Food Producers vs Food Processors

Alison Alkon's speech regarding food as radical thought was moving and inspiring in many ways. What resonated with me the most was her mentioning of "food producers vs food processors". We have transitioned from a system of small, regenerative farming, to that of Big Agriculture and factory farms in the matter of decades. Small family farms have been unable to keep up with the progression of modern agriculture and there has been a movement of "get big, or get out". Because of this transition to large factory farms, food is becoming more and more processed. Instead of sausage, eggs, and fruit for breakfast, it's processed grain cereal. Large food producers take fresh food, and turn it into something that may seem like food to us now, but is just empty calories that do not provide us the nutrition we need.

I am very passionate about people having access to real, whole foods, at affordable prices. Everyone should have the opportunity to actually nourish their bodies, not poison them. Much of this processed "food" is full of sugar, fat, and other additives that are 1. harmful to the body and 2. keep the consumer addicted so they keep buying more despite the consequences on their body. To some it may be easy to say "well they should just eat better". It is not that easy. For one, it is not economical for everyone in this system to eat healthy. Additionally, these food companies have spent decades formulating these products to be addictive. Sugar has been cited to be just as, or more addicting than tobacco, and it is in EVERYTHING. Of course, not all sugar is bad and we need sugar to survive, the issue is highly processed and refined sugars that are in most products lining grocery store shelves.

Luckily, living in relatively rural Pennsylvania, I have access to a plethora of small family farms for me to get my meat, eggs, and produce from. However, this comes as a cost. I cannot always afford to buy from local butchers or farmers, and it is not really readily available to me, I have to search these farms out. I live in Pottstown, which is a predominately black neighborhood, and while I'm not sure I would consider it a food desert, much of the food that is available is processed and not real food. The idea of choice and variety has taken supermarkets by storm. Food producers leverage human psychology and physiology to their advantage to keep the consumer coming back for more. This is all very intentional to keep minority populations addicted, as addiction breeds complacency.

 If you like music with a message, listen to "Fat" by Jesse Welles! 

Food As Radical Empathy

 Alison Alkon offers valid points viewing food as a focal point for all groups of people, working to create empathy for under recognized groups. She emphasized the importance of confronting political, material, and injustice.  Her call is to not just care for people's injustice, but to take action. Her strategic goals for change are to address capitalism, racial segregation, labor exploitation, and environmental degradation. My experience working different aspects of the food service and food sales has shown positive advancement in all the stated areas.  We will need to continue our awareness to make consistent improvements. Providing different cuisines, not only educates our palates, but it also brings us closer to each of these ethnic groups. The successful food companies are aware of our growing minority populations and produce foods to meet this growing demand, such as authentic cuisines and religious Halal requirements. We are seeing increasing wages in a traditionally low pay industry. Food manufacturers will need to listen to the growing younger populations, to meet their food preferences and requirements.  As the era of cheap foods deludes us, we have the power to demand clean nutritious foods for all people while addressing food insecurity.  We need to use our dollars to support companies that provide continued positive results in all these areas.

Food as Radical Empathy - JG

     Alkon presents a point I agree with that is often overlooked in the struggle to disperse healthy foods to all people. She argues that while it is important to lean towards healthy eating for ourselves, it is sometimes even more important to lean into why others might choose not to eat healthy foods. It brings up a point in my mind that even if all fifty states grew more healthy foods, the price would likely remain the same. The inputs to maintain organic farms large enough to feed a significant amount of people are typically much more than a conventional farm for many reasons, but some important ones being that yield per acre is typically far less on organic farms, and labor costs are much higher when you can't use machinery. So anyone choosing mostly cheaper and unhealthy foods probably still would if the abundance of healthy food was multiplied, simply because the way the food system is designed, the prices would likely stay the same. Making the farm bigger does not alone reduce the cost the consumer pays. Another point to back Alkon up is that some organic growers sell products for more than they need to. According to the USDA, in 2011-2014, the cost difference for organic corn was about $1.92-$2.27 more than conventional, but was being sold for up to $10 more per bushel than conventional corn, giving the farm significant profit, but gatekeeping the products to those who can afford to spend money on an unnecessary premium. The USDA also claims that during 2011-2014, the same story happened with organic soybean being sold for up to $15 more per bushel than conventional soybean even though the cost difference between conventional and organic soybean production was around $7. Obviously any worker wants to make a profit, but is it too high, or do these organic farmers need the income to continue scaling larger to reach more people? Alkon touches a lot on the history of American farm culture and the racism that steered a lot of it to make it what it is today. While that is all important to know, I think she could have benefitted from shedding more light on what remains today from old school farm culture, like policies and zoning laws that restrict where certain stores can be, where people can live, vote, etc. that all continue to make it harder for someone to cross that line from unhealthy to healthy. Some even ban people from growing their own food. Please refer to the SFSU link at the bottom to read more about zoning being used in this way. If an individual wanted to eat healthy, and the closest organic store to them was 45+ minutes away, chances are they are going to have some unhealthy or less healthy choices to eat between visits. Even if they like the taste and are okay with it, it is still a choice against their will.

