Why can't the American food production and delivery system feed all Americans?

[BurtWorm]

Is the problem with Americans or with the way food is produced and distributed?

I'm reading The Omnivore's Dilemma, by Michael Pollan, so you might be able to guess where I stand on the issue. I think we need a food production and delivery system revolution in America. We need to stop the corn and soybean industrial farming monoculture and return to a local, grass-based food chain.

Who's with me?

:insert smiley holding aloft pitchfork:

[BurtWorm]

1. Did this get unrecommended because of my typos?

Or because someone is against local, grass-based food chains?

[ixion]

3. blue dogs

out and about trying to maintain the status quo. :evilgrin:

I rec'd for you. :)

[BurtWorm]

6. Merci.

:toast:

[ixion]

2. Both...

Americans have largely lost the ability to raise their own food, and the food system has been co-opted by corporations who are far more interested in profits than producing quality food.

[BurtWorm]

5. Have you read The Omnivore's Dilemma?

It really takes a brilliant approach to explaining what is wrong with American foodways, as Pollan puts, and how it got so, so very wrong.

I believe the fact that 49 million Americans have "food insecurity" is directly related to what's wrong. We've been trained to have our food preprocessed for us, which makes it more expensive, less versatile and vastly more wasteful.

[ixion]

11. not yet, but it's on my reading list...

I've been "food conscious" since the 80's, and I'm glad to see the issue getting traction.

I watched King Corn and Food, Inc recently. Both informative and scary.

[BurtWorm]

13. I think--I don't know but I *think*--you'll like Pollan's take on it.

He seems to cover all the bases. I think he's very level-headed and reasonable about it all. He's not a vegetarian, but he gives Peter Singer's arguments for vegetarianism a fair hearing, I think. Maybe a vegan would disagree. But certainly his attack on the industrial farming system should be widely read and discussed.

[ixion]

15. yeah, the synopsis sounds interesting

I'm not really a vegetarian, either, although I do eat plenty of veggies, seasoned with poultry and seafood. :)

[slackmaster]

4. It probably could, but fat people are eating more than their fair share

:sarcasm:

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

8. lulz

[vadawg]

19. rofl

[damntexdem]

7. What do you mean why can't it? Of course it can.

Of course, it doesn't.

And it misfeeds those whom it does feed.

[thereismore]

9. Where is the profit in feeding all people? Hm? nt

[tjwash]

10. The U.S. produces 63,590 thousand metric tons of wheat yearly with a population of 300 million

China with it's population of 1.5 billion produces 87,000, and India with a comparable size population to China's produces 67000. Out of that we only export 2,900 thousand metric tons.

Corn production is 259,273 thousand metric tons, over twice that of China (114,000 thousand metric tons), of which we export 46,000 thousand metric tons.

We produce plenty...it's distribution that is the issue.

[BurtWorm]

14. What we produce is a major problem i believe.

Or should I say, what we overproduce.

[Sinti]

12. Simple answer ADM and Heartland

there are a few other big agra businesses involved. We really do need to rethink our system here. Garden grown veg are the best for flavor and health. Store-bought ones are picked before they're ripe so they won't spoil in shipping - huge loss of nutrients there.

Local, using greenhouses in the cold months (not as good as real sun though), and some sane answer to the mono-culture phenomenon is desperately needed. I thought mono-cultures increased disease in plants.

[msongs]

16. what % of corn is industrial versus edible by humans? corn for....cows not people nt

[Mixopterus]

17. Artificially induced scarcity

At least it seems that way.

[stray cat]

18. Because you are not paying for everyone else?

You need to put up some more cash to pay for others to be fed instead of paying for yourself and family only

[eppur_se_muova]

20. It can, and does feed all those who have MONEY.

US has been one of the biggest food exporters for years; our imports are mostly optional foods, e.g. fruits and vegetables out of season in the Northern Hemisphere, and of course beef (we just can't get enough).

Even globally, the problem is not a shortage of food produced, but a shortage of money to buy food for those who need it. The problem is economic and political.