mish16’s Recent Comments

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  why corn subsidies...

  In the US, continuing corn subsidies are probably most strongly lobbied for by giant food processing companies like ConAgra and Cargill, who purchase most of our corn (at prices cheaper than the cost of growing it). The gigantic feedlots that have been able to greatly condense the amount of time and space it takes to "grow a steer" (because of the wonders of excessively cheap corn) also have an interest here. I'm not sure who else would object to corn prices actually rising.
  
  I read in the Omnivore's Dilemma that the government used to have a loan program for corn farmers that helped balance out the good/bad crop years, but then in the sixties it switched to the straight subsidy payments. Does anyone know what caused that? Anyway, the subsidies mean that, no matter how low the price of corn goes, the only way for a farmer to make more money is to grow more corn, because the government will still pay him for it. The subsidy is also why many farmers have switched to monoculture, growing only the crops that are guaranteed by the gov't to bring in money.
  
  So now we have a bunch of farmers just getting by on the subsidies (they're certainly not getting rich off them), so there's also got to be pressure on the government to keep these farmers in business. So where can the government go from here? They can't just do away with the subsidies, so can they lower them a little at a time? It's such a complicated situation, that it's hard to predict what would happen. More expensive Happy Meals? I'm inspired to write a letter to Congress, but I'm not sure what to ask them to do. Any ideas????On On the peculiar American habit of demonizing food posted 2 years, 6 months ago 22 Responses

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  Opportunity to (cheerfully) educate...

  We're planning a "green" wedding this fall...originally we were hoping to work with any local hotel who might be interested in learning how to cater an environmentally friendly meal. This is harder than you'd expect. We found one banquet manager who was very open-minded and willing to try to source from Wisconsin farms, but the hotel was too small for our guest list. Most other caterers were only willing to ask SYSCO for pricing on organic food (one quote: $12 per lb for chicken!).
  
  Luckily we discovered that our terrific local food co-op caters events, and they suggested the local Audubon Society nature center as a venue. Turns out it's a gorgeous LEED Certified building with hotels within a couple miles. As far as gifts go, we created a "charity registry" at the "I Do Foundation" website. We set up a wedding website to educate our future guests about food choices, green buildings, carbon offsets, reclaimed gold, and all the stuff we're doing to lessen the ecological impact of our celebration. We've had a lot of positive comments so far, and hopefully the event itself will get people thinking about their own daily choices. On Umbra on greening your wedding posted 2 years, 8 months ago 11 Responses