Ban HFCS

High Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS), a ubiquitous ingredient in America's processed foods, is a subject of heated debate. Those groups supporting HFCS usually stand to profit from continued sales: Corn Refiners Association, Center for Consumer Freedom. The opposition is generally politically motivated; they want to bring down King Corn and/or oppose processed foods on nutritional grounds. Whether you want to explore these issues or find lists of foods containing HFCS, this blog is for you.

Saturday, May 29, 2010

Revisiting the subject of corn subsidies

Given some of the recent headlines, the following graphic from the Environmental Working Group (EWG) seems pretty relevant. Since we're on the subject of corn subsidies and using EWG information, it is important to note two things, (1) EWG does not suggest that farm (or even to be more specific, corn) subsidies should be done away with altogether; however, they do state that the "system is broken" and needs to be revisited.

And (2), according to EWG, corn is not only the most subsidized of all US crops, but as a category, corn subsidies are more than twice as high as even the recipient of second place, wheat. Is it really a surprise then that the US is the world's number one producer of corn? If you were a farmer and given an option of growing any crop, why would you switch from corn?