Omnivore's Dilemma: Part I

     Corn sells for less than it costs to grow. Upon reading this, I was stumped as to why so many farmers are growing corn and continue to grow corn? Pollan made it very clear that corn serves many purposes and can be used in a variety of ways and I understand that many people are making money, as well as benefitting in other ways, from all the corn that is produced. But, consumers don’t seem to be benefitting and farmers simply are not. So, why then? Is there not a more efficient way to handle the market for corn and farming in general? Big businesses like Coca-Cola and McDonalds benefit from the cheap prices of corn. General Mills can turn four cents worth of corn into four dollars worth of cereal. They clearly benefit greatly from it. Farmers only get by on government subsidies and even with them, still struggle to support their own families. If I’m understanding correctly, tax payers shoulder the financial burden of these subsidies. Then, as consumers, tax payers pay marked up prices allowing for great profits by companies such as General Mills. Naylor said, “You can fire me, but you can’t fire my land.” That may be true, but the government could create an incentive for a different crop, much the same way they create an incentive to grow corn. Economics 101: People respond to incentives. If the current system is so economically inefficient, then I can’t understand why the government is not seeking some type of reform. Up to $5 billion a year is spent subsidizing corn by the federal treasury. I don’t know much about politics, but if the government could cut that number by somehow making the market more efficient, then it seems that they would. Polan’s larger point seems to be that our country needs to start to move away from larger farms. And read the way he presents the facts, it seems like an obvious choice. But, there has to be some thinking within the government as to why this system is working. This causes me to wonder about some of the other facts of the situation. Pollan spekas a lot about the market for corn and briefly touches on the profits that major companies can make off of it, but he leaves me wondering more. He often mentions Cargill and their hand in the chain of corn. Prior to this book, I wasn’t familiar with the company. In 2011 they reported revenues of $119.5 billion. They are the largest privately held corporation in the United States, employ 144,000 people and are responsible for 25% of all U.S. grain exports and 22% of the U.S. domestic meat market (All of this is from Wikipedia so read it as you must). Companies like Cargill and General Mills are benefitting tremendously from the current situation. They carry weight in the market and are important to the government. My point is, a huge, long, boring analysis of the numbers could prove that, in the eye of the government, the benefits of the current system outweigh the costs.