Red Star's view of agriculture

Nothing unusual but once again the old Red Star almost has me wishing I had a subscription, just so I could have the satisfaction of cancelling it.

http://www.thestar.com/news/ontario/article/708661--where-they-grow...

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Permalink Reply by Joe Dales on October 19, 2009 at 4:52am

I saw this article last week as well.....really slanted reporting....the author has an agenda...shock consumers...

I clipped the first paragraph where they went looking for a junk food farm......

Farmers really should not get much blame because we get $3.70/bu for the corn turned into $440 of Doritos....not much value share there....thats another topic for discussion.

"So to get to the root of the exploding obesity epidemic, I went in search of a junk food farm.

Such farms are not so easy to spot. No fields of Dorito bags waving in the breeze, no orchards blooming with soda pop, no soil bursting with 99-cent burgers.

What you do see are vast operations growing the raw materials for junk food: soybeans and corn.

The two crops go into the production of many things: pharmaceuticals, industrial products, animal feed – and inexpensive calories.

Tonnes of soybeans and corn are turned into "edible food-like substances," as food system critic Michael Pollan calls them, used in virtually all processed foods, beverages and junk food.

Last year, Ontario farmers planted 2.4 million acres of soybeans and just over 2 million acres of corn. That's nearly half of all cropland in the province, a near-colonization of Ontario farms by the soy and corn industry.

It has provided an abundance of cheap calories for a food system that operates by Doritos economics. A bushel of corn produces some 440 two-ounce bags of 99-cent chips. Farmer grosses $3.70 for the bushel of corn, Doritos more than $440.

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