‘Bitter Harvest’ Delivers a Powerful Family Film You Need

[00:00:00] When Doing Everything Right Fails You
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Think about this. If reporting a problem to the right people meant it was going to get handled, then every single person, whoever filed a complaint or called the right department, went through the proper channels, would all find a solution to their problem. Every single time. But Ned DeVries called the agricultural department over and over and over again. He drove himself to the lab just to get his own test results back. And what did they tell him? " Management problems". That can't be the whole truth. Right. And what he had to do next to get anyone to finally listen. And nobody should ever have to go that far.

[00:00:39] Welcome to Wholesome TV Picks
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Welcome to Wholesome TV Picks. I'm your host, Jennifer Avila, and this is the only podcast where every recommendation is backed by 35 plus years of watching wholesome TV, so you never waste another night on the wrong pick. Let's get into it.

[00:00:56] Meet Ned DeVries and His Farm
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Ned DeVries is a Michigan farmer in [00:01:00] 1973, portrayed by Ron Howard, and the movie is called _Bitter Harvest_. He's married to his wife Kate, and they have an infant son that they are raising on their cow farm. Very quickly we noticed the first sign of a problem with his farm, and that's a sudden drop in milk production from his dairy cows.

They call the agricultural department to see if they can give him some insight into the situation, and that produces really nothing. They do some testing on the calf. Eventually Ned has to go to the department to check on the status. It turns out the test results have been sitting on the desk of the secretary and they never called him to let him know. They look at the tests and they find out that his calf died of malnutrition.

[00:01:48] Blamed for His Own Calf's Death
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The head honcho guy is just bound and determined and stands by the results and tells Ned, _Look, if the tests say your calf died of malnutrition, your calf died of _[00:02:00] _malnutrition. _In other words, _your problem could just be uh management problems._ In frustration, Ned looks at the guy and says, _You're saying that I starved my own calf, that I don't know what I'm doing._ He raises his tone and flabbergasted that they're blaming him.

You can see his frustration and Ned and Kate start seeing calves born dead, hoof deformities, eye problems, and so many other things going on.

[00:02:32] Desperate for Answers
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He asks other people in town if anybody knows what this could possibly be. He's desperate for help. During all of this, we also see his infant son develops a red rash on the side of his body. I don't wanna give away too much of this story because this movie is the Erin Brockovich of its time.

As the mystery illness at the center of the film slowly unravels, you will [00:03:00] not believe what Ned finds. And what Ned uncovers is the beginning of the biggest mistake in Michigan's agricultural industry. The unsettling part is once Ned with the help of a doctor named Dr. Freeman, a doctor that actually tells him what's making his cows sick, brings this problem to the forefront and shows evidence to the governing boards that are in charge of the farming industry. They don't wanna do anything to prevent other people from getting sick.

Ned pinpoints where the problem began. And it was with another company that makes products for all the farmers in the state of Michigan. This one mistake led to a domino effect in the food chain and ended up making Michiganders sick and it's still causing problems [00:04:00] today.

[00:04:01] Values Kids Will Learn: 1st - Persistence
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Here are some of the values your kids will learn from this family movie. First of all, persistence. That's number one. He does not take no for an answer. After weeks or months of going through proper channels , Ned has to turn his own kitchen into a lab. He finds a dead rat in his barn and he knows from being on a farm you never find just one rat. He ends up uncovering a nest of dead rats and he ends up doing a necropsy in his kitchen to find out what the cause of the deaths were. So he's at a table in his kitchen with the dead rat pinned open. You know, like, like you do with school if you're, if you do dissections in your homeschool, he is got the pins in there and he's using a knife, and he's got his farm hand looking over his left shoulder watching him, and he opens the stomach and with the tweezers, he pulls out of the rat's stomach, this round [00:05:00] metallic looking pellet in its stomach. Immediately, he knows what it is and he shows his wife and the farm hand and he ends up going immediately to the agricultural department and walks in to this conference room with five men sitting there waiting for him. He walks in, picks up a bag, and opens this bag and dumps like 20 dead rats in individual baggies that he necropsy did necropsies on, and now strewn all over the conference table. The men are like, they're shocked. He says, _you'll find the cause right there_. And they're debating with him, _Well,__ this isn't scientific. We're not a lab. We can't do these kinds of tests._

[00:05:48] Values #2 - Courage
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That brings me to the next point of courage. He's got his neighbor telling him not to make enemies of those people, that they're his advocates, his resource, and [00:06:00] he does not care. He wants answers and he does not stop asking questions.

There's a milk delivery guy, and Ned asks him, who else is having similar problems with their herd? This guy is very hesitant. He's like, _Man, the boys will have my head if I open my mouth_. Ned pleads with him and tells him,_ I've got to know_. He encourages him enough to where the truck driver has enough courage to tell Ned the name of another farmer that Ned can talk to. With the help of Dr. Freeman, they both go to meetings and they present their findings to the board.

