That’s just one of the many insightful factoids from everyone’s favorite bleeding heart columnist, Nick Kristof, whose latest piece of activism is a call for P-E Obama to appoint the first-ever Secretary of Food. (Pick me! Pick me!) All snarkiness aside, it’s a damn good idea:
A Department of Agriculture made sense 100 years ago when 35 percent of Americans engaged in farming. But today, fewer than 2 percent are farmers. In contrast, 100 percent of Americans eat.
Renaming the department would signal that Mr. Obama seeks to move away from a bankrupt structure of factory farming that squanders energy, exacerbates climate change and makes Americans unhealthy — all while costing taxpayers billions of dollars.
“We’re subsidizing the least healthy calories in the supermarket — high fructose corn syrup and hydrogenated soy oil, and we’re doing very little for farmers trying to grow real food,” notes Michael Pollan, author of such books as “The Omnivore’s Dilemma” and “In Defense of Food” (and current Eater of the Year lagabout).
Read the full piece here [NYT]
But what about the anorexic contingent!!!
*Ok, that’s not really funny.
Renaming the department would signal that Mr. Obama seeks to move away from a bankrupt structure of factory farming that squanders energy, exacerbates climate change and makes Americans unhealthy — all while costing taxpayers billions of dollars.