You are exactly right. The politics of sprawl have destroyed our best croplands. Was suburbia worth it? I don’t think so.
My dad and mom live out in the country and grow a huge garden each year. We decided some time ago that the majority of vegetables we would eat would come out of that garden, and we have never looked back. The foods that Dad grows are better tasting, more nutritious, and in every way superior to those produced by big-corporate agribusiness. What few vegetables we do buy come from local farmer’s markets or the organic section of Whole Foods Market. We are all healthy and well, and Dad and Mom have the satisfaction of growing and canning and the rest of the gardening experience. It’s a win-win.
Food is too important to be left to the vagaries of free trade. Our national policy should be for the United States to be self-sufficient in foodstuffs. As president, I would place heavy tariffs upon all imported foodstuffs with the exception of luxury foods (Brie, caviar, etc.) and those items that cannot be produced within the continental United States due to climate (coffee, tropical fruits, etc.). I would furthermore exempt all genuinely family-owned farms from all federal taxation as an incentive to stay in business.
Food self-sufficiency is food security. Eat local.
Over at the U.S. Department of Agriculture, however, farm economists told me that NAFTA has been a two-way street, increasing imports from Mexico to the U.S., but also opening export opportunities for U.S. farmers to sell into Mexico. Consumers on both sides of the border have been the big beneficiaries, because most of the Mexican crops are imported into the U.S. when they are not in season here, the economists told me.
“Consumers on both sides of the border have been the big beneficiaries, because most of the Mexican crops are imported into the U.S. when they are not in season here, the economists told me.”
The author should have questioned this in his interview and I don’t know how he does not see the incompleteness of the thought as he wrote it. So when do Mexican consumers benefit ...that is when do our farmers benefit from exports?