Pollan Makes the Rounds

Michael Pollan—journalist, author, and science-journalism professor—has been elevated to a leadership position in the movement to transform the food system. But, as he will tell you, he doesn't really belong there.

Pollan makes no pretense of "objectivity," but he does consider himself a journalist (since he is one) first. In an interview Wednesday with Michael Krasny on KQED, a San Francisco public-radio station, Pollan said he tries to keep somewhat "distanced" from the subject he covers. Advocates of "sustainable" food," or whatever we're supposed to call it, need a leader. Pollan just doesn't want to be it.

That movement is "one of the most vibrant movements out there right now, but it's bereft of leadership," he said.

Speaking of "sustainable," a caller to the show said industrialized agriculture is not only good, but necessary. Pollan responded that we shouldn't think of it as destroying industrial agriculture but as making room for other systems. "We are not going to completely undo the industrial system," he said. It's "not going to be undone, just reduced."

"Unsustainable," he said, "isn't just a word" synonymous with "bad." Its meaning is literal: "There are contradictions built into the industrialized system that will bring it down" if measures aren't taken. That could be food-borne disease, destruction of species, or something we haven't even envisioned yet.

Some other highlights from the interview:

* At least 20 percent of all fossil fuels go to agriculture, much of that in the form of synthetic fertilizer, Pollan noted. The nitrous oxide given off by such fertilizer "is 300 times more heat-trapping than carbon dioxide," the greenhouse gas that gets the most press.

* President Obama "has shown that he gets it," but "there's a long way from a leader you elect getting it and him doing anything about it." Obama needs to realize that he's "not going to get anywhere" on his energy or health care initiatives without addressing the problems of the food system and the American diet.

* Michelle Obama, with her organic garden at the White House and her public pronouncements on food, could potentially "change the conversation at the Good Housekeeping level." She is "building a consensus for reform" that could be enacted "maybe in a second term."

* Noting the influence of the food lobby on the government, he noted a recent Youtube video of a hearing on the federal School Lunch Program that was "packed with industry lobbyists." Indeed, there were many more industry lobbyists than anyone else at the hearing.

* Farmland, particularly that near urban areas, should be considered "as precious as wetlands" if we have any hope of developing local food systems.

* Building such local systems is "not that hard to do." One solution: legislation to compel government buyers of food (for schools, prisons, food programs, etc.) to buy locally, even if only at the margins. A 2 percent or 3 percent mandate would cause "an instant revival of local agriculture."

* Decentralization of the food system would prevent many national or global outbreaks of food-borne diseases. When single meat-grinding operations, or single lettuce-washing operations, feed millions of people, outbreaks become global fast. But even if all agriculture were local, he warned, that wouldn't stop illnesses from occurring. "Mabel's potato salad at the church social has been killing people for hundreds of years." But local systems keep outbreaks local.

Also on Wednesday, Salon published a "report card" for Obama's first 100 days, including a bunch of graders, Pollan among them. "That there is anything to report about food and farming in the first 100 days is striking in itself, considering how many pressing issues Obama has on his plate," Pollan wrote.

He gives Obama good marks, but says that there has been "one notable misstep" on food policy—the "half-hearted effort to trim crop subsidies," which would have limited direct payments to farmers and redirected the funds to childhood nutrition programs. That framed the debate as "rich farmers" vs. "hungry children," Pollan wrote.

"The unfortunate framing united all farmers against reform." The initiative was dropped, and now "Obama will have to develop much smarter proposals to reform subsidies, ones that divide the farm bloc rather than unify it."