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Our food system is making us sick and killing the planet. Sign here to tell the leading candidates for president to take bold action for a food system that rewards farmers, protects our environment, provides fair wages to workers and ensures that all Americans have access to healthy food that they can afford.
Friend,
Millions of Americans agree that it's time for our leaders to start talking about food. More than half the farmland in America is used to grow just two crops: Soybeans and corn. That kind of monoculture is bad for the ecosystem, as the diverse balance of plants (and the insects, animals and even people who depend on that balance) can't be sustained by commodity farming, and our soil is stripped of its health and nutrients.1
To make up for weaker soil and more invasive pests, Big Ag farming relies on chemical fertilizers, insecticides and genetically engineered crops that can withstand drought, climate change and chemical exposure -- but are themselves huge contributors to climate change, water pollution and toxic air.2 In exchange we get an endless supply of cheap processed junk foods that are making us sick, while fresh fruits and vegetables are unaffordable for many Americans — and in many neighborhoods, its hard to find.3
Our food crisis reflects a broken system propped up by agricultural subsidies and government policies that benefit Monsanto and a handful of big corporations at the expense of workers, our environment and family farmers. It doesn’t have to be this way. We’re joining with allies to call on the next president to take bold action for a food system that rewards farmers, protects our environment, provides fair wages to workers and ensures that all Americans have access to healthy food that they can afford. Sign here to support us!
How we produce and consume food has a bigger impact on Americans' health and well-being than any other human activity. And with nearly a billion acres of land used for agricultural purposes in America alone - our food policies have a profound impact on our environment and climate too.4
Plate of the Union is a collaborative effort coordinated by Food Policy Action, Food Policy Action Education Fund, the Union of Concerned Scientists, and the HEAL Food Alliance to raise the voice of the millions of Americans who care about food and farm issues, and how food / farm policies influence our health, environment and economy.
We’re asking every candidate for President to consider three fundamental changes to our food policies:
- Fund and implement programs that help farmers grow more fruits and vegetables;
- Fund and implement policies to improve consumer access to fruits and vegetables; And
- End subsidies that favor chemically-intensive monocultures like corn, soy and wheat.
Click here to sign on and support us - together, we can build a healthier food sstem for our people, and our planet.
For healthy people and planet,
Drew and the plate-cleaning Crew at Environmental Action
1 - The Healthy Farmland Diet: How Growing Less Corn Would Improve Our Health and Help America’s Heartland, Union of Concerned Scientists, 2013
2 - Mike Coots, Engineering an Environmental Disaster, EarthJustice
3 - Michele Ver Ploeg and Jessica E. Todd, USDA ERS Food Access, July 07, 2015
Michele Ver Ploeg and Vince Breneman, USDA Food Atlas, March 11, 2015
4 - Allison Borchers, USDA ERS Land Use, Land Value & Tenure, August 26, 2015
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