Impact of a plant-based diet-Large scale monocropping

[David3]

I'm not anyone has mentioned this yet but there is also a social economic price to pay. Maybe the best example is the 'food desserts" created in Middle America with corn. Because of a number of economic factors the only way corn farmers can make a living is by growing more corn. This creates a landscape where every available square foot is dedicated to corn production. in these areas, a little more than 50 years ago farmers had gardens and orchards too. Now despite being surrounded by farm land the local market has to import produce from other states or countries.

Yes, exactly. Similar to countries where the available farmland is used to grow high-value export crops (coffee, cocoa), rather than to grow (less profitable) staple crops to feed their own populations. This is what can happen when a nation's farmland is primarily owned by a small percentage of people.


Per the United Nations World Food Programme:

"Although enough food is produced to feed everyone on this planet, the goal of a world with zero hunger, as set out in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and specifically in Sustainable Development Goal, remains hugely challenging due to a toxic cocktail of conflict, climate change, disasters and structural poverty and inequality."

Link: Ending hunger | World Food Programme


By the way, please do not hesitate to donate to the World Food Programme, the International Rescue Committee, the Lunchbox Fund, and similar food-assistance groups. For the sake of cost-effectiveness, these groups donate plant foods - typically legumes, grains, iodized salt, and fortified vegetable oils. The food selections are tailored to meet the preferences of the communities being assisted: The WFP food basket | World Food Programme

 

[Graeme M]

Per the U.S. Department of Agriculture, one-third of the U.S. corn crop is used for animal feed, one-third is used to make ethanol fuel, and the remaining third of the U.S. corn crop is used for a combination of industrial uses, beverages (high fructose corn sweetener), human food, and for export:

I believe that corn makes up about 90% of the feed for livestock produced in the US. I have been surprised to learn that so much corn is now used to make biofuel which has has overtaken livestock feed as a market for corn. This video echoes the point about what markets corn services - in this case no mention is made of human food at all. Interestingly, these farmers suggest that they produce corn and then go looking for a market. That seems a bit... irrational, when you think about how much land is used to do this.

 

[Lou]

I think it was in the Omnivore's Dilemma that the author spends several chapters on corn. The combination of the biology, the big ag companies, and government policies, the farmers are very constrained. It seems like the only thing they have control over is how much corn they can grow and they have chosen to grow as much as possible. There are universities who have research departments that are solely devoted to developing new uses for corn.

It is really a shame too. if only so much time and energy went to diversity and organic farming. And yeah the livestock feed demand is a very big component.

FYI

We’re Living on Corn!

Reading Pollan's book, it's hard to avoid the conclusion that the food industry has confined many Americans to their own urban feedlots, in which they have grown obese, ill, and uncurious about the source or nutritional quality of their food.

michaelpollan.com