Health of a Nations Food System (The Politics of Food)

Open Letter to the President-Elect by Michael Pollan: Farmer in Chief

Dear Mr. President-Elect,

It may surprise you to learn that among the issues that will occupy much of your time in the coming years is one you barely mentioned during the campaign: food...The era of cheap and abundant food appears to be drawing to a close. What this means is that you, like so many other leaders through history, will find yourself confronting the fact - so easy to overlook these past few years - that the health of a nation's food system is a critical issue of national security...In the past several months more than 30 nations have experienced food riots, and so far one government has fallen...All this suggests that a political constituency for change is building and not only on the left: lately, conservative voices have also been raised in support of reform. Writing of the movement back to local food economies, traditional foods (and family meals) and more sustainable farming, The American Conservative magazine editorialized last summer that "this is a conservative cause if ever there was one."... We need to wean the American food system off its heavy 20th-century diet of fossil fuel and put it back on a diet of contemporary sunshine...

Read the full letter, printed in the New York Times, here.

Readers' comments:

October 10, 2008 4:34 pm

One essential component of returning to local food production which Michael didn't mention is the need to teach people in our urban/suburban areas and nearby rural areas how to grow food. Our land-grant university agriculture education programs and our cooperative extension services have been crippled by almost 30 years of declining funding, which has particularly impacted research and education on specialty crop production and sustainable farming. The programs in our most urban states (like New England and the Mid-Atlantic) have been particularly impacted. These states have fewer acres in agricultural production (being small in terms of area). By the time the land-grant system was developed (1860-1910) these states had already come to depend more on industry than agriculture, and to mostly grow specialty crops. Also, they already had prestigious universities so support was lacking for the land-grant schools.
If we really want to increase food production near our cities, the president should restore funding for the land-grant schools and the cooperative extension system. This way the university faculty could return to helping farmers and gardeners, rather than having our research programs focused on basic research and commodities for which it is possible to secure competitive grants.
Rebecca Brown
Department of Plant Sciences
University of Rhode Island

— Rebecca, Rhode Island

October 14, 2008 12:39 pm

I couldn't agree more -- the land-grant universities are in fact key to bringing about many of the changes I'm outlining, and the fact is they have been underfinanced to the point where corporations are setting what should be a public agenda for research. In a nutshell, the problem with getting adequate research and development of sustainable growing methods is that there is so little money in it for the companies that sell farmers products. Because the best sustainable agriculture is based more on devising clever processes, like rotations, rather than products, like a new pesticide. Corporations have little incentive to invest in processes, so that is not the focus of the land grants they support. We need a genuinely public research effort or we'll keep going down the path toward high-input farming. The same is true for crop breeding -- when you leave it to the private sector, you get proprietary seed for the biggest commodity crops, and research into real food crops languishes.

— Michael Pollan, Contributing writer, New York Times Magazine

October 11, 2008 8:37 am

Of all the proposals set forth herein, I think the most important is the definition of what actually constitutes "food." When I served as an Americorps member I was on food stamps; for a (harmless) prank on our boss, I once had to go out and buy a bunch of candy. I was low on cash (as one generally is while serving as an Americorps member) and decided to see if I could buy all the candy with my EBT (food stamps) card -- imagine my surprise when I discovered that bags of Tootsie Rolls constituted food!

To put this in greater perspective: food stamps cannot be used to purchase diapers or toilet paper. They can, however, be used to purchase unlimited amounts of candy.

I'm not arguing that food stamps should be extended to cover diapers or toilet paper -- but while those can be necessities in life, Tootsie Rolls most assuredly are not; they never have been, and they never will be. That the government subsidizes, in any way, their being eaten by low-income people is frankly ridiculous.

Michael Pollan for Ag Secretary indeed... here's hoping!

— ihop, cali

October 12, 2008 9:07 am

I am a farmer, a real farmer with a substantial investment in land, equipment, cattle, human capital, etc.

It is fairly obvious that Pollan has not spent any time living the life he writes about and has many of his basic facts wrong. I'll start with cover crops: the main limitation west of the 100th is moisture, especially post harvest, which means post-harvest cover crops simply won't germinate. BTW Zero-till accomplishes the same end; visit one to see how well it works in improving soil quality.

He complains about black fields yet advocates organic farming, which by definition require tillage for weed control ... releasing massive amounts of soil captured carbon. The only topographical relief in our area - where we can see our dog run away for 3 days - are 12 foot high soil blow ridges from the "good ole tillage".

He cites rotating cattle grazing with grain growing. Does he know how extremely difficult it is to establish pasture plants? And then how much more difficult it is to kill those perenial plants to allow an annual grain crop to even grow? Dig out that textbook for basic agronomy information!

And, the best guess is that only ~ 85% of animal droppings on a pasture are recyclable into the soil. Do the math of how long until this "self-sustainability" is no longer there.

How about his comments about food prices. Prices for cereal and large grains, oilseeds, and livestock are currently less than 2/3rds of what they were only 3 months ago; spring wheat is at ~1/3 of it's recent high. If it wasn't for bio-fuels, we would have a price disaster on our hands and Congress would be shelling out billions in price supports.

I could go on, about the myth of monoculture, about etc but I'll stop here - I have a large cowherd to go check, done on an ATV which lets me get it done in less than 1/2 the time as on horse you all want me to use. Then I'll be able to attend church to celebrate Canadian Thanksgiving & thanking God for the most significant input by large on our farm: good growing weather.

I suggest that all of you spend some real time with some real farmers but be prepared to do some really hard, back breaking, sweat dripping of your brow work.

— rp, Saskatchewan, Canada

October 12, 2008 12:34 pm

The best health insurance possible is eating and enjoying organic, nutrient dense food. And home-grown food has a supply chain of exactly zero, with CSA and Farmers Market food a close second.

While I'd love to see our leaders move towards support of rational food policies (OK, ANY rational policies), we do not have to wait passively. Can we the people lead the revolution?

This appeals to everyone: Hate intrusive government? Grow your own food. Concerned about global warming and pollution? Grow your own food. Want to connect to the planet? Grow your own food. Looking for a family project better than TV? Grow your own food. Prefer food that actually tastes good and has a known source? Grow your own.

Again, CSA, Farm Stands and Farmers markets are wonderful substitutes. And ask your local grocer to buy and advertise locally sourced food.

Thank you Michael (and Mr Berry!) for your persistent efforts to bring simple common sense back into our lives.

— Robert, Salt Lake City