Myths and DangersA Look at the Messages and Realities of a

Food System based on Industrial Agriculture

Natalie Halbach Emerson National Hunger Fellow

Jess Miller Community Farm Alliance Fellow

Community Farm Alliance

Community Farm Alliance

The following PowerPoint was presented at the seventh annual Healthy Food, Local Farms Conference

on October 1st, 2005, in Louisville, KY.

The presentation was the first half of a two-part workshop that examined the realities of a food system based on

industrial agriculture and CFA’s vision for an alternative Local Independent Food Economy (L.I.F.E.).

The Community Farm Alliance and the Sierra Club co-sponsored the conference.

What are the Myths?

Let’s look at what the media

tell us.

Food is

Cheap

We have abundant choice.

Convenience is Good

The US

Feeds the

World

Undernourished Population (2000 - 2002)

Hunger is not a U.S. Problem

Our Food is

Safe

Industrial Agriculture

is Sustainable

Bigger is

Better

Questioning the myths?

?? ?

?

Myth : Food is cheap

Sure it’s cheap, I can order a meal

off the dollar menu!!

So who pays the hidden costs? WE DO: in taxes

Through the Supplier Credit Guarantee Program, the USDA guarantees 65% of loan

payments due to large U.S. commodity traders.

Since the 1980s, this indirect subsidy has cost tax payers

nearly $4 billion.

Who pays the hidden costs?FARMERS

The average Kentucky farm

income is $12,000/ year

The poverty line is $19,350 for a family of four.

Median Weekly Earnings of Full-Time Workers, by Occupation, Year

230

250

345

350

363

394

454

480

576

576

625

630

673

858

865

0 100 200 300 400 500 600 700 800 900 1000

Average Kentucky Farmer

Private household

Hired farmw orkers

services (except protective, household)

Other farming/ f ishing/ forestry

Handlers, equipment cleaners, laborers

Operations, assemblers, inspectors

Administrative support including clerical

Transportation/ material moving

Sales

Protective service

Precision production, craft, and repairs

Technical or related support

Professional specialties

Executive managerial

Oc

cu

pa

tio

n

Dollars

Who pays the hidden costs?WE DO: Land degradation

Heavy machinery & livestock grazingcompact soil, killing beneficial soil organisms and stripping vegetation that holds topsoil in place

Topsoil is being depleted faster than it can regenerate

The Ogallala Aquifer is a

critical resource for agriculture in

the Midwest.

Its water table is dropping as much as 1

m/year

WE DO: Water Usage/ exploitation

Who pays the hidden costs?

The U.S. EPA blames current farm practices for 70% of the pollution in the nation’s rivers and streams

Who pays the hidden costs?WE DO: Pollution

Only 1/3 of nitrogen applied to plants is absorbed. Nitrogen run off creates “dead zones” in bodies of water by depleting oxygen needed for plant and animal life.

The Gulf of Mexico dead zone is the size of New Jersey.

Who pays the hidden costs?

WE DO: Fossil Fuel Dependency

In 1992, the food production system accounted for 17% of all fossil fuel use in the United States.

Food travels an average of 1,300 miles from farm to dinner plate.

Well it tastes alright!

Myth : Food is safe

Where is the danger?PESTICIDES

In the late 1990s, USDA data showed that nearly 3/4 of conventionally grown crop samples contained pesticide residue.

Industrial agriculture necessitates heavy pesticide use because

monocropping (planting only one plant in a field) makes fields

more vulnerable to pests than those planted with

several crops.

Half of the herbicides used in the U.S. in 1991 were applied to corn, soybeans, or cotton.

Where is the danger?

Preliminary studies link pesticides to elevated risk of cancer and disruption of

the body’s reproductive, immune and nervous systems.

The UN has estimated that 2 million poisonings and 10,000

deaths occur worldwide each year from pesticides.

IRRADIATION, ANTIBIOTICS

Where is the danger?

