Food Crisis USA: Dear Mr. President-Elect...

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. Food policy is not something American presidents have had to give much thought to, at least since the Nixon administration -- the last time high food prices presented a serious political peril. Since then, federal policies to promote maximum production of the commodity crops (corn, soybeans, wheat and rice) from which most of our supermarket foods are derived have succeeded impressively in keeping prices low and food more or less off the national political agenda. But with a suddenness that has taken us all by surprise, 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. Food is about to demand your attention.

Comments

[maryhaze]

we grow a lot of our own veggies with no pesticides. & we shop at farmers markets for what we don't grow. corn in a PITA but between our fruits & veggies, my kids don't even to come in for lunch during the summer. they graze all day & none of them are overweight. i also do a lot of canning & make my own bread. now if we could just find a local butcher, we'd be all set.

[Chaucea]

Sure would be nice to tell the candy, soda, junk food lobbyists in Washington to bugger off--and to ban these foods from being purchasable with food stamps.

Obesity and poor health in this nation is effecting the whole of this nation's health (physically, economically, emotionally, intellectually) very drastically.

A good start would be to ensure the food stamp program allows only for healthy foods to be purchased using food stamps.

[JuniorNorman]

"Everything just needs to go vegan". I was forced into vegetarian at a young age. I was starved i hated tofu and other veggie food I felt starved. Soy Milk is the number #1 most processed food. Soy milk contains estrogen and other unhealthy chemicals. Just google tofu and dementia. Ive seen veggies at the local ashram get sick at 55 die at 70 "EATING A POLITICALLY CORRECT DIET" Grass fed beef provides healthy efa's to feed the body. We need strict laws outlawing feed-lots and growth hormones.

[DanSmith]

Every just needs to go Vegan and everything will be solved.

[EvilCartman]

I totally agree....

[Stephen308]

Never happen no matter how hard you keep trying you cannot force the rest of us to adopt your Vegan belief system, we will never allow you to use the law to force us to be vegetarians. By the way, I'm sitting in a leather chair! ;-)

[intelliwoman]

You eat what you want and can afford, I'll eat what I want and can afford

And I'll eat stuff that tastes good, does not have hormones or antobiotics in it.

That means regular milk (skim), beef and poultry, grains and beans, pasta and absolutely not a vegetable in sight.

[vmonter]

Need to turn the current paradigm on its head. Companies should need certifications in order to use pesticides and GMOs, stop subsidizing any company which uses pesticides or GMOs, and put labels on the damn food for heaven's sake.

That'd be a good start.

[intelliwoman]

Of course you do know that the organic label on most foods is a sham, its nothing but a way to charges more for the same stuff. There are no uniform regulations are requirements.

Please explain this to me. if these so called "organic" farmers aren't using all thes pesticides and other stuff, you'd think they're costs would be much less. Why then do they charge 4x as much?

[Organic-Guy]

Locally grown food is a resource that we can exploit. We've donated our 12 acres to be used by a non-profit (Salvation Farms) to be cultivated and harvested for the local food shelf. We may not impact the world food market but you can feed a lot of people from a small plot of land. If more people would set up organizations like this, support local CSA's and their local farmers we can get through this without much pain. You'll b helping your neighbors and keeping your money local too.

[whyisthis]

My family always canned food for the winter. We gathered together preserving bushels of vegetables, fruit , and made our own wine from locally grown grapes. Home gardens were the rule of thumb. I also recall gardens along rail road tracks where men from my neighborhood worked the land to produce food for their families and neighbors. We were also fortunate to have a wonderful farmer's market where local farmers sold their produce, chickens, eggs etc. Check out your local home extension for info on canning. Enjoy the fresh home grown food and watch youe health improve.

[Stephen308]

Dear Mr President Elect, The energy bill you voted for and praised included an ethanol provision that has us burning food for fuel, has pushed the cost of all sorts of food higher, harms the poor of this nation and has contributed to global food shortages and starvation. Not to mention the damage done to the environment the world over as they cut back on carbon sinks to grow ethanol for the US.

Food is an issue Mr President elect as well as the environment and you should not have voted for an energy bill that had bad energy policies in it that harm people and harm the enviornment.