[00:06:39] The Moment It Gets Personal
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What motivates him the most though is when he finds out that this problem is affecting the health of his wife and the health of his child. When Dr. Freeman tells them how much of a domino effect this one mistake had, The looks of horror on their face, they are just astounded. And this is [00:07:00] when it dawned on them like, oh my gosh, that's what's causing this painful rash on their son. There's no way you cannot be shocked from watching this movie.

If you're finding this helpful and you want a ready made list of family films and family TV series broken down by category, head over to my website at wholesometvpics.com and sign up for my email list.

[00:07:23] A Personal Story About Persistence
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Ned's attitude of never giving up reminds me of a time back in 2019 when my husband and I just finished our first year of owning our business. We have employees, we have to have workers' compensation insurance. I didn't know there's something called an audit at the end of every year. After they complete their audit they inform you whether or not the amount of workers' comp you paid for the previous year was enough to cover what your actual payroll was. The auditor told me we owed $8,000 more [00:08:00] for a policy that's already expired. The insurance company told us that they could not find my husband or my exceptions to payroll. We went back to our insurance agent. He said he submitted it. Even though I had copies of our exemptions. They said, _I'm sorry, Ms. Avila, we can't backdate it._

Since the insurance company wasn't being very helpful. I decided to use my connections with CBS and contacted their investigator that covers stories for consumers. I gave her the whole history in an email and waited. She emailed me back and told me that she'd look into it. The next day, she emails me and says that she made a few phone calls to the insurance company, so she said to wait a couple more days. While we're waiting. Email's still going back and forth, but the insurance company is dead set. We owed $8,000. No if and or buts about [00:09:00] it.

[00:09:00] When the System Tries to Shut You Down
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So I told the insurance company, _well then you know what? I'll just take my business elsewhere. I'm not gonna pay your bill and I'm outta here._ The insurance company responded with, _well, you can't really do that because we'll let the other insurance companies know what's going on, and they won't provide you any coverage. _I contacted the news reporter again and told her what they had just told me. She responded to my email and said, _Jennifer, let me make another call and I'll let you know_ . Within 30 minutes my phone was ringing. I picked it up and it was an attorney for the insurance company.

[00:09:40] The Phone Call That Changed Everything
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Their attorney was very polite and in a very kind tone said the following to me, _Oh, Jennifer, you know what? We're so sorry for the aggravation and the problems that you've experienced with our auditing process. And you know what's funny? We _[00:10:00] _found your exemptions. _ _They were submitted to us on time, so you and your husband are exempt, and we do apologize. We have no idea how your exempt exemptions were misfiled. But the good news is, is we found them. We fixed everything and now your bill is $275._

I called my husband and told him the news and he was just laughing. He had told me, _boy, I wish I could have been a fly on that wall. _I shared this story with you because I want you to see how a situation that seems impossible with red tape, protocol, and different departments doesn't mean you can't win. You just have to have persistence and the motivation to never give up. Just like Ned DeVries did in this story.

[00:10:54] Ned's Most Gutting Decision
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When all is said and done and nobody is taking steps to mitigate the problem [00:11:00] and contain it to keep it from causing further harm to Michiganders. Ned makes a decision that is one of the most powerful and gutting moments I have seen in any family movie. Ned calls a television crew to come to his farm and watch what he, alongside the help of all the neighbors around him, take care of the problem in his own way, and it's a big way.

[00:11:25] Is This Film Family Appropriate
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This is an amazing film and it's completely appropriate for families with kids in middle school and above because there's no cursing, there's no sex, there's nothing inappropriate in this movie. Well, one caveat, remember at the beginning when I said the one thing Ned has to do that he shouldn't have had to do in order to get people's attention? This movie doesn't end in the way you would hope it would end, and it might be a little dramatic for younger viewers. Have your heart [00:12:00] prepared for an ending that you won't expect.

[00:12:03] The Real Life Damage Left Behind
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This mistake, and it was a big mistake ended up causing the deaths of roughly 30,000 cattle, 4,500 pigs, 1,500 sheep, 1.5 million chickens, and 5 million eggs having to be destroyed. Research and testing continues to this day in the state of Michigan on its residents, and still finds that six in 10 people tested today are still affected by the problem this movie portrays from back in 1973. It continues to pass on from generation to generation.

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[00:12:56] Next Week and Final Thoughts
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In a 1991 interview, one brave woman [00:13:00] warned, _we are so naive about other cultures_. That was over 30 years ago. She wasn't wrong and she learned it the hard way after being betrayed by her husband. Next week, a high stakes danger. No one saw coming.

Have a great rest of your week. Remember, your values matter and your TV should too. I'll catch you next week. Take care.