Corn is a bad way to judge the true cost of a food item (for reasons already described). But as I recall, back when oil was $4 a gallon, there was a segment on the news every day about a different item, be it milk, cheese, eggs, fruits, and their increased costs. Not just because you need oil to deliver food, but because you need oil to create the nitrogen in man-made fertilizers and pesticides.

Perhaps we should look at it this way…Organic was the first step to move away from the industrial food-chain, which relied too heavily on oil to produce fertilizers. Local was the natural next step because of oil consumption to deliver these items.

Here’s a piece…

“The government will spend $17 billion subsidizing farmers this year. Rather than focusing on the producers of good-for-you fruits and vegetables — half its subsidies go to grain farmers, whose crops feed animals for meat, milk and eggs and become cheap ingredients in processed food….

Here is what the food pyramid says should be eaten for a 2,000-calorie daily diet:

* 3 cups of fat-free or lowfat milk or cheese
* 2½ cups of vegetables
* 2 cups of fruit
* 6 ounces of grains
* 5½ ounces of meat or beans.

The plate would look quite different if it matched farm subsidies. The breakdown of the $17 billion that the Congressional Budge Office says they will cost this year includes:

* $7.3 billion for corn and other feed grains
* $3.5 billion for cotton
* $1.6 billion for soybeans
* $1.5 billion for wheat
* $1.5 billion for tobacco
* $686 million for dairy
* $626 million for rice
* $271 million for peanuts.

The Agriculture Department doesn’t just hand out subsidies to farmers and tell people what they should eat. It operates school lunch and food stamp programs and the special nutrition programs. It also runs the Forest Service and oversees land conservation.”

So lets recap. Tobacco gets $1.5 billion and fruits and vegetables get…?

And most of these subsidies go to the larger farms. The % of farms that receive some form of federal subsidy varies from state to state but it’s something around 20%. Fruit and vegetable farmers, not to mention local farmers, get squat.

Instead, you’re sizing up the weaknesses in what’s available and looking for market opportunities to exploit them. That’s the crux of how a truly free market is supposed to deliver the best there is to offer in the most efficient way. Strange how it has to come from you instead of some of the usual free market folks around here. George, where are ya, buddy?

Sometimes I get the sense that more than a few people advocate two things: A truly free market; and the current status quo system they’ve grown used to. You can’t have it both ways. Anyone for a level playing field?