Transcript The Current Situation in Crop Agriculture

Building the Good Food
“Toolkit,” – Healthy
Daryll E. Ray
University of Tennessee
Agricultural Policy Analysis Center
Food Systems and Public Health Conference
Airlie Center, Warrenton, Virginia
April 2, 2009
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Agricultural Policy
• As mentioned by a number of the
background papers…
– Current commodity policy is a low-price policy
• Motivating force: To expand exports; agribusiness
– Impacts livestock producers & host of other
users of cheap grains and edible oils
• Want to pick up on the ‘export reason’ and
some of the ‘impacts’
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Exports: The Key to Prosperity?
1970s Syndrome
•Soviet Union policy change
US Domestic Demand
•Oil money flowed to banks
•Banks lent money to less
developed countries
US Population
•Those countries bought food
•Result: Grain import demand
exploded
US Exports
*Adjusted for grain exported in meat
•US had capacity to capture
most of the demand.
•And then….
Index of US Population, US Demand for 8 Crops and US Exports* of 8 Crops
1979=1.0
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Loans Came Due But US Thought 70s
Outsized exports were “ours” forever
US Domestic Demand
US Population
US Exports
*Adjusted for grain exported in meat
Index of US Population, US Demand for 8 Crops and US Exports* of 8 Crops
1979=1.0
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Impacts of Agricultural Policy
• Made grains and oilseeds unrealistically cheap
– Which:
• Enables processors to purchase raw commodities at a
fraction of their total production cost
• Greatly hastened the concentration of feeding operations
(and associated problems)
– But without the policy change
• Cattle, chickens and hogs would NOT have gone to a
primarily grazing and range fed finishing operations
• Prices would have been higher for whole grains, sweeteners,
and cooking oils but still available in plentiful supplies at
reasonable prices
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Things to Remember…
• Cheap fossil fuel and technologies influenced
– Crop production (ever increasing machine sizes,
inexpensive fertilizer, pesticides, etc.)
– Food transport costs, economies of size, packaging
and assembly
• Cultural changes affected food consumption
– Two-income households; premium on convenience
– Jobs requiring less physical exertion
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(Other) Random Thoughts
• I could buy five greasy hamburgers and a pound of
french fries at a “Henry’s” fast food restaurant for $1.00
40 years ago
• Question: Over the centuries have our bodies become
engineered to deal with famine not abundance?
• Agricultural policy hurried the trend toward less healthy
food but…
– The fossil fuel revolution, more two-income families, need for
convenience, time constraints, changing work habits and so on
likely would have affected eating habits regardless…
• None of this gets agricultural policy off the hook!
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Quickening the Journey to an
Alternative Food System
• Research
• Extension and coordination
• Commodity program changes
• Awareness programs/food assistance
programs
• A comment or two
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Research
• Quantitatively estimate the connections between
farm prices, food prices, corporate marketing
practices and food consumption
• Quantitatively estimate the total social costs and
benefits of alternative nutritional food structures
• Investigate ways to optimize the health benefits of
food assistance programs
• National effort to develop locally-adapted, highlynutritional varieties of vegetables and other specialty
crop (resistant to diseases, optimized to climate,
etc.)
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More Research
• Additional research on:
– Sustainable practices that enhance nutrition as well as other
characteristics (productivity, environment, etc., etc.)
– Grazing systems for cattle; Hoop structures on pastureland
for hogs…
– Vegetable greenhouse systems
– Practices and technologies appropriate for:
• Family farms; low-capital small commercial operations
• Community Supported Agriculture operations
• Community gardens
• Family gardens
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• Coordinating and management issues; interfacing with agribusinesses
Extension
• Opportunity to refocus the mission of Extension
– Urban areas are underserved relative to rural areas
– Develop opportunities, coordinate, provide information to
community gardens, CSAs, family specialty-crop
operations, family gardeners
– Develop marketing programs to expand sales for small
specialty operations
– Provide a “clearing house” function to link dispersed
specialty production operations to commercially viable
markets
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Commodity Programs
• Ensure adequate commodity prices—deemphasize payments
– Reserves
– Price supports
– Supply Control
• Safety net products for specialty crop
circumstances
• Special encouragements, dispensations,
allowances and considerations
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Volunteer Awareness Programs
• At Schools: PTA, nutrition classes,
elementary classes
• At Churches: special or part of ongoing
programs
• At civic organizations
• Non-credit classes
• Spread the word anywhere and everywhere
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Food Assistance Programs
• More Funding, more funding, more funding
• Make all Federal food assistance programs
(e.g. WIC) entitlement programs
• Continued pressure to observe federal
dietary guidelines in school lunch and other
programs
• Update procurement procedures
• Make USDA one of several food suppliers but
NOT have it administer the programs??
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A (Side) Comment
• Not sure it is wise to be 4-square
against:
– Pasteurization
– Irradiation
– Trace Back
• Why, you ask…
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Don’t Throw Things at Me—I’m
Just Mentioning Possibilities
• Confusing message to the masses
– Public may view all or some of these as
paramount to ensuring a safe and HEALTHY food
supply
– Makes people question your “White Hat” status
– Could be disastrous to the “movement” if a
severe problem surfaces
• Signed waivers or other devices?
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Thank You
Agricultural Policy Analysis Center
The University of Tennessee
310 Morgan Hall
2621 Morgan Circle
Knoxville, TN 37996-4519
www.agpolicy.org
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