Nov 10 2008
He’s no Superman to family farmers.
National Corn Growers Association Hands Obama A Kernel of Kryptonite
The National Corn Growers Association (NCGA) pelted President-Elect Obama with kernels of kryptonite on October 31, 2008, taking the fly out of the high-flying super populist.
After reading Michael Pollan’s eloquent polemic “Farmer In Chief” in the New York Times, then candidate Obama told an interviewer from TIME he considered conventional (non-sustainable) corporate agriculture practices “partly responsible for the explosion in our health care costs because they’re contributing to type 2 diabetes, stroke and heart disease, obesity, all the things that are driving our huge explosion in health care costs.” In agreeing with Michael Pollan, Barack Obama raised the hopes of small-scale organic farmers across the land. This is what we have been waiting for, a president who gets it.
Change Minds. Make History at CafePress.com
Here’s what Barack Obama said about Pollan’s ideas:
There is no better potential driver that pervades all aspects of our economy than a new energy economy. I was just reading an article in the New York Times by Michael Pollen about food and the fact that our entire agricultural system is built on cheap oil. As a consequence, our agriculture sector actually is contributing more greenhouse gases than our transportation sector. And in the mean time, it’s creating monocultures that are vulnerable to national security threats, are now vulnerable to sky-high food prices or crashes in food prices, huge swings in commodity prices, and are partly responsible for the explosion in our healthcare costs because they’re contributing to type 2 diabetes, stroke and heart disease, obesity, all the things that are driving our huge explosion in healthcare costs. That’s just one sector of the economy. You think about the same thing is true on transportation. The same thing is true on how we construct our buildings. The same is true across the board.
The sentiment didn’t sit well with the NCGA. Ron Litterer, chairman of the National Corn Growers Association, found Obama’s comments confusing given that the President-Elect has long supported subsidies for ethanol, even though experts admit they are decades away from making it a practical replacement for gasoline.
Members of the NCGA were confused because they endorsed Obama during the campaign. As a matter of fact, the NCGA contributed more money to the Obama campaign than it did to the McCain campaign by a five-to-one margin. The NCGA depends on government subsidies for its very existence. Given that President-Elect has shown a tendency towards socialistic programs, such as subsidies to the millionaire members of the NCGA, it’s no wonder that they supported him, and no wonder they wish Michael Pollan would just go away.
Power up with Solio 120×60
Pollan, activist and outspoken critic of US agriculture policy, is convinced that the condition of the nation’s food system has a direct impact on national security and global stability. He argues that the over-production of corn for sweetener and ethanol leaves us vulnerable to health epidemics, economic uncertainty and the increased threat of food shortages.
Michael Pollan has long been an advocate for sustainable agriculture and has taken on those who, on the surface, claim to support sustainable family farms, but who in reality don’t. One such person is John Macky, owner of the giant Whole Foods. In well-argued, robust discussion with Macky, Michael Pollan explains why Whole Foods is no different from Wal-Mart, no matter how “green” they proclaim to be.
Bass Pro Shops
After pressure from the NCGA, the Obama campaign released a statement claiming the President-Elect “was simply paraphrasing an article he read. He believes there are a lot of factors that contribute to obesity, heart disease and other health problems, but he certainly doesn’t blame farmers.” By farmers, Barack Obama clearly means corporate farmers who get corporate welfare while family-farmers are left to suffer in the depths of near ruin.
Once again, a politician sides with the corporate agriculture machine. Yawn. This is change? This is what everyone is so fired-up about?
In a moment when he could have given family farmers a hopeful glimpse of the change he so bombastically promised, President-Elect Obama instead showed his true ideas about change: There’s not going to be any for America’s small-scale farmers.
Was the President-Elect right to throw Michael Pollan under the bus? Take our poll and see the results immediately.
