One Kansas farmer feeds 133 people and YOU!
If you’ve driven on I-70 across Kansas, perhaps you have seen this sign, too. Coming from a farm, I always wondered exactly what this sign means. I mean, we didn’t really eat what came from the farm. We grew corn for the ethanol plant and feedlots down the road. I assume that soy went to the same place. Wheat? Well, my dad (very graciously) save some cleaned wheat for me to grind into flour — but beyond that, how do Kansas farmers (and the rest of Midwestern farmers) feed the world?
A couple of weeks ago, my dad shared this article with me about the efficiency of corn.
It’s hard to argue corn’s efficiency — it certainly provide a lot of calories. Unfortunately, for more and more of the world (developed and otherwise), calories isn’t what we’re lacking; nutrition is. I realize that I’m making some generalizations and of course there are people in the world who DO need calories, but I just want to mention where a lot of corn’s calories go:
-Soda (high fructose corn syrup)
-Chips (hello, Doritos)
-Baked goods (it’s really alarming to look at food labels)
-Bacon (and lots of other tasty meat)
-Eggs/milk/etc. (if you’re counting the corn as feed, as with the meat)
-Tortillas, grits, corn meal
For most of those foods, it’s really hard to make an argument that corn is feeding the world — although it’s certainly keeping me in business (guess what I spend my days trying to convince/coerce/beg my patient not to eat/drink?). It’s kind of expensive in the long run; on top of the list of every CDC morbidity/mortality list are heart disease, diabetes, cancer — all obesity-related illnesses (http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/su6304a2.htm#tab2). Eventually most these costs fall to the taxpayer, as low-income adults are more likely to have two or more chronic disease, such has heart disease, diabetes, cancer, hypertension, stroke, or emphysema (http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/hus/hus11.pdf, page 40).
I’m not saying calories aren’t important, but we do have plenty here in the States.. The average per capita available calories in the US increased from 1983 to 2000 by 19% (I’m sure in large part due to the amazing — and I do mean that sincerely — increased productivity by American agriculture). In 2000, there was an average of 3,800 calories per person in America (http://www.usda.gov/factbook/chapter2.pdf). However, most adults in the US need somewhere between 1,600-2,400 calories per day (okay, so there are some really active 20-something men who need more, and there’s also Michael Phelps, but most people don’t do so much exercise…). (http://www.health.gov/dietaryguidelines/dga2010/DietaryGuidelines2010.pdf, page 14)
Instead of boasting about the extra calories that corn provides, let’s take a look at how the foods mentioned in the article compare in regard to something Americans DO need. Take fiber, for example. The average intake is about 15 grams per day on average (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22709768) but the recommended allowance for women is 25g per day and for men is 38g per day (http://www.health.gov/dietaryguidelines/dga2010/DietaryGuidelines2010.pdf, page 41).
Corn — 15 million calories per acre; 287,000 grams fiber… but only 3% of corn production is used for human consumption (http://www.agmrc.org/commodities__products/grains__oilseeds/corn_grain/white-corn-profile/), so per acre, corn would produce8,610 g fiber (assuming the rest goes to ethanol production, meat product (0g fiber), high fructose corn syrup, etc.)
Potatoes — 15 million calories per acre; 429,043 grams fiber… but only 48% of potatoes are eaten fresh (instead of potato chips, french fries, canned, etc.), so best case scenario (assuming nobody peels the potatoes they eat), per acre, potatoes would produce207,200 g fiber.
Rice — 11 million calories per acre; 178,200 g fiber of brown rice OR 39,600 g fiber of white rice
Soybeans — 6 million calories per acre; 121,500 g fiber (assuming none goes to animal feed or is processed so that fiber is removed)
Wheat — 4 million calories per acre; 146,400 g fiber (assuming all whole-wheat flour)
Broccoli — 2.5 million calories per acre; 191,100 g fiber (no assumptions; it’s hard to take the fiber out of broccoli)
Spinach — 2 million calories per acre; 191,400 g fiber (no assumptions; it’s hard to take the fiber out of spinach unless you juice it or put it in a Naked juice drink)
Don’t get me wrong; I’m not suggesting we stop producing corn or potatotoes or wheat or soybeans. And I realize that it would take entirely different energy inputs (including lots of physical labor) to produce different food. However, I think the conversation about food production and “feeding the world” needs to include more than just calories.
Thanks for letting me stand on my soapbox for a while. That is all.