bacterium ''Bacillus thuringiensis'' produce over 200 different Bt toxins, each harmful to di ...

farmers each year due to financial stress resulting from massive crop failure and the price of Monsanto's Bt seeds. The film also disputes claims by the biotech industry that Bt cotton requires less pesticide and promises of higher yields, as farmers discover that Bt cotton requires more pesticide than organic cotton, and often suffer higher levels of infestation by

Mealybug Mealybugs are insects in the family Pseudococcidae, unarmored scale insects found in moist, warm habitats. Many species are considered pests as they feed on plant juices of greenhouse plants, house plants and subtropical trees and also act as a ...

resulting in devastating crop losses, and financial and psychological stress on cotton farmers. Due to the biotech seed monopoly in India, where Bt cotton seed has become the standard, and organic seed has become unobtainable, thus pressuring cotton farmers into signing Bt cotton seed purchase agreements with biotech

multinational corporation A multinational company (MNC), also referred to as a multinational enterprise (MNE), a transnational enterprise (TNE), a transnational corporation (TNC), an international corporation or a stateless corporation with subtle but contrasting senses, i ...

Monsanto The Monsanto Company () was an American agrochemical and agricultural biotechnology corporation founded in 1901 and headquartered in Creve Coeur, Missouri. Monsanto's best known product is Roundup, a glyphosate-based herbicide, developed i ...

Reception

Leslie Hassler in the '' Huffington Post'' called ''Bitter Seeds'' riveting and poignant, though in places incredibly painful to watch.

Awards

The documentary has won 18 international film awards, including the Green Screen Award (2011) and the Oxfam Global Justice Award (2011).

References

External links

* * 2011 films 2011 documentary films American independent films American documentary films Documentary films about agriculture Films shot in India Documentary films about India Documentary films about globalization Works about Monsanto 2011 independent films 2010s English-language films 2010s American films {{environment-documentary-film-stub