I listened to an interesting episode of the SALT (Seminars about Long-term Thinking) from the Long Now Foundation. This episode was author Michael Pollan talking about “Deep Agriculture.” This is the same guy who wrote The Omnivore’s Dilemma. I enjoyed this talk and was excited and enthused by it. It gives me hope that with a little political will, we can reform our food system away from the Nixon/Earl Butts model we’ve had for the last 40 years and into something more sustainable.
The current subsidy structure makes it most economical for agribusiness to raise food that makes us less healthy, has a huge environmental impact and doesn’t best serve the common good. I’d love to see this changed, but it’s hard to see anything that happens that requires political will from any politician. I’d love to be proven wrong though.