https://basicneeds.sfsu.edu/news/how-zoning-laws-affect-both-grocery-deserts-and-housing-scarcity

https://www.ers.usda.gov/amber-waves/2015/november/despite-profit-potential-organic-field-crop-acreage-remains-low

Food Justice in the Green Revolution

   One of my first thoughts when I hear about food and agriculture is the Green Revolution. It was one of the major points that led towards industrialized farming and agribusiness. When I was first taught about the Green Revolution we had been learning about its driving point, GMO (genetically modified organism) crops. The two main crops of the first were wheat and rice. That sounds like an obvious choice. Most places farm and consume these as crops and food.

Alkon's beginning quote from Isabel Wilkerson on how radical empathy is "Looking at their situation and saying, not what would I do if I were in their position, but what are they doing. Why are they doing what they're doing from the perspective of what they have endured", reminded me on why the first wave of the Green Revolution wasn't a perfect success. Looking past all the introduction of extra pesticides and pesticides, the Green Revolution was primarily focused on a specific diet. The Americas and Asia were the primary benefits of this revolution. Most countries did benefit in an increase of produce. Sub-Saharan Africa did not. The crops grown there are different, as well as the climate and requirements for crop growth. Most farms in Africa were not pressed for space and did not use highly industrialized machinery that Americans used. It required a second wave in the Green Revolution for us to finally modify crops that were more likely to be a success in the African continent.

The 1st Green Revolution was said to have started around the 1940s. The second is around the 2000s, as early as the 1990s depending on the source. This shows a 60 year gap before the situation in Africa and similar countries was truly considered something to be worked on. I've attached two links for sites and papers that touch on the Green Revolution impact in Asia, Mexico, and Africa. It's a shock to see how the difference.

https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.0912953109

https://geosci.uchicago.edu/~moyer/GEOS24705/2014a/Notes/Hazell_IFPRI_2003.pdf

Food As Radical Empathy - Thoughts

    Most people look at food through the lens of calorie counts, environmental footprints, and how healthy the food is considered. In the video, Alison Alkon argues that the most important part of the food system is actually radical empathy. Purchasing food in the grocery store keeps us trapped within a privileged system. Typically, we only think about what we are making with the food or how much it costs. We don't worry about where the food came from, and whether or not it was a white or black person who grew it. This means that we remain ignorant of the human stories behind the food. 

    Food is a unique tool when dealing with the inequalities in the world, as it is something that links all of us together. At one point in the video, Alkon brought up that African American communities do not have access to the same healthy foods that other communities do. This led me to wonder where this is occurring. Was this an example from the United States or from other areas in the world? How can we change this if it is in an entirely different country? We can lobby for change in the United States, but lobbying for change in a different country is much more difficult. 

    Alkon also brings up the popularity of farmers markets and how they are considered to be "white spaces". I have never thought of this. There is a popular farmers market near my house, and now that I think about it, I have never seen a person of color in that market. This has made me start thinking to other places that I have been. For example, I have shopped for food in many different places, but the area that I most commonly see African Americans is Walmart. Is this related to the cost of the food at Walmart compared to other places?

    

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