Filmmaker and cultural anthropologist Gail Myers discusses the making of her documentary, the oppressive history of sharecropping, and power of seed saving for Black farmers.
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October 31, 2013
Okay, yes, sometimes corn is a vegetable. But most of the time, it’s something else entirely—highly processed corn syrup in a can of soda, for example, or a fast food burger made from a corn-fed cow. Sadly, today the average American is eating too much of those junk foods, and not enough fruits and vegetables. But while the impacts on public health are dramatic (see this recent report on the costs of diet-related heart disease, for example), that’s not the whole story.
If you eat it, they will grow it
As this graphic indicates, American farmers today aren’t growing the foods we all know we should be eating:
There are logical (if misguided) reasons for that, including the fact that farmers receive federal subsidies to grow commodity crops such as corn and soybeans, but not fresh produce. So last week, the Union of Concerned Scientists released a new report that asks: What would the U.S. agricultural landscape, its environment, and its economy look like if new farm policies helped us all eat a healthier diet?
The report, The Healthy Farmland Diet: How Growing Less Corn Would Improve Our Health and Help America’s Heartland, uses an economic model to predict how U.S. farmers would respond to various shifts in eating habits. It finds that:
Benefits of a healthy farmland diet
Besides improving nutrition, what would it mean if Corn Belt farmers grew a lot less of that crop and a lot more broccoli, apples, and squash?
Well, for one thing, a more diverse farm landscape would require less pesticides than our current landscape of corn and soybean monocultures. Less corn could also mean a whole lot less water pollution from the synthetic fertilizer that is heaped on this nitrogen-hungry crop. (A new study out in the journal PNAS suggests that the nitrogen applied to this year’s corn crop might still be leaching into people’s wells 100 years from now…yikes.)
Growing more produce in the Midwest would also help farmers and farm economies there. A 2010 study from Iowa State University researchers found that if farmers in six Midwestern states shifted some of their cropland to fruits and vegetables, it would generate more than 6,700 new jobs and $336 million in additional income.
Another shot at a healthy Farm Bill
With the government shutdown fiasco behind them and the Farm Bill (again) expired, Congress is now back to work on that legislation. Which means they have another chance to enact low-cost reforms that could help farmers and consumers to grow and eat a healthier mix of foods and achieve all the benefits above. Simple reforms include:
When House and Senate Farm Bill negotiators begin meeting this week, we’ll see if they can agree to do the right thing for farmers, consumers, and the environment.
An earlier version of this post appeared on the Union of Concerned Scientists blog.
June 1, 2023
Filmmaker and cultural anthropologist Gail Myers discusses the making of her documentary, the oppressive history of sharecropping, and power of seed saving for Black farmers.
May 17, 2023
I tend to agree with Food and Water Watches report because they are great at giving the true scope of the situation. It is very easy to say, "if we can get farmers to grow more veggies we would all be saved." But how do we address the lack of marketplace, the fact most of these farmers are just looking for terminal selling points and not looking for a logo and a market stand. How do we address the massive debt they are all under with current tractors, inputs, barns, etc and the cost it would take for them to switch to specialty crop production. My family was a commodity farm and did switch to specialty crop farming. However, it took 16 years and my Dad took a second job. Food and Water Watches report really discusses how much damage we would do to rural american and farms if we quickly cut many of the safety nets that keep American farmers growing and in production.