Uploaded November 2011 | Updated September 2026, 3 weeks ago
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Is U.S. agricultural policy fundamentally flawed?
Since the Nixon administration, then Secretary of Agriculture, Earl Butz, led the drive to invigorate agriculture production by encouraging farmers to become bigger, and to maximize production yields, even as commodity prices would likely fall over time. Increased sales, and the opening of foreign markets to U.S. farmers were seen as a means to offset shrinking profit margins. Recognizing clearly the political potency of agriculture policy to control, or destabilize foreign countries, rising food prices at home could also produce a similar politically destabilizing effect. Every U.S. administration since Nixon has had at its national core, the objective of increasing U.S. agriculture productivity, and efficiency—to maintain low domestic food prices.
Unfortunately, there is a substantial hidden cost to industrial agriculture, and that price tag continues to mount even as food prices have begun rising over the past few years.
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Subscribe to our new Food Farmer Earth channel on YouTube:
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Is U.S. agricultural policy fundamentally flawed?
Since the Nixon administration, then Secretary of Agriculture, Earl Butz, led the drive to invigorate agriculture production by encouraging farmers to become bigger, and to maximize production yields, even as commodity prices would likely fall over time. Increased sales, and the opening of foreign markets to U.S. farmers were seen as a means to offset shrinking profit margins. Recognizing clearly the political potency of agriculture policy to control, or destabilize foreign countries, rising food prices at home could also produce a similar politically destabilizing effect. Every U.S. administration since Nixon has had at its national core, the objective of increasing U.S. agriculture productivity, and efficiency—to maintain low domestic food prices.
Unfortunately, there is a substantial hidden cost to industrial agriculture, and that price tag continues to mount even as food prices have begun rising over the past few years.
Check out our new series:
Food Farmer Earth - a journey of wide discovery about our food
youtube.com/ffe
Cooking Up a Story - Bringing the people behind our food to life
cookingupastory.com
Subscribe to receive the latest videos:
youtube.com/subscription_center?add_user=foodfarmerearth
Follow us:
Google+
plus.google.com/+foodfarmerearth/posts
twitter.com/cookingupastory
facebook.com/cookingupastory
pinterest.com/foodfarmerearth
Website RSS Feed
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