"Follow the money trail" is always a good caveat to any discussion of the governments involvement with subsidies, food programs and public assistance. As Prof. Ludwig points out, nothing is going to change as long as the public is shut out of the process. Until that time, politicians are going to continue to follow the desires of the lobbyists and major contributors to their campaign. Common sense and morality have no seat at the table, which is why we have GMO's that are grown in a toxic stew of synthetic fertilizers and herbicides being fed to an unsuspecting public all while being funded with our own tax dollars. It is a sad testament to the Republic.

What I don't understand is the people that are making the decisions have the resources to choose not to eat food grown in an inferior environment. Why don't eat they pesticide-laden apples, give them to their grandchildren. There is no reason why we cannot grow wholesome food and have it taste good. Whole foods market has done an outstanding job of putting produce and healthy foods in front of the public. Unfortunately some of the products can run out of the average household budget, although if you shop their 365 house brand you get a good product with value. I do believe some of our food problems are because we keep buying the food. Stop buying and the companies stop making the product.

Making more laws and rules are not going to change anything, money talks! Start a grass roots movement where people don't eat meat one day a week give them the recipes or faster food options that cost pennies not dollars. People are moved by saving money. Try it.

I have major concerns about the beef production in the USA. The routine use of preventive antibiotics, the use of hormonal implantation and the feeding of primarily a corn diet mixed with whatever cheap excess "food" has produced beef that is unhealthy for the American public. Years of eating such stuff has produced many health problems and our taxes and insurance premiums have catapulted as a result. Not to mention the emotional suffering of sick people and their relatives.

The same goes for GMO and all the pesticides, etc. in the name of higher productivity.

Do you consider that a destructive measurement of food could be structured upon entropy? That is, the measure of disorder that any food causes to either the environmental or human systems. And if so could this be used as yardstick to calibrate sustainable strategies.
Peter Jarrett, Oxford, England

I recently read Julian Alston et al.'s 2009 economic analysis* of limiting options to healthier foods for food stamp recipients. They argue that this may have unintended consequences, in particular changes in market pricing with the result of increased purchasing of unhealthy foods by non-foodstamp recipients. I do not have a strong background in economics and so am not quite sure what to make of this. Thoughts?

*Alston J, Mullally C, Sumner D, Townsend M, and Vosti S (2009). Likely effects on obesity from proposed changes to the US food stamp program. Food Policy, 34, pp.176-184.

I'm primarily interested in the rapid increase in farmland values over the past few years and where the primary drivers of this growth - ethanol mandate increases due to RFS-2, Chinese demand for soy, and a weak dollar - are headed. I'm also interested to hear about any expected changes to payments, insurance and ownership regulations. Thanks, Aaron

How can the government provide assistance to people in need so they can meet their caloric requirements through a balanced diet?

The dilemma seems clear. Somehow, we should be encouraging the consumption of vegetables, fruits, whole grains and fish, while not promoting the production or consumption of fatty meats, or highly-refined foods which are generally rich in sugars, starches, and sodium and fat, but little else. To do otherwise is to satisfy hunger today while increasing the incidence of diet-related disease tomorrow. That is an expensive and inhumane trade-off.

In short, is it possible to use legislation to change eating habits?

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EMAIL RECEIVED FROM Areta Fleming

Thank you very much for this informative show. I enjoyed it very much.

I am a retired teacher. School food is indeed awful; however the lunches brought from home are not much better and what is nutritious is thrown away by the students. Our school decided to pass a tray every lunch period with the rule that students could not get up to play until the tray passed them. Leftover food was put on the tray. Students who didn't have a lunch could take from the tray (with appropriate safety restrictions). The item most tossed on the tray was whole apples. The faculty felt sorry for the parents who thought their kids were at least eating a piece of fruit for lunch. At least, we felt, they were no longer tossed in the trash.

Is it possible to feed a growing world population without GMOs [genetically modified organisms]? And what scientific [evidence] do we have that GMOs have any adverse affect upon human populations?

