Wheat & Sky (photo by Cheryl Rankin, courtesy of morguefile.com)

For years the U.S. has enjoyed the world’s cheapest food and borne the world's the highest medical costs. Now, rising prices for food and fuel, along with environmental concerns, are making America's need for a healthier and more sustainable food system ever more urgent

This past weekend the New York Times devoted its Sunday magazine section to the subject of food. It included an excellent piece from author Michael Pollan. Here’s part of what he wrote about the current state of affairs:

Whenever farmers clear land for crops and till the soil, large quantities of carbon are released into the air. But the 20th-century industrialization of agriculture has increased the amount of greenhouse gases emitted by the food system by an order of magnitude; chemical fertilizers (made from natural gas), pesticides (made from petroleum), farm machinery, modern food processing and packaging and transportation have together transformed a system that in 1940 produced 2.3 calories of food energy for every calorie of fossil-fuel energy it used into one that now takes 10 calories of fossil-fuel energy to produce a single calorie of modern supermarket food.

Mr. Pollan points out that the situation is all the more absurd since “...every calorie we eat is ultimately the product of photosynthesis — a process based on making food energy from sunshine. There is hope and possibility in that simple fact.”

The article is a call to action for the next President of the United States. The days of cheap food in America may have come to an end as fuel prices have soared and made industrial farming far less cost efficient. Regardless of whether the industrial system can bring back inexpensive food, its intensive use of fossil fuels pose a threat to the health of people and the planet. Pollan also writes that food is a national security issue. A country that must import much of its food is “…not only at the mercy of global commodity markets but of other governments as well.”

Mr.Pollan lays out some long term policy goals for bringing about much needed change, including “…a transition to a new solar-food economy” and “well-designed polyculture systems” explained in some detail.

If you’d like to read the New York Times article cited above go to: Farmer in Chief

If you'd like to purchase one of Michael Pollan's excellent books exploring the American food system go to:

1. "In Defense of Food: An Eater's Manifesto" by Michael Pollan

2. "Omnivore's Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals" by Michael Pollan