The Social Cost of Cheap Corn
The US government encourages the production of commodity corn. The resulting surplus harms society — from obesity to antimicrobial resistance to water pollution. Understanding these social costs is the first step to addressing them. Comparing the costs and benefits visually can help with understanding.
America’s Corn Surplus
For the past 50 years, US corn production has been on a steady upward trajectory. We now produce nearly 4x the amount we did in 1970.
Where does all this corn go?
Strangely, we only eat a tiny fraction — less than a bushel per person — as actual corn (on the cob, in a tortilla, etc). Much of the rest of the per capita tonnage still enters our bodies, but first it is processed either by animals or a processing plant. In the latter, it is reassembled as sweetener for soft drinks, breakfast cereals, snacks, or into myriad other products and ingredients, such as adhesives, coatings, sizings, and plastics for industry, stabilizers, thickeners, gels, and “viscosity-control agents” for food. Plus, our vehicles consume about 6 billion bushels in the form of ethanol.¹
How did we get here?
The History
While 1970 is the first year of official data for corn production that I could use for the above graph, it also represents an important turning point for when the trend started. It is around the time when, under President Nixon and Secretary of Agriculture Earl Butz, the US adopted an explicit strategy of generating cheap corn.
Butz and Nixon did this by replacing the New Deal programs that supported the price of corn through government loans and grain purchases with a system of direct payments to farmers. While that may not seem so different, the impact on incentives was revolutionary.
Instead of keeping corn out of a falling market, as the old loan programs and federal granary had done, the new subsidies encouraged farmers to sell their corn at any price, since the government would make up the difference. Or, as it turned out, make up some of the difference, since just about every farm bill since has lowered the target price in order, it was claimed, to make American grain more competitive in world markets. — Michael Pollan, The Omnivore’s Dilemma
The Social Cost
In The Omnivore’s Dilemma, Michael Pollan digs into the issues with our industrial food system — everything from obesity to antimicrobial resistance to water pollution — and processes the underlying cause: a neverending surplus of corn.
Assuming ain’t nobody got time for that (and at the risk of sounding corny), I further digested the information into a visualization. Explore it here.
In short, the surplus of corn and the government subsidies/policy behind it create a variety of social costs. All we get in return is the illusion of variety, cheap processed calories, and centralized corporate profit.
The Solution(s)?!
What can you do about it?
- Support sustainable farming practices with your diet and wallet. Move lower on the food chain by eating more whole food.
- Encourage reforms to the system with your voice. Vote for candidates who will act in the interest of the earth, farmers, and the American people over special interests and industry.
- Appreciate the complexity and wonders of our food system. Be patient while trying to improve it.
¹ United States Department of Agriculture Economic Research Service Feed Grain Yearbook
