Modern Food Sucks
Humans have been consuming food since the beginning of time. You’d think that we would naturally understand what was good for us.
First, a little house keeping.
The Don’t Newsletter on Me weekly publication is going on hiatus for a while. There are some changes going on with my work schedule, and I just don’t have the time right now. I will continue to put out regular blogs, but they might be a bit erratic.
Now, we return to the regularly scheduled programming.
Our food system is not sustainable. 2020 has shown a major crack in the system.
The coronavirus, and resulting panic, had a pretty big impact on the demand for supplies in 2020. Distribution networks, and the producers could not quickly adapt to it. I see it as a little chip in the I, Pencil argument. Calm down, the principle of a free market arranging recourses is still WAY more effective than command and control. Plus we are nowhere near a free market economy. The issue is that modern food is made with more inputs than it needs to be. The production, and storage all require a large amount of recourses from all over the place. If even a few of those inputs get disrupted, you end us with what just happened. Also, there isn’t a way to cost effectively increase the speed products are shipped at scale. I work in distribution, so I see this first hand all the time. If you want that tomato to cost 10$, you might be able to get it there faster. This would not be a great thing for people who are living paycheck to paycheck. Any type of manufactured, or non-manufactured crisis will inevitably result in events like this in the future. Society is getting larger, ever more fragile.
If you take a look at the food chain, there are all kinds of steps it takes, processes it goes through, and the endless bureaucracy attached. Most of the weakness appears to be in the middle, with distribution and storage. A lot of the food you buy isn’t even grown anywhere near you. Think about that tomato again. In 2016, China harvested more than 50 million tons, or around 250 billion tomatoes. How fresh can that tomato actually be when it traveled all the way from China to your local store or restaurant? I think most people would agree that fresh food is better. Wendys does advertise fresh, never frozen, for a reason.
Food that is mass produced is also generally terrible for you. The continued rise in cancer rates, diabetes, and other overall heath problems is evidence of this. Correlation doesn’t prove causation, but it damn sure looks like that. We can’t blame the cancer rate on 5G now can we. The quality will continue to go down, along with the price. The price decreasing may be good for some people, but at what cost? The damage that’s being done to some of the farmland might become irreversible. Genetic diversity exists in humans, as well as plants. There is a reason why you shouldn’t procreate with family members, or some breed of dogs are weaker than others. I’m not an expert here, but I would imagine the same thing is happening to our food. If that family tree is just the trunk, you might have a problem.
I’d rather spend more money on good food, and not get garbage. That’s a decision each individual will need to make according to their resource. We recently started to try and eat healthier, and I was surprised how cheep some of the fruits and vegetables actually are. These mega food producers are not incentivized to make better food. They are incentivized to make their products with less recourses. Whether it be though science, or just lower quality materials. The more they can sell, the more money they make. I’m sympathetic to the lefties who detest mass capitalism in this regard. I think they have a fair criticism, they just draw the wrong conclusions from it.
Pesticides are designed to kill bugs, or other pests on contact. These organisms are pretty small. That concentration is pretty weak if you compared that bug’s mass to that of an average adult human. Doesn’t mean it won’t have effects in humans though. There are ongoing class action lawsuits against these manufactures in the US, and I believe the EU already settled one. I wouldn’t be surprised if they were able to get favorable legislation in the US to shield themselves from prosecution in the past. That pesticide may kill the grasshopper immediately, but it will just take longer to kill you. The entire reason that compound exists is to kill living organisms. Why would you want that anywhere near your food?!
A few of my family members stopped eating gluten years ago, and their general health profile has gone up. They do not have celiac disease, or any diagnosed aversion to gluten. Wonder why that is? A testimonial that I read online years ago might offer us an answer. A man in the US was struggling with what he thought was gluten intolerance, but his doctors were unable to find the true culprit. He didn’t have any of the allergies, or celiac disease. He basically just cut the stuff out of his life and moved on. One summer he took his family to Italy for a family vacation. While there, he decided what the hell, he was going to try some local homemade Italian pasta. Pasta used to give him problems in America. Surprisingly, it had zero effect on him. When he got back to the States, he decided to do more research on how mass produced wheat products worked from start to finish. Maybe that was the difference? Local wheat from Italy, or mass produced grain from, or shipped to America. It turns out that large scale agriculture operations have a tendency to spray pesticides on their wheat crops right before harvest to get all those last remaining bugs or weeds. If that happens to close to harvest, and isn’t washed off by a rain or something, it goes along with the wheat. Then it gets processed into our food. Sounds great right?
The food industry lobbyists are also busy in Washington. Trying to get regulations changed, reduced, or actually increased to squash smaller scale operations. They are able to get more red tape, taxes or fees, and State certifications added. All these things make it more expensive for the little guy. The big operations don’t mind because they already control so much of the market, and typically get large subsidies. Regulatory capture is real. I think most people would be shocked at the double wording of a lot of the “organic” or “natural” wordmarks in these pieces of legislation. If the Sate is there to keep us safe, why does the FDA allow all these crazy food additives?
Take a look at what is happening in India right now. In the words of James Talocka from Mises.com:
… the Farmers’ Produce Trade and Commerce Act, grants farmers the freedom to sell directly to private traders and retailers, allowing them to bypass government-sponsored middlemen. It also removes taxes on produce sales. India’s Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare said in a press release that the policy will “promote barrier-free inter-state and intra-state trade and commerce outside the physical premises of markets notified under State Agricultural Produce Marketing legislations.”
…
For weeks farmers have been camping out along major highways near New Delhi to protest the deregulation of agriculture markets. Demonstrators have blocked traffic, clashed with police, and brought trucks full of food and supplies, indicating that they do not plan on going anywhere until the reforms are repealed.
I don’t know how politics works in India, but these corporations are pretty bold. Could you imagine if Monsanto, or a few un-named mega-farms stopped working for even a short amount of time in order to pressure the State into protecting their market?
You know who’s really passionate about growing and providing high quality food? The little guys. Food co-ops, community groups, and family farmers. They are down at field level. Anyone who wants to be in this space has to really care about what they are doing, because its not easy. They're definitely incentivized to work smarter and healthier because they are directly impacting the people that buy from them. In some cases they may actually be friends.
These multinational global corporations don't care about you. The example I like to use is Verizon. Do you think they care if they loose 1k, or 10k customers? The market is completely controlled, so eventually you will be back when you’ve had enough of the other two carriers. At a minimum, try to find your local farmers market. If you want to overachieve, try to substitute food you buy at a big box store for something you can grow yourself. I have been reading a lot about this, and we are definitely going to be starting a garden this spring. There is a TON of information out there about it, go look it up. It’s about knowing where my food comes from and a sustainable living perspective, not self-sufficiency. I also want that increased connection with nature, and the gifts it provides.
Here’s a great resource to help you find those local farmers. FarmMatch can link you with local farmers in your area, and allow you to order food online. It sounds like an awesome service. I can’t wait to give it a try.
Humans have been consuming food since the beginning of time (yes, thank you captain obvious). You’d think that we would naturally understand what was good for us. The convince factor of junk food, and the propaganda around nutrition has perverted our habits. Your health is one of the main factors that control your entire outlook on life. It should be protected with the utmost vigilance.
Mike
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