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  • From: "Tradingpost" <tradingpost@gilanet.com>
  • To: livingontheland@lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: [Livingontheland] Feds Aren't Subsidizing Recommended Foods
  • Date: Thu, 11 Aug 2005 09:52:47 -0600


Feds Aren't Subsidizing Recommended Foods
http://www.latimes.com/features/health/men/wire/sns-ap-fit-diets-vs-subsidie
s,1,3504849.story?coll=sns-ap-healthmen-headlines
By LIBBY QUAID Associated Press Writer
11:56 PM PDT, August 10, 2005

WASHINGTON - The government says half your diet should be fruits and
vegetables, but it doesn't subsidize the farmers who grow them. Instead,
half of all federal agriculture subsidies go to grain farmers, whose
crops feed animals for meat, milk and eggs and become cheap ingredients
in processed food.

What's wrong with that?

"Obesity. That's clearly the problem, if you look at the outcome in
today's society," said Andy Fischer, executive director of the Community
Food Security Coalition, a Venice, Calif., advocacy group.

Two-thirds of Americans are overweight or obese. People clearly are
getting the calories they need and more, but they're not getting enough
nutrition, diet and disease experts say.

The government's new food pyramid, unveiled in April by the Agriculture
Department, aims to improve the nation's health. It recommends that
people eat fewer calories and more fruit, vegetables, lowfat milk and
whole grains. It also tells people to avoid foods made with partially
hydrogenated oils and sweeteners.

Federal farm programs, on the other hand, aim to maintain the financial
health of American agriculture. Subsidies encourage an abundant supply
of corn, wheat, rice and soybeans. Much of the corn and soybeans is fed
to livestock. Some also is turned into nutrition-poor ingredients in
processed food for people. For example, toaster pastries contain
partially hydrogenated soybean oil that gives them a flaky texture, and
they contain high-fructose corn syrup to sweeten their fruit filling.
That translates to lots of calories, lots of artery-clogging fat and
little or no fiber.

Such foods are becoming progressively cheaper, while the price of fruit
and vegetables is rising, said Adam Drewnowski, professor of
epidemiology at the University of Washington.

"If we tell a family, you really ought to be eating more salads and
fresh fruit, and this is a low-income family, we're essentially
encouraging them to spend more money," Drewnowski said.

Many groups are pushing to link farm programs, which are due for an
overhaul in 2007, more closely to government nutrition goals.

"Here we are as a society, talking constantly about obesity and diets,
and yet our farm policies are not structured to encourage the kind of
diet that the food pyramid suggests we should adopt," said Ralph Grossi,
president of American Farmland Trust, a Washington-based group that
advocates conservation on farm and ranch land.

Here is what the food pyramid says you should eat, based on a
2,000-calorie daily diet:

* 3 cups of fat-free or lowfat milk or cheese.

* 2 1/2 cups of vegetables.

* 2 cups of fruit.

* 6 ounces of grains.

* 5 1/2 ounces of meat or beans.

Your plate would look quite different if it matched farm subsidies.
Estimated to cost $17 billion this year, according to the Congressional
Budget Office, the breakdown of farm subsidies includes:

* $7.3 billion for corn and other feed grains.

* $3.5 billion for cotton.

* $1.6 billion for soybeans.

* $1.5 billion for wheat.

* $1.5 billion for tobacco.

* $686 million for dairy.

* $626 million for rice.

* $271 million for peanuts.

The Agriculture Department doesn't just hand out subsidies to farmers
and tell people what they should eat. It operates school lunch and food
stamp programs and the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women,
Infants and Children, or WIC. It also runs the Forest Service and
oversees land conservation efforts.

With 100,000 employees and a $95 billion annual budget that includes the
farm subsidies, the department has many different objectives, said Keith
Collins, the agency's chief economist.

While farm subsidies are intended to provide some income stability and
financial assistance to producers, Collins said climate and market
prices are much bigger factors when farmers choose what to grow.

"You're not going to find corn in California," he said. "You're not
going to find wine grapes in other areas like you find them there."

He pointed out the government does help fruit and vegetable growers:
They have access to federal crop insurance, and the department spends
more than $400 million a year buying produce and other commodities for
the school lunch program, purchasing everything from almonds and
asparagus to pineapples and turkey.

Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns has begun a series of "listening
sessions" across the country to gather input for the next farm bill,
which dictates how subsidies are distributed. But the department doesn't
write the farm bill. Congress does.

That's where the influence of the major farm groups comes in. Groups
that lobby together on behalf of subsidized crops have more than 60
years of experience under their belts.

"Those are the guys that have been together. They have been through a
lot of fights on cutting funding and changing programs," said Mary Kay
Thatcher, lobbyist for American Farm Bureau Federation. The federation
is the nation's largest general farm organization, which has members who
grow subsidized crops as well as produce.

Produce groups, on the other hand, are more loosely knit and have
different interests, she said. Rather than lobby for subsidies, they've
sought marketing assistance, more dollars for farmers' markets and more
government purchases of fresh fruit for schools.

"We don't want to be subsidized, we want our industry to get its fair
share of federal support," said Tom Nassif, president of Western Growers
Association, which represents fruit, vegetable and nut producers in
California and Arizona. "The fact is, we are of equal value to the
program crops."

* __

On the Net:

Agriculture Department: http://www.usda.gov <http://www.usda.gov/>





  • [Livingontheland] Feds Aren't Subsidizing Recommended Foods, Tradingpost, 08/11/2005

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