Integration of Science
& Policy
U. S. President
Barack Obama
(Democrat)
Louisiana Governor
Bobby Jindal
(Republican)
Photo from
Wikipedia
Photo from
Wikipedia
Baton Rouge
Mayor-President
Kip Holden
Photo from
media.2theadvocate.com
LSU Chancellor
Michael Martin
Photo from
media.2theadvocate.com
Integration of Science & Policy is not new…
G. Evelyn Hutchinson (1903 – 1991)
“The most practical lasting benefit
science can now offer is to teach
man to avoid destruction of his
own environment, and how, by
understanding himself with true
humility and pride, to find ways to
avoid injuries that at present he
inflicts on himself with such
devastating energy.”
(1943)
Photo of Hutchinson from Yale Peabody Archives
Recommended books
"Eat food [not
highly-processed,
food-like material].
Not too much.
Mostly plants."
Images of book jackets from Amazon.com
The Omnivore’s Dilemma
The Botany of Desire (2001)
The Omnivore’s Dilemma (2006)
In Defense of Food (2008)
Food Rules: An Eater’s Manual (2009)
Books 
Featured in the Movie 
Food, Inc.
Michael Pollan (b. 1955)
Photo from Wikipedia
The Omnivore’s Dilemma
“When you can eat just about anything nature has to offer, deciding what you
should eat will inevitably stir anxiety, especially when some of the potential
foods on offer are liable to sicken or kill you” (Pollan 2006)
Image of U. S. Department of Agriculture Food Pyramid from Wikipedia
Our modern diet
“Industrial agriculture has supplanted a complete reliance on the sun for our
calories with… a food chain that draws much of its energy from fossil fuels”
i.e., the “industrial food chain”
(Pollan 2006)
Photo of combine harvesting corn from http://www.veganforum.com
Our modern diet
The corn (and petroleum)-based origin of much of our food is cryptic
Photos of Chicken McNuggets® (c. 1997) and ice cream (gelato) from Wikipedia
Record-setting yields through artificial selection
Image of corn (Poaceae: Zea mays) & photo of Friesian-Holstein cow from Wikipedia
Record-setting yields require heavy inputs of fuel,
fertilizers, antibiotics, etc.
“When humankind acquired the power to fix N, the basis of soil fertility shifted
from a total reliance on energy of the sun to a new reliance on fossil fuel”
(Pollan 2006)
N2
Images from Wikipedia
+
Energy from
Oil
=
Ammonia (NH3)
Record-setting yields require heavy inputs of fuel,
fertilizers, antibiotics, etc.
“Fertilizer opens the way to monoculture… fixing N allowed the food chain to
turn from… biology… [to] industry… humanity began to sip petroleum”
“It takes more than a calorie of fossil fuel energy
to produce a calorie of food”
(Pollan 2006)
Photo of corn monoculture from Wikipedia
Case study: U.S. “Farm Bills”
U.S. farm policy dramatically impacts the environment (e.g., ecosystem
services), economics (globally through trade), human health, etc…
Farms & ranches are managed by <2% of the U.S. population,
yet the lands account for ~50% of total acreage
Image of most recent Farm Bill logo from: www.ky.nrcs.usda.gov; statistics from Batie (2009)
Case study: U.S. “Farm Bills”
At least 10 omnibus bills (provisions that amend or modify other existing laws,
or that establish new laws) that became acts of Congress
since mid-20th century
Food, Conservation & Energy Act of 2008
Image of most recent Farm Bill logo from: www.ky.nrcs.usda.gov; statistics from Batie (2009)
Case study: U.S. “Farm Bills”
Owing to changes in farm bills since ~1950s,
“instead of supporting farmers, the government
was now subsidizing every bushel of
corn a farmer could grow…”
In October 2005 it cost ~$2.50 to grow a bushel
(8 gallons) of corn in Iowa, but Iowa grain
elevators were paying $1.45/bushel; the U.S.
government more than made up the
difference through direct subsidy payments
“This is a system designed to keep production
high and prices low”
Pollan (2006)
Who especially benefits from this subsidy?
Photo from www.countryliving.com
Case study: U.S. “Farm Bills”
The glut of surplus corn:
floods world markets with cheap corn –
contributing to the demise of farmers overseas
(thereby increasing poverty)
Photo from http://uwstudentweb.uwyo.edu
Case study: U.S. “Farm Bills”
The glut of surplus corn:
makes Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations
(CAFOs) economically viable
Photo from Wikipedia
Case study: U.S. “Farm Bills”
The glut of surplus corn:
fuels food corporations with cheap material
with which to make cheap, unhealthy processed food
“We break down [corn]… into… component parts [e.g., high-fructose corn
syrup] and then reassemble them into high-value-added food systems”
(Pollan 2006)
Photos from Wikipedia
Case study: U.S. “Farm Bills”
The glut of surplus corn:
contributes to obesity and diet-related disease (e.g., type II diabetes)
“When yields rise, the market is flooded… price collapses… clever
marketers… figure out [how]… to induce the human
omnivore to consume the surfeit of cheap calories”
(Pollan 2006)
Photos from Wikipedia
Case study: U.S. “Farm Bills”
The glut of surplus corn:
contributes to obesity and diet-related disease (e.g., type II diabetes)
“It behooved our hunter-gatherer ancestors to feast whenever the opportunity
presented itself, allowing them to build up reserves of fat against future
famine… it is the amped-up energy density of processed foods that gets
omnivores like us into trouble”
(Pollan 2006)
Photos from Wikipedia
Alternatives?
Industrial organic is not much different from traditional industrial agriculture
Image from http://extoxnet.orst.edu
Alternatives?
Local organic
Photo from http://activerain.com
Alternatives?
Minimal packaging (often associated with minimal processing
& minimal travel distance)
Vs.
Photo of sweet corn from Wikipedia & photo of processed, canned corn from www.generalmills.com