Getting Food and Farming on the Next President's Mind

The next president should take farming seriously and personally, according to Neal Pierce, who writes that rethinking the scale of food production is smart for regions, the environment and the economy.

1 minute read

October 27, 2008, 5:00 AM PDT

By Nate Berg

"The idea of the president as "first farmer" is surely audacious. But food-industry expert Michael Pollan used it artfully in the Oct. 12 New York Times Magazine. Pollan's goal: to urge (and have us urge) the next president to inspire a sweeping food revolution, back to greater local and regional self-sufficiency."

"Why a revolution?"

"First, energy prices are bound to rise for years to come. The American food machine guzzles fossil fuels from start to finish–for farm machinery, chemical fertilizers, pesticides, mass production processing and packaging, and transporting foods over thousands of miles. The toll is 19 percent of the country's fossil fuel use, a big shadow over our hopes for energy independence."

"Second, climate change. The fossil fuels we burn for food contribute to our seriously high carbon emissions. Plus, wherever land is cleared for large industrial-scale agriculture, major amounts of carbon dioxide get released into the air."

FULL STORY: A ‘Farmer-in-Chief?’ — Time’s Never Been Riper

Sunday, October 26, 2008 in Citiwire

Government / Politics Land Use United States Agriculture Food Farming Presidential Politics View More

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