Please Mr President elect, undo the damage you and your fellow congressmen have done. You got it wrong Mr President elect (McCain or Obama) which one of you will promise to stand up to the corn farmers and undo that ethanol bill? Any takers Mr President Elect?

[littlepuffycloud]

My 30 yr old daughter started canning fruit and now we are learning about canning for next summer's vegetables grown locally here in Washington state. She's hooked on canning and got me started as well. Canning is becoming a lost art and I'm ashamed to admit I never learned any secrets about it from my Grandmother before she passed. I'm planning on growing sugar snaps green beans next year for us to can. We live near Tacoma and unless one has a really warm south side next to a building or wall, it's almost impossible to grow tomatos and peppers because it's too cool here. Experimenting and talking to other 'backyard farmers' is the best way to learn. We all would benefit from getting back to our agricultural roots; our future may depend on it.

WAKE UP AMERICA!

[boophus]

I have been canning for years. It shocks people how many things can be canned at home with canner, pressure cooker and jars. It is also shocking to many people I talk to about how much food still grows wild. And I worked full time and raised a family so it can be done.
As for growing tomatos in cool climate use a plastic sheeting tent to hold in warmth. Thats what I do in Oregon. If tomatoes get below 40 degrees they lose all flavor. That is why store bought and restaurant tomatoes rarely have good flavor. We walk by our tomatoes and eat them like snacks they taste so good. There is a ton of info online.

[zoe kai elefteria]

people are more aware of the process of and repercussions due to the production of food. so let us consider that healthier [sic] (a "sic" i agree with) foods currently cost more. this is due to their 1. rarity 2. import costs 3. production costs.let's take an example less obvious than say, organic, locally grown fruit. let's say that people start to realize most sliced bread is infused with corn syrup as a sweetener. said people being to resist these breads, opting for breads that advertise themselves as "corn syrup free."

[zoe kai elefteria]

awareness has been initiated, we may say, among the majority class (that is to say, not granola-eating-hippies, as my boyfriend calls the now-burgeoning under class). it is easy to see that many production companies will find other ways to sweeten bread, & thus, look for more affordable ways to do so. why are foods sweetened with agave nectar usually so expensive? well, because they are 1. rare (prompt higher prices) 2. have to be imported 3. cost (currently) more to produce than corn syrup. however, here's the big question: what happens to the corn producers when companies like coca cola, nabisco, & wonder bread slowly phase out corn syrup? or any other food for that matter? personally, i have really enjoyed the success of local food markets, natural food stores, organically grown produce, and general awareness of health of body and earth of recent years. however, i do think that the agricultural System is less evil than most democrats believe, and really a product of extremely shoddy managerial directive from the horribly run USDA & FDA regulators. if we show farmers there is an alternative, then perhaps a unified solution can be reached. let us opt for showing just how marketable foods are when they are more thoughtfully produced.

[zoe kai elefteria]

it is not that affordable food is on the decline. it is that a change in market awareness has changed consumer desire, & therefore, consumer consumption.

[JuniorNorman]

Soybeans have estrogen in them thats why the fish are screwed up. We have to legalize hemp. Hemp produces 8 times more bio-diesel. Hemp is NO-TILL farming. We will have to battle the Democrats to get this done. Growth hormones and feed lots must be outlawed. They wont go away on their own! Grass-fed beef is great.

[patianneb]

I drove from NC to South Dakota last summer: From eastern Iowa to SD, as far as the eye could see in any direction, on Interstates or secondary roads were endless fields of corn and soybeans.....most of it not edible by humans, but rather for livestock or fuel.
As a result, commodities are in shorter supply and becoming more expensive. Happening everywhere. In poorer countries there have already been food riots.
Besides, "cheap and abundant" is not really all that desirable anyway: Look at all the sickly fat people running around, look at what factory farms are doing to the environment as well....look at what we are doing to animals.
Eat local, eat a little less. It won't kill you.
http://www.eatwellguide.org/i.php?pd=Home

[intelliwoman]

It might not kill me, but it will cost twice as much and I'll have to spend an extra $50 to go and get it.

[KillTheMessenger]

"But with a suddenness that has taken us all by surprise, the era of cheap and abundant food appears to be drawing to a close."

Has taken us ALL by surprise? I am sorry, but my middle name is not Ignoramus. If you are surprised, that's your problem. Not mine.