Opinion: The US Doesn’t Develop Ample Meals – Nonetheless We May

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by Angela Huffman, Farm Movement, Trendy Farmer
February 5, 2025

No matter having virtually a billion acres of prime farmland and a inhabitants of solely 330 million people, the U.S. agriculture system, normally claimed to have the flexibility to “feed the world,” cannot feed its private inhabitants. The number of U.S. farms producing meals for consumption has been steadily declining for years, making us additional reliant on totally different worldwide areas as we resort to importing obligatory meals. This reveals in America’s rising agricultural commerce deficit, projected to reach a record-breaking $45.5 billion in 2025

However it doesn’t have to be this style; farmers know the way one can feed us. It’s backward authorities insurance coverage insurance policies that are standing of their means. We would like Congress to reevaluate the subsidies equipped to large ag, and prioritize farmers rising and elevating nutritious meals for our nation.

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Can cities develop enough meals to feed their residents?

Our taxpayer {{dollars}} are propping up a couple of of the biggest industrial agriculture operations throughout the nation, allowing the large to get bigger. On the an identical time, small and mid-sized farms are being pushed out of existence. The U.S. Division of Agriculture (USDA) oversubsidizes the manufacturing of corn and soybeans, which are used for livestock feed, ethanol, and to create sugars, starches, and oils that end up in extraordinarily processed meals. The extraordinarily concentrated nature of our meals and farm system, facilitated by the federal authorities’s prioritization of these commodity crops, has made it an increasing number of troublesome for our farmers to offer us with nutritious meals crops like fruits, greens, legumes, and whole grains. 

 

The most simply these days on the market farm subsidy info reveals that the majority of presidency subsidies go in the direction of commodity crop manufacturing, whereas merely 4 p.c go in the direction of fruit and vegetable manufacturing, which the USDA satirically deems “specialty crops.” New York fruit grower Chip Kent talked about he has solely ever obtained $500 in subsidies; within the meantime, a handful of the most important and wealthiest operations are raking in 80 p.c of the billions of accessible {{dollars}}. 

 

“We would use a little bit of help. Who’s gonna develop our meals? You really want to buy all of it from overseas?” Kent talked about in a newest CNBC story

 

And that is turning into a actuality; in step with the USDA, our fruit and vegetable present is an increasing number of made up of imports. In 2021, we imported 60 p.c of our latest fruit and 38 p.c of our greens. In 2019, we imported $15.7 billion worth of produce from Mexico and by 2023, that amount elevated to $21 billion

 

Our authorities’s misplaced prioritization of rising and exporting low-value crops, which primarily benefits the businesses dominating our meals system, is mirrored in America’s public properly being. As authorities subsidies help the manufacturing of sugars, starches, and oils, prices on these merchandise keep comparatively low. Over time, these meals flip into primarily probably the most readily accessible and on the market, and  latest produce is priced better and is far much less accessible. A variety of the American inhabitants simply is not consuming enough greens and fruit, in step with the U.S. Dietary Pointers, which determined that 80 p.c of people eat too little fruit and 90 p.c do not eat enough greens. A 2021 look at found that Persons are an increasing number of consuming ultra-processed meals (like frozen pizza, soda, and fast meals), with over half of our inhabitants’s caloric consumption coming from ultra-processed meals.

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Opinion: Rising meals and defending nature mustn’t conflicting targets.

We’re on monitor to have a commerce deficit for five of the ultimate seven years, our public properly being is at risk, and our fruit and vegetable farmers are struggling to stay afloat. The pliability to reverse these harmful traits is throughout the palms of our authorities. To begin to undo this harm, the following farm bill ought to larger help these farmers who’re providing nutritious meals for our people. 

 

It’s worth noting that the soybean enterprise, which receives significantly additional authorities help, has an enterprise value estimated at 20 p.c lower than that of greens and fruit. Farm Movement’s evaluation determined that by shifting decrease than 0.5 p.c of current farm acreage to fruit and vegetable manufacturing, we would stability the 2023 agriculture commerce deficit of $32 billion due to the better value of meals crops. 

 

We must always stop outsourcing what we’re in a position to develop ourselves; a particular means is possible, and a healthful, sustainable meals system is attainable. With the following farm bill nonetheless up throughout the air, Farm Movement will proceed advocating for Congress to shift property and infrastructure to the manufacturing of meals for our communities — to the benefit of America’s meals security, public properly being, and farmers. 

Angela Huffman is a co-founder and president of Farm Movement. She has over a decade of experience in meals and agriculture protection reform and market enchancment.

This <a objective=”_blank” href=”https://modernfarmer.com/2025/02/opinion-the-us-doesnt-grow-enough-food-but-we-could/”>article</a> first appeared on <a objective=”_blank” href=”https://modernfarmer.com”>Trendy Farmer</a> and is republished proper right here beneath a Ingenious Commons license.<img src=”https://modernfarmer.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/cropped-favicon-1-150×150.png” style=”width:1em;high:1em;margin-left:10px;”><img id=”republication-tracker-tool-source” src=”https://modernfarmer.com/?republication-pixel=true&put up=166913″ style=”width:1px;high:1px;”>

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