I'm sorry but it's time to cut the payday for the few farmers that get subsidized. Not everyone can afford to spend 400 bucks a month on groceries so they can avoid the twinkies like I do.

The government sets up the sweet/fat subsidy and the media creates the fear and consumption climate.

Which equals disaster for the average American who isn't taught jack shit about taking care of your body or your mind.

TheUpMyAssPlayers

The proposal could change the very definition of chocolate (from cocoa butter + cocoa powder = chocolate to vegetable fat + cocoa powder = chocolate). Which is a subject and object near and dear to my heart. But the proposal also lays out what salts, sweeteners and fats can be swapped out in your food once they've been defined as "safe and suitable". They're basically messing with the integrity and coherence of our foodstuffs.

Look up: 2007P-0085 - Adopt Regulations of General Applicability to all Food Standards that would Permit, within Stated Boundaries, Deviations from the Requirements of the Individual Food Standards of Identity

http://www.fda.gov/ohrms/dockets/dockets/07p0085/07p-0085....

The open comment period for this proposal ends tomorrow. Citizens can submit their opinions online, via fax or snailmail.

typetive

There are a few obvious reasons that fresh, healthy foods cost more that the author chooses to ignore. For example, fresh foods must be quickly processed and shipped and sold under refrigerated conditions, that's added cost. Processed foods also have preservatives that extend shelf life that reduce the amount that must be thrown out, reducing cost. And processing food can include steps to kill bacteria which means the raw ingredients don't have to be as 'clean' and therefore cheaper.

How can the author complain that US grain shipped to Mexico forced Mexican farmers out of agriculture and complain that a shortage of US grain has caused hunger in the same paragraph? Besides, US farm policy had been reducing the amount of corn produced so shouldn't that have helped the Mexican farmers? And now, with a bumper crop predicted and still record prices (thanks to record demand because of US energy policy), shouldn't those same Mexican farmers be able to return to growing corn?

He makes some valid points but he only sees the problem from a consumer standpoint. For example, every one wants food from local farms but citrus fruits are grown in the south and west; corn, soy and wheat in the midwest; fish only come from coastal areas.

And don't blame farmers for accepting subsidies provided by the government. They are no more greedy than you are in taking tax deductions. If you must blame someone, blame the government.

Scott

I feel that it is a great idea to open this subject to debate with everybody that you know. I know in my circle of friends and family alot of issues like this go unnoticed unless I bring up the subject.

Holden Caulfield

The dollar figure of US government expenditures on ag subsidies don't take into account the dead-weight losses of inefficiencies in the market, which have been estimated to be as much as .5%-1% of US GDP; perhaps over $100 billion annually.

NoneMoreBlack

The proposed Farm Bill is a joke and does not address my biggest concerns:
NAIS, Country Of Origin Labels, Sale of Raw Milk and many more issues that are a threat to Big Agri-Business, PAC's and Special Interests Groups, but are of vital concern to the small producer and the American Consumer.

grannymiller

At least, maybe, this article will open up debate on the topic, at last.

yahonza

What was good for farming 50+ years ago is ultimately what's destroying it and the repercussions are astonishing.

I Dugg this article through the share feature at NYTimes.

Asvetic

virgilstar

Eyebrows Magee-- thanks for the great insights and review! I live in downstate Illinois and also, quite selfishly, enjoy that the local farmers around me can earn a living wage, though ancillary environmental and health-related problems will also need to someday be addressed.

I'll head out tonight to look for this book. I might also recommend Cadillac Desert to anyone interested in odd governmental policies and the effect these dollars have on our environment. Residents of Las Vegas, LA and Phoenix should be especially interested.

Triteon

"Sadly, you will probably just go eat your cheap Twinkie and cry. Or is that just us?"

That's what I like to call "Saturday night."

Honestly, though, this is a problem that's frustrated me for a long time. It's tough to eat healthy when you don't have a lot of money. You can get 2 liters of cola for $0.90, or half that amount of real fruit juice for $2.50.

Cooking your own food isn't much better. Sure, the per-serving price is less, but it takes a lot of work and planning to bring the overall cost down. You have to be willing to eat the same thing multiple times a week, and really be able to stretch ingredients. Otherwise, I can get a salad from the salad bar for less than I'd spend on just lettuce and carrots.

I'm learning how to get better about all this, but it's tough to *un*-learn your old habits.

Indecision

The dairy lobby is actually one of the most corrupt in the nation and milk price fixing is a routine subject of scandals and investigations. It's just that, well, not that many people are interested in ag policy!

Eyebrows McGee

I do wish he had come down harder on Whole Foods in his book; here on the East Coast, where there is little access to the industrial organic farms in California, nearly all the fresh produce is conventionally grown (yet still twice as expensive as in other supermarkets.)

krylonultraflat

It's also at cross-purposes with environmental objects AND WITH FARMING OBJECTIVES. The farm bill encourages farming practices that exhaust the soil and require more and more monetary input every year into the same acreage to get "enough" output.

It drives Ag administrators at extension offices crazy because they're a government-funded service to distributed the latest government-funded scientific data on agricultural practices ... which are then disincentivized by farm policy that encourages farmers to engage in things not even CLOSE to "best practices."

Eyebrows McGee

Over time the subsidies and controls have grown into a bureaucratic nightmare that costs all of us millions if not billions every year. Did you know the price controls on Milk sold in MN actually make it more expensive than it needs to be? It's cheaper for people to buy soda than milk, despite the fact we often have dairy surpluses, simply because of the Govt's decision to require milk to be sold at certain prices. No wonder we are eating/drinking unhealthy foods.

whydidnt

B

kenposan

I live in a small metropolis that serves a farming area, so I've learned a LOT about farm policy since I moved here. Got up in my senator's grill about it last time he was in town and it was basically "blah blah blah organic blah blah blah environmentalism blah blah blah long-term food safety blah blah blah -- Basically, it's going to stay the same and we're going to spend assloads more on corn. Yay for Illinois!"

Which I mean, yeah, it is fairly yay for Illinois when the price of corn goes up, but not so good for the environment, or the food supply, or the obesity problem.

In Omnivore's Dilemma, he talks about how the gov't pays farmers to overproduce corn, then pays scientists to come up with more ways to use the corn overproduction (like feeding it to cows or making ethanol from it). My next door neighbor is actually the Dept of Ag dude in charge of the "what to do with useless parts of corn" project which is part of the "what to do with overproduced corn" project.

A good way to get more vegetable bang for your buck is through Community Supported Agriculture, where you subscribe to a farm and you get a box of produce every week (or two weeks) all season long. Some also do eggs or other dairy. http://www.localharvest.org/ has nationwide listings. Many deliver into cities to central pickup locations.

And if you've got a backyard, growing your own veggies is cheaper than either buying them at the store or using a CSA. :)

Eyebrows McGee

It cracks me up when I hear free-market uber alles types defending agribusiness when it's among the most artificial and protected in our economy.

Trai_Dep

phrygian

orchid777

The next government official to wail about the obesity epedemic is getting punched in the face.

Rectilinear Propagation

mrbenning