Marion Nestle Talks Sugar And Ag Policy On The Colbert Report
According to the manufacturers of a huge amount of processed, sugar-laden foodstuffs, there is a sugar crisis in the United States. On August 5th, representatives of those companies wrote to the Secretary Vilsack at the USDA asking him to lift the stringent quotas on imported sugar. Marion Nestle, of course, has plenty to say on the subject…
| The Colbert Report | Mon – Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c | |||
| Sugar Shortage – Marion Nestle | ||||
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But, unfortunately, the fact that Colbert dumped a 5 pound bag of sugar onto himself left her a little speechless. Her post on the same topic tells us what she meant to say. Basically, in order to save American farmers, the government ever so slightly screws over business and free trade. Domestic sugar production is protected by subsidies, quotas, and other farm lobby-loving legislation. Like, 85% of total sugar in the U.S. must be produced domestically. And,
Our agreement with the World Trade Organization (Uruguay Round) says we have to take a certain amount of world market sugar. But the 2008 Farm Bill restricts imports. Oops.
Nice. Republicans love business, but they love American business more. Sort of. Then, the Democrats need to make nice with the rural (often Republican) farmers…You can see how this will all work out nicely for the American farmer.
This may turn into an ugly war between the big food processors and big agriculture. For once, I may root for the food processors. The way it is, we consumers are the ones who really end up paying the high price for sugar.
August 26, 2009
Tags: agriculture, farmers, food event, policy, subsidies, sugar, USDA Posted in: Politics
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