Getting Food and Farming on the Next President's Mind

"The idea of the president as “first farmer” is surely audacious. But food-industry expert Michael Pollan used it artfully in the Oct. 12 New York Times Magazine. Pollan’s goal: to urge (and have us urge) the next president to inspire a sweeping food revolution, back to greater local and regional self-sufficiency."

"Why a revolution?"

"First, energy prices are bound to rise for years to come. The American food machine guzzles fossil fuels from start to finish–for farm machinery, chemical fertilizers, pesticides, mass production processing and packaging, and transporting foods over thousands of miles. The toll is 19 percent of the country’s fossil fuel use, a big shadow over our hopes for energy independence."

"Second, climate change. The fossil fuels we burn for food contribute to our seriously high carbon emissions. Plus, wherever land is cleared for large industrial-scale agriculture, major amounts of carbon dioxide get released into the air."