Notable quotable

Michael Pollan on the affordability of good, local, organic food 2

I don’t think our goal should be to make all food in America as cheap as cheap food is now.  ... If the goal is cheap food, we’re going to hurt our farmers, we’re going to hurt the environment, we’re going to hurt the public health.  The goal should be to give people the money so they can afford to buy good food. 

We’re in this kind of reverse Fordism situation.  You know, Fordism was this idea that Henry Ford said, “I’m going to pay my workers enough so they can afford to buy my cars.”  It raised everybody’s boats.  This was the social compact in America, an economic compact, up until the ‘70s, and then it collapses. 

We have the opposite, it’s kind of the Wal-Mart model, which is, “We’re going to pay you so little you can only afford to buy our crummy food.” And that’s the kind of cycle we’re in.

The answer is to give people the buying power.  

—Michael Pollan, in an interview on The Splendid Table

Lisa Hymas is Grist’s senior editor. You can follow her on Twitter.

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  1. Javaman Posted 7:36 am
    21 Jul 2009

    The buying power of the American public will only be realized when they truly understand the low nutrional value of factory food. That over consumption of lipid surpressing HFCS based foods are slowly killing us all and until those same foods have a giant spot light shown upon them, then and only then will people begin voting with their forks.Lack of education as to what we eat, how we eat and where we get our food from is what is killing us all.Educate the masses and things will change. 

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  2. Erik Hoffner's avatar

    Erik Hoffner Posted 10:25 am
    21 Jul 2009

    Yes, when something is cheap, chances are, it isn't.It's been 6 years since Pollan first published (to my knowledge) the simple idea that 'local is the new organic,' and proud to say, it was in Orion magazine. July 2003 issue.That idea has gone a long way since then.Erik, Orion Grassroots Network

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