About That New Food Pyramid

Recently, the USDA and HHS released a new food pyramid that replaces the “my plate” guidance. I wanted to share my take on the new food pyramid and also provide some insight on how farm policy plays a role. It should come as no surprise that I am NOT a dietician nor have I had any formal training in human nutrition so take whatever I say with a grain of salt.

At first glance I was pretty okay with the new food pyramid. Vegetables right at the top. I grow vegetables - good news for me. Also in the press release was the promotion of whole foods and getting away from ultra-processed foods; something I’m in total agreement with. I don’t agree with having protein, dairy & fat right at the top along with vegetables. Don’t get me wrong, I love having meats, cheese and dairy as part of my diet but I think they should be swapped with either fruits or whole grains. Americans already consume more meat per capita than most other countries in the world. Seems silly to encourage us to eat more meat when generally we, as a society, already are consuming more meat than necessary.

So what does federal farm policy support? I can tell you from firsthand experience that the answer is not vegetables. Most of federal farm policy support goes towards crop insurance subsidies for commodities like corn & soy beans. Most of the corn & soy beans grown and used here in the United States is used for ethanol/bio diesel (not food) OR food for livestock. Knowing that, it’s no surprise that meat & dairy are at the top. We wouldn’t want to upset the commodity & meat packer lobby.

Further, if you look at fruit & vegetable imports since 1980 in the chart below you’ll notice a stead increase in the amount of fruits & vegetables that we import. I think it’s crazy that we have all of this amazing farmland across most of the country and we have to continually import more fruits & vegetables. It doesn’t make sense. If federal farm policy incentivized vegetable production the way it incentivizes commodity production we could flip that chart around.