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EMAIL RECEIVED FROM Matthew McKillip, Research Assistant, National Research Initiative, American Enterprise Institute, Washington DC

Is the recent farm bill proposal championed by Sen. Thune among others truly a bait and switch that removes one modest safety net only to replace it with a potentially more expensive one? If not, please explain how guaranteeing historic high prices for farmers is a fiscal necessity and/or cost saving measure?

(http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/18/business/when-one-farm-subsidy-ends-another-may-rise-to-replace-it.html?_r=2&adxnnl=1&adxnnlx=1319122855-KIl7LJ+LUH8la4/XP8FfKQ)

How can urban main stream reporting on the various regional agricultural production models, commodities and ag of various sizes of farms be improved? Big Urban Media reports in a way that is generalized and does not cover regional food production in detail. Farmer political movements receive virtually no coverage. The "food movement" has very little contact with commodity farmers and agricultural scientists, many of whom possess valuable knowledge that could better the future of agriculture for all of us. There is a dangerous trend in urban media lately to portray all of agriculture as "The Enemy" What is it that urban America wants for the future of rural America?

FROM FORUM WEB EDITOR
The panelists answer this question in the video starting at minute 52:46.

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EMAIL RECEIVED FROM Donald Carr, Senior Communications and Policy Advisor, Agriculture and Natural Resources, Environmental Working Group

What are the environmental implications of removing all risk from large industrial producers via farm subsidy, insurance, and revenue guarantee programs?

There is reason to believe that the next farm bill could be written in the next few weeks due to Super Committee actions, what implications would this have on the ability to reform our broken food and farm policy, and on democracy in general?

In the context of natural disasters such as wild fires, drought etc, how do you see land usage and overall natural resources for biofuel production vs. food production? What are or should be our priorities, the energy or assuring the necessary food (preferably a healthy food) for a growing population?

My question, which I was unfortunately unable to ask, is how to engage public health and nutrition professionals in not merely proposing that we American eat less refined grains, sugar, and salt but in actually shaping the policies that shift our food production's infrastructure to the equipment, processing plants, transportation/distribution systems, and labor base needed for producers to grow legumes instead of wheat or broccoli instead of corn? We don't produce anywhere near enough fruit, vegetables or legumes for the American public to meet USDA guidelines, much less HSPH's recommended diet.

Which policies can we change to create the knowledge and skills base along with the physical establishment needed to grow more of our own specialty crops?

BTW, it would be feasible to grow broccoli in Iowa if 1) the farmer had the training, interest and support from local ag networks; 2) there was a buyer with the trucking, processing, and storage needed; 3) the labor and prices were actually related.

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EMAIL RECEIVED FROM John Wallingford

I thought the discussion was terrific, but I am disappointed that there was not more discussion on the possibility of shifting subsidies to favor vegetables (or in the ideal, proportionally according to food distribution of US Dietary Guidelines). In his response to the last question Dr Williams pretty much dismissed the potential for vegetables in most US climates. But wouldn't subsidies also stir innovation to expand the growing season if vegetables were profitable? And isn't global warming already having some expansion of the growing season? Finally, if vegetables are cheaper (because of subsidies) wouldn't the incentive increase for food processors to use them, and marketing forces could still influence consumer choices, but for the vegetable-based foods?

I've got a few questions:

Q 1.Why is junk food not getting banned, though it's the major cause of many health problems?

Q 2.Why is the use of antibiotics getting maximized day to day and the actual fact is that the excessive use of antibiotics is minimizing our life span.

Q 3. What subsidies need is not the ax, but reform that moves them forward. Imagine support designed to encourage a resurgence of small- and medium-size farms producing not corn syrup and animal-feed but food we can touch, see, buy and eat -- like apples and carrots -- while diminishing handouts to agribusiness and its political cronies.

Regards/Ushna.

As long as governments act as the puppets of multi-national conglomerates, subsidise their soil-killing systems and allow their patenting of highly inefficient (whilst superficially appearing otherwise) crops and systems, things will not change. As long as flat-earth economists insist that constant growth is not only possible, but desirable, nothing will change.

Why [does] the government not ban the production and growing of GMO crops and animals?