Food for thought – The hidden realities of farming (1/2) | DW Documentary
Where does our food come from, and where does it end up? This two-part series looks at the journey from production to plate, exploring the hidden world behind the food we eat. *[Part 2 will be released next week]*
In “Food for Thought,” photographer and filmmaker Kadir van Lohuizen embarks on an investigative journey into the food we eat each day. His research takes him to the US, China, the Netherlands, Kenya, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates—exposing the problems and contradictions of globalized food production.
“Food for Thought” delves into global challenges of food sustainability in different parts of the world. In the US, where climate change is wreaking havoc, high-tech farming is being touted as a potential savior. China, on the cutting edge of agricultural research, balances traditional farming with AI-driven innovation in order to feed its vast population. Kenya, sometimes called Europe’s vegetable garden, has to balance ethics and economics with its massive export industry. Meanwhile, in the arid landscapes of Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, ambitious efforts towards food self-sufficiency reveal the paradoxes of farming in the desert.
“Food for Thought” is a wake-up call for global agriculture, asking the question: How can we secure the future of our food supply without further endangering our planet?
#documentary #dwdocumentary #dwdocs #food #farming
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Video “Food for thought – The hidden realities of farming (1/2) | DW Documentary” was uploaded on 10/09/2025 by DW Documentary Youtube channel.



































Well produced and presented documentary. This is insightful and top notch ❤👏🏿👏🏿👏🏿👏🏿👏🏿
Very informational it's a sad thing there's got to be a better way
All this horror and torture so people can have a 10 minute taste sensation. We deserve our destroyed earth
A 10 acre automated hydro lettuce factory produces as much as 300 acres traditionally. What they don't tell you:
– Thousands of acres of land destroyed to extract and process metal ore needed for all those automated farm machines.
– Lots of energy used to process the ore and produce these machines and to ship materials each step of the way.
– Energy comes from somewhere, so even more infrastructure and resources needed for that.
– Are there long term studies regarding consumption of plants grow in a sterile, natural-microbe free environment? Or guts were not designed for sterile food.
They want you to eat crickets and be happy.
Cow farts DO NOT affect global atmosphere. The native buffalo herds of long ago outnumbered today's cows but they didn't affect a thing, except make the great plains fertile. If farming was more natural, there would be zero pollution and an abundance of fertility.
Feed to meat efficiency:
Cows 8:1
Pigs 6:1
Chickens 4:1
Rabbits 3:1
The last one can be kept in small spaces, fed lawn "weeds", easy and quick to process, lots of fast and healthy meat that can be done in a backyard. Food for thought 🤔
Grow your food or find someone local that does. If this video doesn't put you off of factory farming, watch Food Inc.
Excellent Documentary as usual; Thank you DW!
NO MORE Manufacturing farming. That's why I don't eat Pork or the sacred milk cow. You can be a birdaterian. Or fishaterians. Return to community family farming in 2026.
2026 is a New Beginning, return to Southern community family farms Wells fireplace community garden hens for eggs. Homeschooling for our children. Chieftest Cynthie ggrandpa President James Polk. I don't drink milk at all and I'm age 63 descendent of Freedmen Indians Broken Treaties of 1866. Many pure Indians are lactose intolerant.
Because of China's unwillingness of importing US's soybean, a trade war is sadly in brewing. Before the trade war, much of the soybean China imported was from US rather than Brazil "whoes soybean production is the main contributor to the deforestation of the Amazon". Please have some factual ethos when taking on such an important issue. Failing to do so, the credibility of the Documentary would be in doubt.
Great documentary
So glad you covered this topic.
I wish they'd stop showing how those indoor automated lettuce farms are gonna replace beef production. There is no calories in lettuce! It is a garnish at best.
Nature is relentless and we would be in the place of cows if we were slightly less intelligent. Nature kind of did us a favour.
How is feeding a newborn calf formula, looking after the calf well? Humans are the only species that drinks the milk of another species – WE DON'T NEED IT!!!!!
When do the baby chickens become nuggets yum yum
If… Brasil, India and China produce all soja?
And… USA doesn't produce any soja?
Does it mean that USA….??? I'll get You incarcerated…
Boycott US agri products, let them feed there own. Its a selfish country.
Brilliant. Why not plant trees within the large dairy and beef farms?
The cows in our farm are family.We may not produce much as the US but atleast we care for the cows ourselves.The cows don't give much but give us quality milk.We share the same with their calves.
Eating meet is a choice which I don’t have a problem with but, seeing these videos makes me glad I’m vegan
This is 100% Appalling.
I feel nauseous 😢
A meat factory. It's not farming anymore. Hasn't been farming in over 100 years.
Half way & sure see a vegan push. Look up the men I mention! The entire industrial model is easily replaced with Holistic Regenerative Grazing & Permaculture By Design Sciences. Men such as Allan Savory, Gabe Brown, Joel Salatin, & Geoff Lawton have proved we can eat hundreds of plant & animal species growing together mostly ranging free! We can grow 98 percent of any city foods in & around city limits but people all want their monoculture lifestyle &waxed apples sokd in pre-bagged form. To what end? The larger the industrial farm the larger it is subsidized by tax payers & farmer can hardly buy food. Meanwhile Dust Bowl Years are returning. Rain no lknger penetrates. These shows say animals contribute methane but fail to say how many elephants, buffalo, whales…….. used to fart. 😢 They are shell gaming you. Soon just as lettuce farm has no employees it will all ve that. Trillionares & robots.
China is far more advanced…
Nothing ever changes or will sadly
USA is not a country it's a business and most of countries wants to be like USA
And the cruel people people are the Americans
And the rest of world wants to be like American
Brave new world
Its only for controlling the people this is not food safety.
quite interesting. Nutritionally, we really don't need meat. in fact, it's increasing heart disease and diabetes quite a bit.
we abuse animals so we can overproduce food and Americans can grow to 600lbs yayyy
DW, wheres 4K quality?