From here in farm country, I can confirm everything you say. Let's not confuse growing corn and beans for ethanol and little animal feed with the food system. (Although the animals that eat the feed produce milk and meat for us.) Would you write about what really bedevils small farmers? That's the food processing and distribution system. Consolidation among middlemen gives them enormous power, and the majority of the price people pay for food anywhere but farmers markets and CSAs goes to them. They usually require farming on enormous scale to satisfying their preferred input volumes. But even the larger (food) farmers aren't typically making bank. A tech school with a lot of ag programs around here holds a dinner once each year where the diners are asked to pay what the farmer gets. It's a full meal, with meat, vegetables, dessert and all. The price? Ninety-six cents. (It's probably not too sexy to write about food processors, either.)
Excellent and it gives me a better argument against those who say US farmers are feeding the world with corn, soy, and cotton when those crops that make up almost all of the US crop output feed no humans directly. I knew this but you put my thoughts into words I can use, Thank you
Thank you for writing this article and making such a clear distinction between the farming and food system. It solidifies my frustration or at time annoyance with other writers or even organizations working incredible hard and giving voice and trying to make change to the food system. I was always left feeling like that one successful restaurant, farm or even a new technology wasn't going to change the paradigm and that we are all treading water.
Thank you for the explanation! All of us (with different relationships to the land) will benefit from the full picture. I agree: it is important to understand the scale of farm system and the processing/ distribution that supports it. It is an industrial complex (we have been told). Still it is important for public to understand what is going on and how and when “to use their fork”. It definitely encompasses more than food for humans, and there are a lot of us ready to learn and to shift perspective. I love food and would love to unbundle it from guilt.
Excellent article that gives the rest of us info we need to know about the business of farming that has little or nothing to do with our food supply also connected to government subsidies.
The director of food innovation at a land grant university welcomes your outstanding essay. Your sexual analogies enliven the corporate farm thesis, as it is “unbearably sexy” to work in food. The “not the same” title does not get eyeballs. Get more likes with “Why Food is Sexy and Farming is Not.” Most people think farming is only about food, so this helps mend mistaken minds. There is no mention of USDA or how fed policies drive profit over produce. Perhaps this is covered elsewhere. We have a global need to farm for food. The light at the end of the food tunnel is an approaching train occupied by ten billion people.
From here in farm country, I can confirm everything you say. Let's not confuse growing corn and beans for ethanol and little animal feed with the food system. (Although the animals that eat the feed produce milk and meat for us.) Would you write about what really bedevils small farmers? That's the food processing and distribution system. Consolidation among middlemen gives them enormous power, and the majority of the price people pay for food anywhere but farmers markets and CSAs goes to them. They usually require farming on enormous scale to satisfying their preferred input volumes. But even the larger (food) farmers aren't typically making bank. A tech school with a lot of ag programs around here holds a dinner once each year where the diners are asked to pay what the farmer gets. It's a full meal, with meat, vegetables, dessert and all. The price? Ninety-six cents. (It's probably not too sexy to write about food processors, either.)
Excellent and it gives me a better argument against those who say US farmers are feeding the world with corn, soy, and cotton when those crops that make up almost all of the US crop output feed no humans directly. I knew this but you put my thoughts into words I can use, Thank you
Thank you for writing this article and making such a clear distinction between the farming and food system. It solidifies my frustration or at time annoyance with other writers or even organizations working incredible hard and giving voice and trying to make change to the food system. I was always left feeling like that one successful restaurant, farm or even a new technology wasn't going to change the paradigm and that we are all treading water.
Finding your knowledge about the realities of our ag systems extremely sexy! Thanks for this, looking forward to the rest of the series.
Thank you for the explanation! All of us (with different relationships to the land) will benefit from the full picture. I agree: it is important to understand the scale of farm system and the processing/ distribution that supports it. It is an industrial complex (we have been told). Still it is important for public to understand what is going on and how and when “to use their fork”. It definitely encompasses more than food for humans, and there are a lot of us ready to learn and to shift perspective. I love food and would love to unbundle it from guilt.
There’s a fascinating history and story behind the evolution of American agriculture. Just 200 years ago a majority of Americans were still farmers!
Excellent article that gives the rest of us info we need to know about the business of farming that has little or nothing to do with our food supply also connected to government subsidies.
This is really really good!
Telling the truth IS sexy. Still. I hope. And you do an excellent job telling a truth that it’s really hard for many people to hear. 🙏
On the micro scale, changing the food system has/will have a tremendous impact on individual health. Maybe. I hope.
The director of food innovation at a land grant university welcomes your outstanding essay. Your sexual analogies enliven the corporate farm thesis, as it is “unbearably sexy” to work in food. The “not the same” title does not get eyeballs. Get more likes with “Why Food is Sexy and Farming is Not.” Most people think farming is only about food, so this helps mend mistaken minds. There is no mention of USDA or how fed policies drive profit over produce. Perhaps this is covered elsewhere. We have a global need to farm for food. The light at the end of the food tunnel is an approaching train occupied by ten billion people.
Sarah excellent piece. Next time I start explaining, I’m just going to send them this piece and have them call you!