Alex Miller
Associate Editor
Loyola University Chicago School of Law, JD 2026
Today, ultra-processed foods make up approximately 60% of the average American adult diet, and 70% of American children’s diets. These highly processed diets are coupled with an increase in obesity, from approximately 15% in the 1970s to 40% today. The increase in American consumption of ultra-processed foods is a key contributor to increased obesity and related comorbidities that shorten American lives compared to other similarly situated wealthy countries. American agriculture is directly contributing to this issue through government grants, programs, and subsidies that encourage the production of crops like corn, sugar, and oilseeds that are often made into ultra-processed foods. Subsidy reforms can reduce Americans’ consumption of unhealthy, ultra-processed foods and promote healthier diets.
Current American agricultural subsidies
Last month, the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) expedited $10 Billion in subsidies through the Farm Service Agency (FNA) for the 2024 fiscal year. These funds predominately went to commodity crops, such as corn, wheat, oilseeds, cotton, rice, and grains. Similarly, in 2022, the USDA paid out over $15 Billion in subsidies. There are different subsidies designated for different purposes. These include disaster relief to restore agricultural fields after severe storms or other natural disasters, conservation to preserve wildlife and environmentally sensitive areas, price loss coverage to supplement lower prices, and agricultural risk coverage, all of which provide an economic safety net for farmers. Agricultural subsidies are necessary to preserve American agriculture and keep American-grown food affordable. These programs originated from the Great Depression and continue today.
The most subsidized crop is corn, in large part because almost half of all corn grown in the United States is used to feed livestock. Lower corn prices help keep meat prices low, which helps American consumers have affordable access to meat products like beef, poultry, and pork. However, high-fructose corn syrup is also derived from corn production, and it is added to a large amount of products to make them sweeter and tastier. Increased consumption of high-fructose corn syrup is directly linked to higher rates of obesity, fatty liver disease, and diabetes due to the unnaturally high levels of fructose.
Similarly, seed oils, like canola oil, are chemically processed from oilseeds and added to processed foods and fried foods. These oils are linked to inflammation that can lead to arthritis, heart disease, diabetes, and even strokes. American sugar is also heavily subsidized and added sugar is found in almost all ultra-processed foods. Lastly, even tobacco is subsidized by the government, which is directly and most notably linked to causing cancer, attributable to 30% of all cancer deaths each year.
Improving subsidies to serve farmers, animals, and the common good
By reforming how agricultural subsidies are distributed, subsidies can be used to support small farmers and promote healthier living. Rather than subsidies going to large corporations, subsidies can be used to bolster small farmers’ financial independence, and they can encourage more nutritional crops that do not contribute to the negative health effects from highly processed foods.
First, through subsidies and other government programs, funds can be directed to restore agricultural lands and encourage poly-cropping. Poly-cropping is a method of mixed cropping where farmers dedicate land to multiple crops at once, rather than using large plots of land to grow one crop. Second, subsidies should be granted with more flexibility on which specific crop farmers can grow. In 1990, fruit and vegetable farmers opted out of major subsidies because the bill – would have excluded them from having crop flexibility. Crop flexibility is necessary to diversify crops grown and have more economic stability. Poly-cropping and crop diversity are a more sustainable farming practice because it makes crops hardier and more resistant to disease, compared to monocropping. However, agricultural subsidies incentivize farmers away from poly-cropping and toward monocropping. This makes crops more susceptible to disease and pests, which causes farmers to overload on pesticides, further negatively impacting American health. Most commodity crops get the benefit of having flexibility while subsidized, while fruits and vegetables, as “specialty crops,” were excluded. Amending these laws to allow subsidized crops to use poly-cropping will encourage more sustainable practices and economic freedom for farmers.
Similarly, subsidies should target crops that promote better nutrition. In addition to poly-cropping, the USDA should directly subsidize vegetables and fruits, and it should remove subsidies for other crops, like sugar and tobacco. As “specialty crops,” fruits and vegetables only receive limited subsidization, such as crop insurance, and are generally excluded from most other subsidies. Subsidies should also be limited for crops that have multiple purposes, like corn and seed oils, to restrict funds from supporting farmers that use these crops to create by-products that go into ultra-processed foods. This in turn would incentivize farmers to grow healthier foods that are much needed in today’s American diet.
The end game
Before table sugar and high-fructose corn syrup became affordable and widely available, American diets contained only small amounts of fructose from natural sources, such as fruits and vegetables. Access to cheap, unhealthy ultra-processed foods has caused people to consume less fruits and vegetables, and now the average American eats far less fruits and vegetables than is recommended by dietary physicians and nutritionists. Highly processed foods are making Americans sicker, and American taxpayers should not be forced to subsidize their own declining health.
The government is a major cause of unhealthy American diets because it has created a perverse economic incentive for farmers to practice unsustainable and unhealthy farming practices. Instead, the government should focus subsidies through a lens of nutrition rather than mass production. Current subsidies make unhealthy, highly processed foods more affordable than healthy whole foods. Subsidies should encourage sustainable farming practices and the production of wholesome foods, which would lower the cost of healthier foods. These subsidy reforms are one step in the right direction to shift Americans away from unhealthy, ultra-processed foods and toward clean, nutritious diets by incentivizing farmers towards healthier crops.