Ethics and Economics of Building a Food System to Recover the Health of the Chesapeake Bay and Its People

Abstract

Reimagining a new food system for recovering the health of the Chesapeake Bay and its people requires addressing the ethics of the current way we produce and consume food. The present food system is built on making profit with the aid of government subsidies focused on producton of health-damaging animal agriculture. As is the case for most of the US, the Chesapeake Bay region produces more food than it uses, exporting surpluses elsewhere. Consistent surplus production depresses prices. Wealthier farmers take advantage of a system of price supports to sustain their profits. Despite the excess production of food, most of the workers in the food system earn such low wages that they require government subsidized nutrition, organized through the US Department of Agriculture. Many of the lowest paid food system workers are people of color and migrant laborers from Mexico and Central America. Only 7% of the food dollar goes to pay producers, with most of it going to the food service and food processing industries. About 10% of the residents of the Chesapeake Bay region face regular food insecurity and 14% receive subsidized nutrition benefits. The animal product-centered food system pollutes the Chesapeake Bay and sickens its people, while causing the suffering and premature deaths of industrially farmed animals. Extensive use of pesticides and artificial fertilizers on crops grown for animal feed (corn and soy) further degrade the ecosystem. Elements of a new ethical food system include organic production for whole plant based diets, imporved compensation for workers, eliminating the exploitation of animals, developing food literacy, increasing the amount of food prepared at home, replacing corporate profit with social and environmental need as the driving force of agriculture, subsidizing healthy foods, and encouraging local farming with direct distribution to consumers.