Study of USDA’s Funding Priorities and Vegetable Consumption Gap
Posted on
November 16, 2010 by
The VRG Blog Editor
Via Marion Nestle’s blog, Food Politics:
The Produce for Better Health Foundation’s 2010 GAP Analysis, correlates the gap between consumption and recommendations to the ways in which USDA funding priorities ignore fruits and vegetables. The report is hard to read and goes on and on, but its thrust is understandable.
The Foundation wants the USDA to spend a greater proportion of its dollars on fruits and vegetables, rather than on meat and dairy foods. USDA’s current allocations for subsidies look like this:
- Meat: 54.7%
- Grains (which mostly go to feed animals): 18.0%
- Dairy (non-butter): 11.4%
- Fats and oils: 6.2%
- Fruits and vegetables: 9.8%
These reports aim to align agricultural policy with health policy, and about time too.
