Growing Better Food

As health problems related to diet become more and more common, farm policies have come under greater scrutiny.¹ Two-thirds of Americans are overweight or obese, and this condition is linked directly to dietary choices.² If current trends continue, obesity and overweight will account for one-fifth of all healthcare expenses by 2020.³

Poor diets increase the risk of cardiovascular disease, cancer, diabetes, and hypertension. People living in poverty suffer disproportionately from all of these diet-related health conditions. While food prices in this country were falling throughout the 20th century, the prices of fruits and vegetables did not fall nearly as quickly as the prices of subsidized program crops. Hence, relative food prices have moved directly against a healthier diet, and consumption patterns clearly reflect this trend.⁴

Farmers’ choice of crops to grow is driven by what U.S. farm policies favor. Five crops—corn, soybeans, wheat, cotton, and rice—get the largest share of government support.⁵ In farm policy jargon, these are referred to as program crops. They are also sometimes called commodity crops or row crops—picture row upon row of a single crop, stretching out toward the horizon.

In 2011, USDA issued new guidelines on the recommended daily allowances (RDAs) of vitamins and minerals in diets. People cannot meet most of the new RDAs without consuming more fruits and vegetables, yet the United States does not even produce enough fruits and vegetables to meet the RDAs.⁶ The number of acres devoted to production of fruits and vegetables is roughly 2.5 percent of the total U.S. cropland under production.⁷

Farmers’ choice of crops to grow is driven by what U.S. farm policies favor. Consider the Direct Payments program, a lump sum payment provided to owners of farmland with a history of raising program crops. The Direct Payments program has been costing taxpayers $5 billion every year—a figure that has made the program emblematic of government waste. Seventy percent (220 million acres) of all harvested cropland is eligible for the program.⁸ Farmers who receive direct payments are under no obligation to plant anything on this land. But if they do raise a crop, it must be a program crop. If they attempt to divert even a single acre to grow fruits and vegetables, they risk losing government support for all the acres they qualify for.

Therefore, a main way to increase production of healthy foods—and make them more affordable to low-income households—would be for farm policies to eliminate restrictions on what farmers can grow. Diverting just 1 percent of program crop acres to grow fruits and vegetables would increase U.S. fruit and vegetable production by a third. ⁹

Issues