Subsidizing the Wrong Vegetables

Subsidizing the wrong vegetables

Government policy has a major effect on our daily lives. Corn, soy, wheat and rice are the most heavily subsidized foods in the US. They are subsidized as commodities by the Farm Bill, which was originally created during the Great Depression to provide subsidies to farmers to help keep their production and sales affordable and profitable. This was also meant to avoid having to import food during this difficult time and keep profits within the US economy. We are no longer living through this difficult time, yet these subsidies still stand today. The Farm Bill is still in place and is updated every 5 years and is written by Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry and the House Committee on Agriculture(Coalition). Today it funds supplemental nutrition support, crop insurance, forestry, rural development, horticulture, research, conservation, commodities, renewable energy and miscellaneous areas(Coalition). The miscellaneous section covers things such as advocacy for socially disadvantaged, veteran farms, agricultural safety, workforce development and livestock health. The 2017 Farm Bill requested a total of $428 billion to be spent over a 5 year period(Coalition). The majority of this budget was proposed to be allocated toward Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). $29.6 billion was allocated to commodities, which are the subsidies for corn, soy, wheat and rice. Less than 1% of this budget was to be allocated to miscellaneous, forestry, rural development, credit, research and horticulture (also known as fruit and vegetable) subsidies. The proposed budget for 2023 is requesting a total of $709 billion dollars to be spend over a 5 year timeline(Service, 2023). In the new budget, $57 billion are being allocated to commodity crops, and $2.1 billion is allocated to horticulture. While this is an improvement, it is not nearly enough subsidies for healthy foods.

What do we use corn for?

 Corn is not mainly used for raw human consumption, but to feed to livestock or process into other produces like industrial ethanol and high fructose corn syrup (Hutchins, 2023). The subsidizing corn, that is fed to livestock, causes meat to be quite affordable and in the standard American diet, the star of the plate. Americans also have low consumption of fruits and vegetables, causing their diets to be low in fiber and high in saturated fat. These dietary factors can be linked with elevated cholesterol, atherosclerosis, hypertension, obesity, diabetes, gallbladder disease and cardiovascular disease (Kuller, 1997). Corn is also used to create sweeteners such as high fructose corn syrup (HFCS) which is in many ultra-processed convenience foods and drinks that are consumed by Americans on a regular basis. HFCS consumption is associated with an increased development of cardiovascular disease and type 2 diabetes (Malik & Hu, 2015). While these foods are causing disease, fruits and vegetables are preventing and reversing disease. When participants consumed a whole food plant based diet, with minimally processed foods and high fruit and vegetable intake, their disease biomarkers significantly improved (Bansal, Connolly, & Harder, 2022). Their BMI decrease, systolic blood pressure decrease, and their LDL and HDL cholesterol went down (Bansal et al., 2022). So the real question is, why are we still subsidizing foods that are linked with chronic disease development and not funding the foods that are linked with disease prevention or reversal?

Do Healthy Food Subsidies Work?

At this time, there are subsidies on corn which makes foods that are processed with high fructose corn syrup very affordable and little subsidies are provided for fruits and vegetables. The US is the country with the highest high fructose corn syrup consumption in the world. If we were to remove this subsidy or reallocate the money elsewhere, would our consumption change? In New Zealand, the junk food tax was been studies in conjunction with a fruit and vegetables subsidy. When an 8% junk food tax was places on saturated fat, sugar and salt and paired with a 20% fruit and vegetable subsidy, a huge shift in purchasing habits was observed (Blakely et al., 2020). In the US, when fruits and vegetables were subsidizes for women receiving SNAP benefits, pregnant and prenatal women had a 10-20% increase in consumption of target foods and nutrients (Black et al., 2012). They had an increased consumption of fruits and vegetables, and decrease in saturated fat, sugar, and salt. These factors also contributed to an increase in mean birth weight for children from mothers receiving SNAP benefits which is beneficial because this subgroup was experiencing birthing babies of low birth weight (Black et al., 2012). If money were to be reallocated away from corn subsidies, to put toward fruit and vegetable subsidies, it would mimic a junk food tax and cause a decrease in these ultra-processed foods and increase consumption of fruits and vegetables.

How to change this

Now that we know subsidizing vegetables instead of corn can help us make healthier choice and lead to improved health outcomes, what can we do to make this happen? Well the Farm Bill is reevaluated every 5 years and it is being evaluated this year, in 2023. We need to start by raising awareness of this issues. Talk to your friends and family about this issues. Educate them on why reallocating funds can help us improve our health.  Join an organization that stands for similar values. This can help you spread your message further. Finally, write letters, email and make calls. Reach out to legislators who form and evaluate the Farm Bill. Reach out to administrators in the USDA, Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry and the House Committee on Agriculture. Do whatever you can to get this message out there and advocate for healthy lifestyles!

References 

Bansal, S., Connolly, M., & Harder, T. (2022). Impact of a Whole-Foods, Plant-Based Nutrition Intervention on Patients Living with Chronic Disease in an Underserved Community. Am J Lifestyle Med, 16(3), 382-389. doi:10.1177/15598276211018159

Black, A. P., Brimblecombe, J., Eyles, H., Morris, P., Vally, H., & K, O. D. (2012). Food subsidy programs and the health and nutritional status of disadvantaged families in high income countries: a systematic review. BMC Public Health, 12, 1099. doi:10.1186/1471-2458-12-1099

Blakely, T., Cleghorn, C., Mizdrak, A., Waterlander, W., Nghiem, N., Swinburn, B., . . . Ni Mhurchu, C. (2020). The effect of food taxes and subsidies on population health and health costs: a modelling study. Lancet Public Health, 5(7), e404-e413. doi:10.1016/S2468-2667(20)30116-X

Coalition, N. S. A. What is the Farm Bill?

Hutchins, C. (2023). Feed Grains Sector at a Glance.

Kuller, L. H. (1997). Dietary fat and chronic diseases: epidemiologic overview. J Am Diet Assoc, 97(7 Suppl), S9-15. doi:10.1016/s0002-8223(97)00724-4

Malik, V. S., & Hu, F. B. (2015). Fructose and Cardiometabolic Health: What the Evidence From Sugar-Sweetened Beverages Tells Us. J Am Coll Cardiol, 66(14), 1615-1624. doi:10.1016/j.jacc.2015.08.025

Service, C. R. (2023). Farm Bill Primer: Budget Dynamics. 3. Retrieved from https://crsreports.congress.gov/product/pdf/IF/IF12233#:~:text=Converting%20the%20February%202023%20baseline,-FY2033%2C%20Figure%201