After World War II, starvation was a real danger, and calories
were in short supply. The US Dept. of Agriculture put in place
subsidies to grow calories, which have evolved to this day to a
system exactly contrary to what is needed. The USDA itself says
that Americans consume only 11% of the fruits and vegetables
needed for good health, while consuming way too many calories in
the form of fats and sugars. Yet this same USDA gives massive
subsidies to the calories, following its historic mandate back
from WWII, while less than 1% goes to fruit and vegetable
farmers. Many people make their grocery choices based on price,
and the subsidized empty calories, fried foods, processed foods
are the best buy. Most of these subsidies go to farmers in the
Mississippi River basin, the source of 75% of the nitrate
pollution that is killing the Gulf of Mexico. So to make
McDonalds burgers and fries and Cokes cheap, we are sacrificing
our greatest fishery, the shrimp, oysters, crabs and fish of the
Gulf of Mexico. The Dead Z