Hi Everyone!
On Monday night we'll meet in Bissell Theater to watch "King Corn," a documentary by Ian Cheney and Curt Ellis, who set out to answer the question of why so much of their bodies are made up of corn by planting an acre of it themselves and then attempting to follow it through the marketplace.
Subsidy programs have changed somewhat since this film was made. The recently passed 2014 Farm Bill favors "crop insurance" programs over the direct payments of the past. However, that certainly doesn't mean that subsidies have gone away. Here's an editorial piece that discusses this change, as well as the reasons that government funds have historically been directed toward commodity crops grown as monocultures (such as corn and soy) rather than diversified farms that grow a variety of fruits and vegetables: http://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/food/farm-bill-why-dont-taxpayers-subsidize-the-foods-that-are-better-for-us/2014/02/14/d7642a3c-9434-11e3-84e1-27626c5ef5fb_story.html
I'll see you tomorrow night! Bring movie snacks if you want them.
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