The movie website: King Corn
I don’t know about the movie, but the author of this article doesn’t know a whole lot about the economics of raising corn.
I saw this on PBS and found it to be an entertaining film. A couple of college kids spend a summer being corn farmers. Their experience reminded me how refugee families are settled- here’s your space, here’s someone who can help you, and here’s where you sign up for benefits. I think they ended up making about seven dollars from their one acre plot. Despite living in an ag state, I knew nothing about corn. It appears that corn is now just a raw material- not a food- and that grain farming benefits from economies of scale. I’d watch it again.
I don't know about this one. Corn syrup was used by people that couldn't afford sugar long before corn subsidies ever came in to being. Corn syrup today, even without the subsidies, would still offer a much lower cost alternative to sugar. Now, remove the sugar protection too and maybe that could change. Corn syrup is a lousy sweetener without the desirable physical properties of sugar. I think this guy is thinking of high fructose corn syrup, which is a much different product altogether.
and also the reason most cattle are raised on corn
Cattle are raised on corn because it's cheap but also because of its high oil content. Again, before corn subsidies came about, farmers used corn to fatten beef cattle and hogs. Corn is much more fattening than barley, oats or wheat so I don't know that farmers would use anything else to fatten their animals even if there were no price supports on corn.
Those of us who would prefer to eat grass-fed beef are helping to make corn-fed beef cheaper
Grass fed beef with less marbling or corn fattened beef with much more marbling and flavor? Is this guy serious?
So your tax dollars are making nutritionally inferior food cheaper to produce
It's too bad he didn't elaborate more. Nutritionally inferior to what and in what way?
It's a short essay without much detail but it would appear that Tom needs to learn more about the topic before writing such an article. He rails on corn without any mention of the massive amount of support the government provides domestic sugar producers that end up costing consumers billions. "King Corn" may place blame on government, where it squarely belongs, but it looks like the film could be playing loose with many other details. I'll probably save my time and keep my money.
Thanks!