Tuesday, March 9, 2010

Some Food Is Cheap for a Reason

There's nothing like a good infographic.

This one is dated August 2007, from the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine's magazine Good Medicine. It was created before the most recent farm bill, so the data have probably changed a bit. But not nearly enough, unfortunately, to make the overall impression inaccurate:

The food pyramid juxtaposed to a second pyramid showing how farm subsidies are distributed, almost 74% to meat and dairy and .37% to vegetables and fruits

Thanks to CoopEats for the link.

2 comments:

Unknown said...

Just saw a story on the news about the "high" cost of raising organic produce. Subsidies are a sort of hidden cost. To be honest, I don't really reject the notion that farmers and ranchers need a little protection, but the system here is skewed to the advantage of industrial agri-business. And I don't know if I should laugh or cry when somebody who gets agricultural subsidies goes off on a moral tear about welfare free-loaders.

elena said...

Good point about a good graphic.