Food pyramid vs subsidies pyramid

[Martin]

I think this one graphic shows a lot in one picture:
http://www.pcrm.org/magazine/g...utumn/health_pork.html

I don't know how anyone can talk about an obesity epidemic without considering why high calorie crap is so cheap. If that wasn't bad enough, farm subsidies also hurt exporters in developer countries a lot as well.

Subsidies aren't all bad - but wouldn't it be a better if they subsidies fresh, healthy food? Wouldn't hurt poorer countries so much (fresh veggies is not something they can offer) and nutrition would improve dramatically.

 

[StageLeft]

Yeah trash food is crazy cheap. I can buy a full size bag of fig newton knockoffs for $.99, which is INSANE. How they make money on that, I have no idea.

 

[Agentbolt]

How I am I supposed to justify spending 8 dollars on a healthy, nutrituous home cooked dinner when I can just eat a box of Oreos for 1.99? I mean, seriously!

 

[InflatableBuddha]

Originally posted by: Martin
I think this one graphic shows a lot in one picture:
http://www.pcrm.org/magazine/g...utumn/health_pork.html

I don't know how anyone can talk about an obesity epidemic without considering why high calorie crap is so cheap. If that wasn't bad enough, farm subsidies also hurt exporters in developer countries a lot as well.

Subsidies aren't all bad - but wouldn't it be a better if they subsidies fresh, healthy food? Wouldn't hurt poorer countries so much (fresh veggies is not something they can offer) and nutrition would improve dramatically.

Indeed, corn and soy are heavily subsidized, and that is what a lot of junk food is made from (e.g. corn syrup in soft drinks). Poorer people can only afford the unhealthy junk, so the obesity rate is no surprise.

To expand on your other point, the subsidies are hurting developing nations so much that some farmers have to quit farming and find work elsewhere. I read an article in the NY Times a few months back (don't have the link) suggesting that the influx of illegals from Mexico into the US is related to higher foreign corn prices. Mexican farmers can't afford to live off corn farming, so they emigrate to the US in droves.

It seems as though revamping the Farm Bill might be a way to kill two birds with one stone.

 

[Aluvus]

Originally posted by: Martin
Subsidies aren't all bad - but wouldn't it be a better if they subsidies fresh, healthy food? Wouldn't hurt poorer countries so much (fresh veggies is not something they can offer) and nutrition would improve dramatically.

Much, possibly most, "fresh" produce in the US originates overseas. This counts double for warm-climate produce that is miraculously available in the dead of winter.

Meat and dairy subsidies are high for a few reasons, but mostly:
-They have strong lobbying groups
-At unmodified market prices, the beef industry would collapse in the US. Other meat industries wuld probably mostly leave the country.

Keeping meat production somewhat domestic is motivated partially by nationalism, but also because that makes it easier to enforce quality controls. There are also a lot of challenges in shipping meat internationally (refrigeration is the big one) that don't exist for carrots.

There's also a massively wrong assumption in that article, that meat and dairy are the cause of the modern obesity problem in the US. Sure, too much of either is unhealthy. But look at the examples of unhealthy food already mentioned in this thread. Are they chicken breasts and pork chops?

No, they are processed foods like cookies, which are made predominantly from grains and vegetables. Look at the ingredients list for Oreos: Sugar, enriched flour (which contains canola, palm, or soybean oil), high fructose corn syrup, cornstarch, etc. The unhealthy stuff there is largely plant-derived.

Reforming subsidies is a good idea, but this is not a good argument for it.

 

[Homerboy]

link dead
I would link to see too

 

[imported_LoKe]

Originally posted by: Homerboy
link dead
I would link to see too

Not dead, just slow loading.