Irradiation

the typical dose for irradiated meatis 15 million times the energy involved in a single chest x-ray, and 150 times the dose capable of killing an adult.

40% of the antibiotics used each year in the United States are for animals

Antibiotics

ANTIBIOTICS

Where is the danger?

Heavy use of antibiotics in factory farming of animals has caused bacteria to develop antibiotic resistant strains.

Campylobacter bacteria – the most common cause of food-borne illness in the US –

increased its drug resistance from 0% in 1991 to 20% in 1999.

A University of Iowa study found that people living near large-scale hog facilities reported elevated incidence of

•headaches

• respiratory problems

•eye irritation

•nausea

•weakness

•chest tightness

Where is the danger?WASTE

Fumes and manure runoff from factory farming operations

can endanger human health

Where is the danger?

•64.5% of American adults are either overweight or obese.

OBESITY

2/3 30% of all corn grown in the U.S. is

turned into corn sweetener, the key

ingredient in ¾ of all processed foods. The rise in obesity correlates with the rise in the use of corn sweeteners since the 1970s.

Myth :

BIGGER IS BETTER

It’s Definitely Bigger

Today, just 2% of farms produce 50% of all U.S. agricultural products.

Even “organic” doesn’t guarantee local, small scale, or less-processed.

Horizon commands 70% of the U.S. market for organic milk which they

ultra-pasteurize to ship long distances, depleting the nutrient quality.

4 firms handle more than 80% of all beef slaughter.

20 years ago, the concentration was less than 40%.

But is it Really Better?

A 2 lb bag of breakfast cereal burns ½ gallon of gasoline in its

making.

The food processingindustry in the

United States uses 10 calories of fossil fuel energy

for every calorie of food it produces.

Is it really better?

Between 1987 and 1992, America lost on average 32,000 farms

each year, 80% of them family-run.

“We have found depressed median family incomes, high levels of poverty, low education levels, social and economic inequality between ethnic groups, etc., ... associated with land and capital concentration in agriculture” (10).

University of California anthropologist Dean MacCannell

Is it really better?

Between 2003 and 2004, Kentucky lost 2,000 farms - from 87,000 to 85,000.

“But the grocery store has food for aisles

and aisles!!”

Myth : We Have Abundant Choice

ChoiceGeneral Foods Int., Gevalia, Maxim, Maxwell House, Sanka, Seattle’s Best,

Starbucks, Tazo, Torrefazione Italia, Yuban, Kool-Aid, Country Time, Crystal Light, Tang, Fruit2O, Veryfine, Oscar Mayer, Taco Bell, California Pizza

Kitchen, DiGiorno, Jack’s, Tombstone, Back to Nature, Kraft (and all its versions of Delux, Easy Mac, etc) Boca, Woody’s, Breakstone’s, Knudsen, Light N’

Lively, Philadelphia, Temp-tee, Athenos, Churney, Cracker Barrel, Handi Snacks, Harvest Moon, Hoffman’s, Plly-O, Kraft Delux, Old English, Cheez Whiz, Easy

Cheese, Baker’s, Bull’s Eye, Carbwell, Postum, Post CarbWell, Post Honey Bunches of Oats, Shake ‘n Bake, Oven Fry, Grey Poupon, Sauceworks, Cream of

Wheat, Milk Bone, Dream Whip, D-Zerta, Jell-O, Knox Gelatin, Minute, Balance, Ever Fresh, Cool whip, Certo, Sure-Jell, Claussen, Honey Maid, Nilla, Oreo, all of Post cereals, Good Seasons, Seven Seas, A1, Stove Top, Barnum’s Animals, Biscos, Café Crème, Cameo, Chips Ahoy, Dad’s, Famous Chocolate

Wafers, Family Favorites, Old Fashioned, Ginger Snaps, Lorna Doone, Mallomars, Marshmallow Twirls, National Arrowroot, Newtons, Nutter Butter, Pecan Passion, Pecanz, Pinwheels, Snackwell’s, Social Tea, Stella D’oro, Teddy Grahams, Wild Thornberry’s, Air Crisps, Better Cheddars, Cheese Nips, Crown

Pilot, Doo Dad, Flavor Crisps, Harvest Crisps, Nabisco Grahams, Nabs, Premium, Ritz, Royal Lunch, Stoned Wheat Thins, Triscuit, Uneeda, Wheatsworth,

Zwieback, Cornet Cups, Corn Nuts, PB Crisps, Jet-Puffed, Terry’s, Toblerone.

