No Free Lunch?

An important report that has received surprisingly little attention from the media and Members of Congress writing a new Farm Bill comes from the Organic Center and Brian Halweil of Worldwatch Institute. Still No Free Lunch: Nutrient Levels in U.S. Food Supply Eroded by Pursuit of High Yields looks at one of the little studied downsides of modern industrial agriculture.

Halweil examined historical records from the USDA and found that while farmers have doubled or tripled yields of major grains, fruits and vegetables over the last half century the range of essential nutrients has declined, with double-digit percentage declines of iron, zinc, calcium, and selenium. "As a consequence, the same-size serving of sweet corn or potatoes, or a slice of whole wheat bread, delivers less iron, zinc and calcium."

Halwiel writes, "Think of this relationship between yield and nutritional quality as farming's equivalent of `no free lunch.' That is, higher yields, while desirable, may come with the hidden cost of lower nutritional quality, and in some cases, heightened risk of food safety and animal health problems."

The current high yield system has worked tremendously well for seed and grain companies. Not so well, it turns out, for nutrient-rich foods, public health and even farmers (over-production has led to below-cost prices). The public health community has already written Congress calling for a Health Food Bill as a substitute for the Farm Bill.

In the next few weeks, the Senate will write its version of the Farm Bill. They would do well to read Halweil's report and think about what type of food system serves the health of eaters.