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FoodFacts
and
by
Ron Horswell
What do many Americans consider
10
be
a
"food crisis"?
ls it when thousands starve each day
and billions are chronicaUy malnour–
ished? No. ls it when drought grips the
Sahel or
floods
wipe out crops in Bang–
ladesh? Of cour·se not!
A genuine bona fide food crisis is
when supermarket prices in the United
States· rise forty percent . in three years.
ll's when Americans spend more of their
disposable income for food (17.4 percent
in 1975) than
in
any year since 1967.
Now
rhat's
a real disaster, a terrible
"food crisis."
Selecting a Scapegoat
The
energy
crisis Iuis its sca¡regoats -
the "cunning" Arabs and the "rnoney-
grubbing" oil companies with their "ob–
scene prolhs." Likewise, the food crisis
rnust have its viUains. There are more
scapegoats than you can shake your
food stamps at. You can even 1ake your
pick between: farmers, agribusiness;
grain companies, commodity specula–
tors, consumer advocates, environ–
mentalists, communists, the Illuminati,
banks, any secretary of agriculture from
Henry Wallace on, any Presiden! since
Herbert Hoover. a whole assortment of
"middle men" (truckers. p.rocessors. and
labor in general), supermarket
cbains,
advertisers, exporters, and. of oouJ'Se,
God,•
who's accused of botching the
weather.
ll's time
10
separate sorne facts from
·fallacies.
plain
ttuth
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6
Fallacy # 1: Earl Butz Caused 11
Fact: The Departmenl of Agriculiure
has c:ertaill,ly made sorne mistakes over
the years, but Earl Butz's biggest blun–
der is simply th'\' he became secretary of
agriculture at
'1-
time wben the forc:es
that aft'ec:t food pric:es were c:hanging
from a si1uation of domestic surplus lo
one ofworldwidc; sbortage.
Earl Butz understands and articulales
the essence of the food crisis often and
well. Writing in
Skeptlc,
he obser.ved,
"There can
be
no adequate supplies of
food produced in any country thal in–
sists on clinging to a so-called cheap
food policy.
11
won't work."
·
Alas, dear Earl of Ag. yon consumer ·
spends 100 much on food to buy your
argument or eat your words, even
· though you're right.
FaUacy #2: Tbe Russlans
caused
11
Fact:
lt
is true that 1he Soviets bought a ·
lot of U.S. grain at low prices in 1972,
causing grain prices to skyroc:ket the fol–
lowing year.
However, food prices conlinued to
rise dramatically in 1974 and 1975 when
the Russians were nol in the market.
Clearly other faclors were involved. Tbe
main problem wilh Russian wheat pur–
chases is that the Soviets have only en–
tered the internalional market
sporadically and unexpec1edly. The
Russian wheat problem now seems to be
sólved wi1h the oonclusion of a O.S.–
Soviel agreement that provides for an–
nu,al Soviet grain purc:hases.
The .Jolly
Grain·Giant–
American
Agricultura
U.S. domination of grain markets is
even great_!:r than Middle-Eas1 domina–
tion of petroleum markets. Individual
states. such as l)Jinois and Iowa, produce
more of certain crops thao any nation on
·earth! Two thirds of our amber waves
ofwheat a re seot abroad, while over half
of all world gra.in trade comes from the
United States.
'
The grain giant is certainly generous.
if not jolly. in sharing bis wealth. Here is
a rundown of
his
thJ'ee major crpps:
. CORN:
The United States is far and
away tl\e world's rargest com producer.
This yea'r the United States c:om crop
will be about 5.7 billion bushels, or 45%
of
world production. Of all c:om that
moves in the intemational markets.
50
perc:ent comes frorn America.
Farmers in lówa grow well over a bil–
lion bushels of coro per year, or nearly a
renth
of \he enti.re world c:rop. lowa
alone, in fact, produces more corn than
China, lhe second-ranking nation.
Iowa's production is about equal to thal
of Brazil and the Soviet Union com–
bined. Those two huge oations represen!
tbe world's third- and fourtb-ranking
· eom producers.
·
SOYBEANS:
The United States soy-
Fallacy #3: Tbe Farmers
Are
Getti.ng Rich
Fact: True, farmers are generally better
off than in most previous year.s, and
if
export doors remain open, rural pros–
perity will probably
oontinu~.
The sud–
den swelling of grai.n prices made 1973
an all-time record year for farro profits.
but that's not the whole story.
Farmers suffer from
1
the energy·crisis,
•inftation, and high i.nterest rates even
more than most other Americans. The
price of agricultura! machinery has risen
35 percent in the lasl two years and 70
percent sinc:e 1967. The average price of
fertiliz.er and agric:ultural éhemicals is
up 125 percent from two years ago.
And .one good crop year doth not a
rich farplér make! One year giveth, and
the next year 1aketh awlly. After the
1973 record. farm profits fell by 37 per–
cent in 1974. Many farmers are heavily
. mortgaged, and a bad crop year or tum–
bling prices in a good crop year could
1rigger massive forcclosures. With the
rising cost of feed grains, many cattlc
ranchers are currently on the financia!
brink.
Fallacy
#4: Food
Exporten
Push
Pric·es Up
Fact: lf the U.S. closed its expon doors.
pric:es would temporarily go down, but
in the long run these Low prices would
drive farmers out of business, thereby
cutting production and forcing prices
back
u
p. .
·
.
lf1he government c:hose to avert fore–
closure on the farms, it could support
the farrner with massive payments. Con-
bean crop this year was almost
1.5
bil–
lion bushels, or 75 percent of total world
produc1ion. America exporu over 40
percent of her soybean crop each year,
while 55 perc:ent of world soybean trade
emanates from the United States. ·
lllinois alone grows one seventh of the
world's soybeans. more than any other
nation on earth. As with coro, China
and Bra:til rank second and third - be-
hind lllinois!
·
WHEAT:
The world's largest wheat
producer, surprisingly enough,
is
the So–
viet Union, annually growing about 30
percenl· of the world's wheat. The
United States ral)l<s second, with just
less than half as much as Russia. The
wheat of the Soviet Union. however. is
mostly consum-ed domestically. whereas
over 65 percent ·of American wheal is
shipped abroad.
America's two leading wheat-growing
states, Kansas
and
North Dakota, an–
nuaUy'produce almost 'as much as Canada
and
more
than Australia - the third- and
fourth-ranking wheat producers.
EXPORTS:
Perhaps the best way to
measure the agricultura! strength of a
nation is by its influence in the world
marlcet. Aboul balf of all world trade in
c:orn, soybéans, and wheat comes from
America, and the value of that trade has
risen dramatically in recent years, reach–
ing$16 billion in 1974.
America's total food exportS rose to
$22 billion in 1974.
lt
has been these
rising export eamings that have enabled
the United Stales to pay- the higher
prices now being demanded for vita• im·
ports such as oil. O
WEEK ENDlNO DECEMBER 6, 197S