Michael Pollan interview

I found this story today in my Google Reader and thought it must be passed on.

Michael Pollan is one of the most eloquent writers concerning issues agricultural. His latest book, In Defense of Food, is a serious call towards a more mindful meal. He has also written an excellent letter back in October 2008 to the incoming "Farmer in Chief". This is by far the best introduction to the mind of Pollan.

This interview from Mother Jones is a great one. Here is an excerpt from Pollan:

"It's a dead end to try and eliminate subsidies, because then you get all of America's farmers, who have political power out of all proportion of their number, unified against change. Right now the incentives are to produce as much as possible, whatever the costs to the environment and our health. But you can imagine another set of assumptions, so that they're getting incentives to sequester carbon. Or clean the water that leaves their farm, or for the quality, not the quantity, of the food they're growing."

As I read more about this topic each day, it seems some good steps are being taken to move in the opposite direction, even in the USDA - such as the creation of a new office of "Ecosystem Services and Markets", and a new pilot project which provides funding for midwest farmers to plant "such vegetables as cucumbers, green peas, lima beans, pumpkins, snap beans, sweet corn, or tomatoes" on its base acres. The history of Farm Bill's gets a little complex on this point, but it is positive to see any movement away from high commodity crops (such as corn and soybeans - the two most heavily subsidized by the USDA) in support of green goodies.

The hope for a renewed Dept of Agriculture is chronicled here and here.