It's in changing the surrounding political incentives. People who want farm policy to become food policy need to find ways to become louder.

Agreed. Food policy is still an emerging area, with little awareness among the public, MSM and DC politicians. I think a realistic goal is creating that awareness in time for a 2016 administration. Keep up the good work in making this an issue on your blog.

I wouldn't say that food policy is an emerging area, but rather that a couple of things have changed. In particular, I think the intersection of ag policy and climate change policy has changed the way consumers think about food. Maybe what's "emerging" is that new people have entered the dialogue.

The USDA covers a broad range of policy areas, including more general rural issues, and I'd kind of hate to see that lost. There are some serious problems in the boondocks beyond just lack of broadband. I was somewhat appalled last fall by a few soi-disant "progressives" saying that we oughtn't bother with rural policy because most people don't live in the boonies anymore (never mind that there are more rural Americans than gay Americans, Jewish Americans, ... ), plus the usual problems with classism and seeing-rural-people-as-bumpkins problems that were brought out by the Palin nomination. I'd love to see the Democrats finally start getting their crap together around that stuff.

As it happens I think that family/small farm issues line up pretty well with food consumer issues and I hope that that continues to get some focus, but there are also serious problems around education, access to healthcare (i.e. practitioner availability), and economic development for both food producers and rural non-farmers.

I was with you until the comment about Ben's. You're on the verge of crossing the line from food snob to full blown hater. Watch yourself.

It is important to remember that current agricultural policy is not shaped to benefit farmers or rural areas in general, on the contrary. It is a classic case of corporate welfare benefiting nobody except for Big Ag business and maybe the biggest among farmers. We won't get food policy reform anywhere if we can't even differentiate between Monsanto and farmers, and framing the issue as a conflict between food producers and consumers is the dumbest thing you can do.

"The tendency to understand it as an issue that's mainly of interest to rural Americans who produce food rather than urban or suburban residents who eat food."

As other posters have hinted at, you also need to distinguish between the TYPES of rural Americans who produce food. There's a big difference between a 5,000 acre commodity farmer, a 200-acre independent dairy producer, and a 5-acre market vegetable farmer. All produce food in one form or another, but are likely to have wildly different views on ag policy and the government's role in it.

One of the core problems with Obama and virtually all politicians is that they seem to see farmers and farming as monolithic, and so assume that the Farm Bureau or other big-ag organization speaks for all of us. The same is true for politicians' treatment of the NRA as a representative of all gun owners, but that's another story.

(whine) But talking to farmers is HAAARRD! I might get my Bruno Maglis dirty! I might have my urban preconceptions challenged! (/whine)

Seriously Ezra, take the time to look up some farm state progressive groups. I've worked for a couple and you'd be amazed how hard it is get the attention of any mainstream liberal, even on issues such as food inspection that affect "everyone who eats."

Obviously I have checked in too soon. I was hoping for a full-on Ben's Chili Bowl Flame War. (BTW I agree with Jon.) Don't hate! When you want a half-smoke, Ben's is the best. If you don't often want a half-smoke, well - that's a different conversation.

You lost me at the Ben's comment :(

Ben's Chili Bowl (one of DC's most overrated institutions, incidentally)

How can Ben's Chili Bowl be "overrated"? It is known as a place with cheap, but good greasy half-smokes where you can get lots of chili and cheese on top of them late at night.

Is there some other place that fills this need is a better way?

"Overrated" does not mean "mediocre" or "bad." It means "rated higher than is deserved." Lauriol is overrated, because the food there (while enjoyable) isn't nearly as good as people claim it is. Ben's Chili Bowl provides exactly what it claim to provide. It is thus rated correctly.

Thanks for the shout-out. Just wanted to say you're spot on when you write that expecting Obama to change long-held ag policies is a sucker's bet. It's going to be a long long transition into a different kind of food/farming system that can feed millions of people without the use of Big Ag "techniques," without foodborne contaminations emerging on a weekly basis, while protecting the environment and somehow helping smaller farmers make a profit...and doing this ethically. It's a massive trust-busting endeavor at the end of the day, too, and I'm often shocked that no-one's approached it from this angle; four multinational corps controlling most of the food production and cropland in the US seems like something the FTC might've examined long ago...in a perfect world. You're also right that the average citizen doesn't stare at their food and consider the politics surrounding it...but that's changing. The most progressive foodists are just now figuring out how to get "loud," and are finally discovering how to turn digitek and social media to their advantage. But it's a looong row to hoe...
..And for the record, I'm with you on Ben's. Good politics, mediocre chow. Sorry Ben's lovers!

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