By: Jack Zuschnitt '16
The American food system is broken. It is corrupt, defective, unjust, and failing. A bag of
deep fried potato chips costs as much as a good piece of fruit. Independent family farms have
shifted from being the norm to being a rarity. Corn byproduct can be found in toothpaste, soda, and milk. The vast majority of the miracle drugs, antibiotics, are fed to slaughter bound animals instead of humans. An obsession with efficiency and money has driven the American food system from greatness to embarrassment. The American food system is broken, as evidenced by how industry dominates agriculture, government is
consistently ineffective, and consumers are uneducated in regard to food as a whole.
Over the last half century, corporate industry has taken over agricultural trade in what is
now called agribusiness. Agriculture is no longer controlled by independent farmers; rather, it is
controlled by mammoth companies, bringing in billions of dollars every year. The natural goal of
business is to make as much money as possible, while spending the least amount of money
possible. This philosophy is appropriate for most business practices. But in regard to food, it is
unacceptable. Food production should focus on quality, not quantity. Food of higher quality tastes better and is better for health. As the documentary Food Inc. asserts, the stated goal of the current food system is to "produce a lot of food, on a small amount of land, at an affordable price.” While this goal may sound acceptable, when our health and that of our environment are severely degraded, a problem arises.
When profit is the only impetus to farm, many sacrifices are made in production and
many unorthodox farming techniques must be used. To keep crops healthy, fertilizers are
dumped onto crops, while all of the extra nutrients run off into nearby water during rain
storms. Pesticides are sprayed to kill weeds, fungi, and insects. These pesticides can poison
wildlife and wreck havoc on biodiversity. As of 2007, the U.S. was responsible for the use of
over a billion pounds of pesticides per year. The theme is clear. As farming becomes more
efficient, our environment constantly takes a hit. Another ugly aspect of industrial agriculture is the rising regularity of concentrated animal feeding operations, or CAFOs. CAFOs are places where animals are crammed together, fed unnatural diets, and pumped with antibiotics, maximizing profit while also violating any imaginable animal rights. It is estimated that 80% of antibiotics used in the U.S. are fed to
animals. To make it worse, most antibiotic fed animals are not sick at all. This use of antibiotics
creates resistant bacteria that could prove to be detrimental to human health. When money
is the sole goal of the food industry, an abundance of negative impacts are created. The United States’ government has continuously failed the American food system.
Washington has done everything to help out farmers who grow commodity crops (mainly
through subsidies) but almost never supports the farming of fruits and vegetables. As David
Wallinga, an expert on the food system, notes, “For more than a century, U.S. policy has promoted U.S. farmers’ capacity to increase production, generally of the kind of commodities, like corn, wheat, cotton, rice, milk, and later soybeans, that lend themselves to large-scale production, easy storage, and long distance shipping.” He later stresses, “U.S. agricultural policy
has generally not offered incentives or supported farmers to grow fruits and vegetables.” In a
country where the average adult eats half the amount of daily recommended vegetables and
almost double the amount of daily recommended grain, the government must shift its focus to the
healthier options of fruits and vegetables.
Along with behemoth industry and a negligent government, America’s food system
suffers due to the uneducated consumer. Sometimes, lack of education is to blame. For example, consumers often purchase genetically modified food without knowing so, for labels are not required on GMO products thanks to strong lobbying from big business. In most cases however, consumers only require a quick lesson to see the impacts of the food system. One must simply think about his
most recent meal to begin seeing the flaws in the system. Here is an example. Last night, Sam
and Sally ate a steak dinner with mashed potatoes and green beans. They purchased said items
from their local grocery store, picking the meat and veggies from an open refrigerator (which
was a terrible waste of energy). Before making it to the store, the steak, potatoes, and beans were
shipped from Texas, Idaho, and California respectively. It takes every meal thousands of miles to
make it to the average American’s plate, and most Americans have never even given this idea a thought. Here is another quick statistic: it takes 2,000 gallons of water to process a single pound of
beef. As a country, we need to educate ourselves on the basic practices and negative aspects of our food system.
While the American food system is broken, there is a fix. The fixes will not be cheap, easy, or quick, but as issues worsen, the fixes will become necessary. There is no one final fix to the problems of the food system, rather many smaller fixes, but this is irrelevant without the help of the public. As a country, every citizen, business, and government official needs to accept that the food system is flawed and work together to fix it for a common benefit. Citizens’ voices matter, for without the individual, the whole is nothing. Without universal support, the American food system will never recuperate.
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