Is a Food Revolution Now in Season?

[Guest guest]

March 22, 2009

Is a Food Revolution Now in Season?

By ANDREW MARTIN

After being largely ignored for years by Washington, advocates of organic and

locally grown food have found a receptive ear in the White House, which has

vowed to encourage a more nutritious and sustainable food supply.

Mr. Pollan, who contributes to The New York Times Magazine, likens

sustainable-food activists to the environmental movement in the 1970s. Though

encouraged by the Obama administration's positions, he worries that food

activists may lack political savvy.

AT the heart of the sustainable-food movement is a belief that America has

become efficient at producing cheap, abundant food that profits corporations and

agribusiness, but is unhealthy and bad for the environment.

The federal government is culpable, the activists say, because it pays farmers

billions in subsidies each year for growing grains and soybeans. A result is an

abundance of corn and soybeans that provide cheap feed for livestock and

inexpensive food ingredients like high-fructose corn syrup.

They argue that farm policy — and federal dollars — should instead encourage

farmers to grow more diverse crops, reward conservation practices and promote

local food networks that rely less on fossil fuels for such things as fertilizer

and transportation.

What is new is that the sustainable-food movement has gained both commercial

heft, with the rapid success of organic and natural foods in the last decade,

and celebrity cachet, with a growing cast of chefs, authors and even celebrities

like Oprah Winfrey and Gwyneth Paltrow who champion the cause.

It has also been aided by more awareness of the obesity epidemic, particularly

among children, and by concerns about food safety amid seemingly continual

outbreaks of tainted supplies.

While their arguments haven't gained much traction in Washington,

sustainable-food activists and entrepreneurs have convinced more Americans to

watch what they eat.

They have encouraged the growth of farmers' markets and created such a demand

for organic, natural and local products that they are now sold at many major

grocers, including Wal-Mart.

" Increasingly, companies are looking to reduce the amount of additives, " says

Ted Smyth, who retired earlier this year as senior vice president at H. J.

Heinz, the food giant. " Consumers are looking for more authentic foods. This

trend absolutely has percolated through into mainstream foods. "

The sustainable-food crowd isn't alone in its love fest with the Obama

administration and Mr. Vilsack. Food-safety activists have praised Mr. Vilsack's

remarks about creating a single food-safety agency, and nutrition advocates are

enthused about his comments on school lunches and health care reform.

" There are tremendous opportunities with health care reform, " says Michael F.

Jacobson, executive director of the Center for Science in the Public Interest.

" Cutting sodium consumption in half should save over 100,000 lives a year. "

Ultimately, he said, agriculture and food policy should fit into the Obama

administration's planned overhaul of health care, by encouraging nutrition to

prevent disease. It should also be part of the effort to combat climate change,

by encouraging renewable energy and conservation on farms, he said.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/22/business/22food.html