(2007-05-02) Pollan Farm Bill

Michael Pollan on the Farm Bill. Like most Processed Food-s, the Twinkie (Obesity) is basically a clever arrangement of carbohydrates and fats teased out of corn, soybeans and wheat - three of the five commodity crops that the farm bill supports, to the tune of some $25 billion a year. (Rice and cotton are the others.).. The current farm bill helps commodity farmers by cutting them a check based on how many bushels they can grow... By making it possible for American farmers to sell their crops abroad for considerably less than it costs to grow them, the farm bill helps determine the price of corn in Mexico and the price of cotton in Nigeria and therefore whether farmers in those places will survive or be forced off the land, to migrate to the cities (Rural Development) - or to the United States (Immigration)... Today the problem is overnutrition, but a School Lunch lady (Educating Kids) trying to prepare healthful fresh food is apt to get dinged by USDA inspectors for failing to serve enough calories; if she dishes up a lunch that includes ChickenNuggets and TaterTots, however, the inspector smiles and the reimbursements flow.