National Agriculture Week, March 18-24, is a good time to open a dialogue with consumers about whether this food system will sustain the earth and its resources. A new book, Fast Food Nation, by Eric Schlosser, argues that fast and cheap food has helped transform our diet, landscape, economy, workforce and pop culture. Half of all of the money used to buy food in the U.S. is spent in restaurants, mainly on fast food that is delivered frozen, canned, dehydrated, or freeze-dried. Schlosser says the fast-food industry's purchasing power has helped fuel ultimatums by meatpackers and processors for volume and uniformity. But the fast-food industry isn't the only driver of change.
Vertical integration links retailers to production and processing.
Current trends suggest six or fewer global food retailers will evolve over the next few years. Only one, Wal-Mart, is a U.S. firm. The rest are European. Meals away from home contain more calories and fat and less fiber. One third of Americans are obese, up from one quarter a decade ago.