Yes, Do End Farm Subsidies

Mark Bittman has a good post over at the NY Times, titled "Don’t End Agricultural Subsidies, Fix Them." His thesis is right there in the headline. He argues that our ridiculous farm subsidies, manifested in comical situations like houses with subsidized lawns because the land once grew corn, should not be simply ended, but diverted to medium-sized farms and other crops. I think that this is a wonderful idea. Doing this would, in an instant, transform the American dietary landscape for the better. It is such a good idea, in fact, that it will undoubtedly never happen.

What Bittman is asking of our government is subtly, logic, common sense, and leadership. Our government is incapable of that. Whether it was ever capable of that is academic, but it's certainly not capable of it now. In the past, I could simply point to the Republicans and say that they're the problem, because they usually are, but here, I can't say that. Just as many Democrats as Republicans are in the pockets of big agribusiness. And yes, I do mean to imply that they are taking bribes. I think most level-headed people can agree that lobbyists are borderline bribes, so I'll just go ahead and call them outright bribes. According to Opensecrets.org, agribusiness is the number six lobbying industry in the country. With that much money being spent by evil empires like Monsanto and ConAgra, change is an impossibility.

We have to move in bold, neanderthal-like steps for our government to get anything done. We either keep the farm subsidies as-is, or we get rid of them. To argue that there is an achievable middle ground is the perspective of a political Pollyanna.

Raw Milk.

I generally side with the scientists, and they say raw milk has no benefits in comparison to pasteurized milk, nor does it cure anything. But, it HAS to taste different. Even though pasteurization doesn't take the milk past its heat tolerance point, it gets it damned close. Changes in chemical structure do occur, as any scientist will admit, and I'd love to find out how raw milk tastes. I'm healthy enough, I think that I can take a shot of ebola, or hanta, or whatever raw milk carries.

If you're drinking Hood, stop, and start drinking Rhody Fresh. If you're drinking Rhody Fresh, stop and start ordering from Munroe Dairy. Munroe's 2% tastes better than Hood's whole. There's a big difference. So I'm left to wonder if there can even be a big difference moving from Munroe to raw. I'm especially intrigued because of my latte making. Steaming milk requires the proteins and fats in milk, both of which are damaged by heat. Could raw be the sweet, creamy, milk-filled, holy grail of latte production?

I'm going to try, and if you want to, this page has the info you need. Be aware of the risks. You can get sick from this! It's of a low probability, but it can happen. As for me, I look forward to my lattes.

Pasteurization Without Representation (The Atlantic)

Freedom for Myanmar

As the rise of dissent continues in Myanmar, I would like to express my hope that the military does not again repress these calls for freedom with violence. I value nothing more intently than freedom and I deeply feel for those who don't have it. I really, truly hope this leads to change in the poor little country.

Three killed as Myanmar troops battle protests (Via Reuters)

The Other Black Gold.

I just finished watching a documentary called Black Gold. I downloaded it many months ago and have watched it in five minute bursts ever since then. Well, since watching it, I can say that everyone who drinks coffee should watch it. If you don't drink coffee, well, there's a pretty important political message in there, but it takes an hour to get to it. It's easier if I just tell you.

LEAVE AFRICA ALONE.

Africa, basically, doesn't need aid. It never did. It needs some help getting on its feet and to be given its fair share of the world trade industry. After that, aid will become unnecessary. Africa will have the fish it needs because it learned how to fish.

If you DO drink coffee, you should watch it to give you a sobering look at as what you drink every, freaking morning starts out. I feel pretty good because as soon as Fair Trade coffees became available in my area, I started buying them. I felt that paying a bit more for quality coffee seemed like the right idea.

Not just for a humanitarian reason, either. It seemed like a good idea for selfish reasons. I knew coffee growers earn very little, so paying them more is smart. If they get paid more, that means they start actually caring about what they produce. They have pride and a vested interest. That means they are more likely to invest greater amounts of work and skill into their part of the chain. If I care enough to pay them a lot, they will care enough to make sure I enjoy what they sell me. I want the best possible product, and that means paying for it.

I think it's a good message, not necessarily a good documentary, but a good message that you can make a difference, without changing your life at all, by merely buying fairly traded coffees. That's easy. Even major grocery chains are beginning to offer Fair Trade coffees.

The movie was recently screened in the UK and the BBC ran a story about it. As is usually the case with evil corporations, they responded to the BBC but declined an interview in the movie. In one sense, I can understand this. They were afraid of words being twisted. And for a documentary with a bias, that's a legitimate fear. Still, they had some serious explaining to do, and they ran away in favor of feeding a prepared, PR line to a reporter.

The representative from Kraft Foods said the "main problems were that farmers did not always get the full market price and that the market price for coffee had been "volatile in recent years", dropping down to 45 cents for 1lb in 2001." He followed by saying that "We buy to the market price and we have to do that because we are a business that operates in the market."

That the stupidest thing I've ever heard. Not only is the market controlled by companies like Kraft, Kraft is easily large enough to sidestep the market if they so chose. They continue in the market because it's beneficial to them and gives them the very excuse they just used, "We're only a business and we're not directly connected to them."

I'm not some humanist wonk who thinks we should be paying them $5 per pound, but paying them what they get paid isn't a humanitarian issue, it's bad business. It's bad for the growers, and most importantly, it's bad for me.

Official Black Gold Website