Campaigning for food

Food journalist Michael Pollan recently wrote an open letter to the next president-elect, which appeared in the New York Times Magazine (Food Issue). Cleverly entitled, Farmer-in-Chief, Mr. Pollan writes in great length asking our next president to seriously consider the tremendous significance of the current state of affairs of food and agriculture in our country. He outlines the problems with the food system including its impact on the health system, the earth, and foreign policy, he provides a history of how we have arrived in this crisis and he proposes short and long term solutions for the problems (I'll give you a hint: think local!).

He begins:

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.

And continuing on:

Which brings me to the deeper reason you will need not simply to address food prices but to make the reform of the entire food system one of the highest priorities of your administration: unless you do, you will not be able to make significant progress on the health care crisis, energy independence or climate change. Unlike food, these are issues you did campaign on — but as you try to address them you will quickly discover that the way we currently grow, process and eat food in America goes to the heart of all three problems and will have to change if we hope to solve them.

I love this:

After cars, the food system uses more fossil fuel than any other sector of the economy — 19 percent. And while the experts disagree about the exact amount, the way we feed ourselves contributes more greenhouse gases to the atmosphere than anything else we do — as much as 37 percent, according to one study...This state of affairs appears all the more absurd when you recall that every calorie we eat is ultimately the product of photosynthesis — a process based on making food energy from sunshine. There is hope and possibility in that simple fact.

Oh my, I could just keep quoting and quoting from this brilliant letter, but better that you should go read it-yes, all nine pages of it-for yourself. But I can't help but comment on this snippet from the last page:

And you should also let it be known that the White House observes one meatless day a week — a step that, if all Americans followed suit, would be the equivalent, in carbon saved, of taking 20 million midsize sedans off the road for a year.

As a Catholic, I can't help but suggest that Friday is an excellent (and customary) day for such a practice.

Here's hoping for a Victory Garden on the East Lawn!

Michael Pollan for Secretary of Agriculture!