A A P P C C A A Building the Good Food Building the Good Food “Toolkit,” – Healthy “Toolkit,” – Healthy Daryll E. Ray University of Tennessee Agricultural Policy Analysis Center Food Systems and Public Health Conference Airlie Center, Warrenton, Virginia April 2, 2009
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APCA Building the Good Food “Toolkit,” – Healthy Daryll E. Ray University of Tennessee Agricultural Policy Analysis Center Food Systems and Public Health.
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AAPPCCAA
Building the Good Food Building the Good Food “Toolkit,” – Healthy “Toolkit,” – Healthy
Daryll E. RayUniversity of Tennessee
Agricultural Policy Analysis Center
Food Systems and Public Health ConferenceAirlie Center, Warrenton, Virginia
April 2, 2009
AAPPCCAA
AAPPCCAA
Agricultural PolicyAgricultural Policy
• As mentioned by a number of the background papers…
– Current commodity policy is a low-price policy
• Motivating force: To expand exports; agribusiness
– Impacts livestock producers & host of other users of cheap grains and edible oils
• Want to pick up on the ‘export reason’ and some of the ‘impacts’
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Exports: The Key to Prosperity?Exports: The Key to Prosperity?
Index of US Population, US Demand for 8 Crops and US Exports* of 8 Crops
1979=1.0
US Population
US Exports *Adjusted for grain exported in meat
US Domestic Demand
1970s Syndrome
•Soviet Union policy change
•Oil money flowed to banks
•Banks lent money to less developed countries
•Those countries bought food
•Result: Grain import demand exploded
•US had capacity to capture most of the demand.
•And then….
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Loans Came Due But US Thought 70s Loans Came Due But US Thought 70s Outsized exports were “ours” foreverOutsized exports were “ours” forever
Index of US Population, US Demand for 8 Crops and US Exports* of 8 Crops
1979=1.0
US Population
US Exports
US Domestic Demand
*Adjusted for grain exported in meat
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Impacts of Agricultural PolicyImpacts of Agricultural Policy
• Made grains and oilseeds unrealistically cheap
– Which:• Enables processors to purchase raw commodities at a
fraction of their total production cost
• Greatly hastened the concentration of feeding operations (and associated problems)
– But without the policy change• Cattle, chickens and hogs would NOT have gone to a
primarily grazing and range fed finishing operations
• Prices would have been higher for whole grains, sweeteners, and cooking oils but still available in plentiful supplies at reasonable prices
– Food transport costs, economies of size, packaging and assembly
• Cultural changes affected food consumption
– Two-income households; premium on convenience
– Jobs requiring less physical exertion
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(Other) Random Thoughts(Other) Random Thoughts
• I could buy five greasy hamburgers and a pound of french fries at a “Henry’s” fast food restaurant for $1.00 40 years ago
• Question: Over the centuries have our bodies become engineered to deal with famine not abundance?
• Agricultural policy hurried the trend toward less healthy food but…
– The fossil fuel revolution, more two-income families, need for convenience, time constraints, changing work habits and so on likely would have affected eating habits regardless…
• None of this gets agricultural policy off the hook!
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Quickening the Journey to an Quickening the Journey to an Alternative Food SystemAlternative Food System
• Research
• Extension and coordination
• Commodity program changes
• Awareness programs/food assistance programs
• A comment or two
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ResearchResearch
• Quantitatively estimate the connections between farm prices, food prices, corporate marketing practices and food consumption
• Quantitatively estimate the total social costs and benefits of alternative nutritional food structures
• Investigate ways to optimize the health benefits of food assistance programs
• National effort to develop locally-adapted, highly-nutritional varieties of vegetables and other specialty crop (resistant to diseases, optimized to climate, etc.)
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More ResearchMore Research
• Additional research on:
– Sustainable practices that enhance nutrition as well as other characteristics (productivity, environment, etc., etc.)
– Grazing systems for cattle; Hoop structures on pastureland for hogs…
– Vegetable greenhouse systems
– Practices and technologies appropriate for:
• Family farms; low-capital small commercial operations
• Community Supported Agriculture operations
• Community gardens
• Family gardens
• Coordinating and management issues; interfacing with agribusinesses
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ExtensionExtension
• Opportunity to refocus the mission of Extension
– Urban areas are underserved relative to rural areas
– Develop opportunities, coordinate, provide information to community gardens, CSAs, family specialty-crop operations, family gardeners
– Develop marketing programs to expand sales for small specialty operations
– Provide a “clearing house” function to link dispersed specialty production operations to commercially viable markets