Brand names of Kraft Foods

The Illusion of

We have abundant choice?

In 2001, Wal-Mart operated 888 stores in the U.S. and

832 outlets in 10 foreign countries

•In 2000, the top four grocery retail firms held 72% of the market share in 100 cities.

Foreign owned companies controlled 15% of U.S. grocery store sales in 1998

“But I’m so busy and I

have so many

places to go and

people to see!”

Myth : Convenience is good.

The cost of convenience

Varieties Lost from 1903 to 1983

Tomatoes 80.6%

Lettuce 92.8%

Field Corn 90.8%

Sweet Corn 96.1%

Apples 86.2%

But come at the cost of our heritage and biodiversity.

Monocultures are easier to harvest, process and package.

Source: ERS-USDA. 2002. “food marketing and price spreads: USDA marketing bill.” briefing room (web-source), http://www.ers.usda.gov/Briefing/FoodPriceSpreads/bill/

Marketing Bill breakdown (next slide)

Convenience Costs!

This bill shows the breakdown of each dollar spent on food. The farm value is the amount that farmers receive

BEFORE they pay labor and production costs.

The Marketing Bill shows the breakdown of the food dollar that goes to marketing costs. The

labor portion does not include farm labor.

Retail price/Farm value/Farm-to-retail price spreads ($)and Farm value share (%) --- Prepared Foods (2000)

0.050.26 0.09 0.05

1.47

0.41

3.10

2.051.68

0.140.17 0.040.100.42

2.54

1.040.84

0.95

22

11

8

14

10

54

5

30.46

2.14

1.73

2.68

1.21

1.89

3.36

0.881.05

0.0

0.5

1.0

1.5

2.0

2.5

3.0

3.5

4.0

Peanutbutter, 1

lb.

Pork andbeans,303 can(16 oz.)

Potatochips,

regular, 1-lb. bag

Chickendinner,fried,

frozen, 11oz.

Potatoes,frenchfried,

frozen, 1lb.

Bread, 1lb.

Cornflakes, 18-

oz. box

Oatmealregular,

42-oz. box

Cornsyrup, 16-oz. bottle

Do

lla

rs (

$)

0

5

10

15

20

25

(%)

Farm value Farm-to-retail price spreads Farm value share of retail price1 Retail price

Only a small share of the cost of convenience

foods goes to the farmer

“Fine. Maybe we don’t eat the cheapest food on the planet or grow it

efficiently…we need it to feed all those poor countries, right?”

Myth : We Need US Food to Feed theWorld

Food for the World?Do we feed the world?

International Society for Ecology and Culture. “Local Food, Globally.” Slide Presentation.

Food for the world?

Between 1994 and 2004, US imports of fruits and vegetables more than doubled (to $12.7million).

We now import more fruits and

vegetables than we export.

Food for the World?

Current global food production is enough to provide every human with 3,500 calories daily…

“People will only cease to be poor when they control the means of providing and/or producing food for themselves.”

yet 800 million people

worldwide are still hungry.

Food for the World?

The hungry produce their own food when they have access to fertile land. However, the best land is often enclosed for large-scale production of export crops like coffee, cotton or cocoa.

 

Dumping cost West African farmers $300 million in lost potential income in 1991.

Also, subsidies allow U.S. commodity producers to sell products on the world market at a lower price than they produce them. This “dumping” pushes down prices so low that poor farmers struggle to buy food for their families.

A Hungry Nation

38 million Americans are food insecure.

That is 9 times the

population of

Kentucky

Impacts: Kentucky

So what are we going to do

about it?

• Farm numbers declining

• High rates of obesity, cancer, heart disease and diabetes

•Unequal access to healthy foods

• Strains on our natural resources

Money is power, but not the only or the best kind of power

The Community Farm Alliance is a statewide grass-roots organization that organizes people to work for change around

issues of concern to family-scale farmers.

Sources CitedBread for the World Institute. Strengthening Rural Communities: Hunger Report 2005. Washington, D.C. 2005.

Center for Disease Control. “Kentucky: Obesity by Body Mass Index.” Nov. 5, 2003. http://apps.nccd.cdc.gov/brfss/Trends/trendchart.asp?qkey=10010&state=KY

Consumer Reports. “The Truth About Irradiated Meat.” Online article, August 2003. http://www.consumerreports.org/cro/food/irradiated-meat-803/overview.htm

Economic Research Service, USDA. “Food Marketing and Price Spreads: USDA Marketing Bill.” Updated June 21, 2002. http://www.ers.usda.gov/Briefing/FoodPriceSpreads/bill/

“Farm Labor: Employment Characteristics of Hired Farm Workers.” Updated November 13, 2003. http://www.ers.usda.gov/Briefing/Farmlabor/Employment/#earnings

Horrigan, Leo. MHS, Robert S. Lawrence, MD, Polly Walker, MD, MPH “How Sustainable Agriculture Can Address the Environmental and Human Health Harms of Industrial Agriculture.” Environmental Health Perspectives. Volume 110, Number 5, 2002. http://www.jhsph.edu/Environment/CLF_Press/CLF_publications/WhitePaper.html

International Society for Ecology and Culture. “Local Food, Globally.” Slide Presentation. www.isec.org.uk/

Kaufman, Phil. “Food Retailing.” U.S. Food Marketing System/AER-811. ERS/USDA, 2002.

Kimbrell, Andrew. Fatal Harvest: The Tragedy of Industrial Agriculture. Washington; Island Press, 2002.

Krissoff, Barry and John Wainio. “US Fruit and Vegetable Imports Outpace Exports.” Amber Waves. June 2005. http://www.ers.usda.gov/AmberWaves/June05/Findings/USFruitandVegetable.htm

Lieberman, Patricia and Margo Wootan. “Protecting the Crown Jewels of Medicine.” Center for Science in the Public Interest, 1998. http://www.cspinet.org/reports/abiotic.htm

MacDonald, James. “The Industrial Organization of American Agriculture.” PowerPoint Briefing, Washington, D.C., August 26th, 2005.

Manning, Richard. “The Oil we Eat.” Harpers, New York, February 2004.

Cont.

McCauley, Marika Alena. “A Monopoly in Agriculture.” Oxfam America Web site. 2005. http://www.oxfamamerica.org/whatwedo/where_we_work/united_states/news_publications/food_farm/art2563.html

National Agricultural Statistics Service. “Kentucky Agricultural Statistics 2004-2005 Bulletin.” http://www.nass.usda.gov/ky/B2005/p016.pdf

Pollan, Michael. "Naturally: How Organic became a Marketing Niche and a Multibillion-dollar Industry." The New York Times Magazine, May 13, 2001, 30-37, 57-58, 63-64.

Rehydration Project. “Hunger: Myths and Realities.” Updated September 2005, http://www.rehydrate.org/facts/hunger.htm

Runyan, Jack L. “Hired Farmworkers’ Earnings Increased in 2001 But Still Trail Most Occupations” Rural America Volume 17, Issue 3/Fall 2002. http://www.ers.usda.gov/publications/ruralamerica/ra173/ra173j.pdf

US Department of Health and Human Services. The 2005 HHS Federal Poverty Guidelines. September 2005. http://aspe.hhs.gov/poverty/05poverty.shtml

World Hunger Year. “Community Food Security 201: Context, Principles, Practices and Linkages.” Food Security Learning Center. Slide Presentation, Washington, D.C., August 2005.