How Regulatory Capture is Negatively Affecting Human Health and Agriculture

We posted an article last week on how Regulatory Capture is Impeding Innovation and Entrepreneurialism - with positive ideas on how to address regulatory capture.

Today we want to focus on how Regulatory Capture is negatively affecting agriculture and human health - with positive ideas on how to challenge regulatory capture in the food and agriculture sector.

We highly recommend watching the below videos with legendary farmer and agricultural innovator Joel Salatin.

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. discusses the transformation of agriculture with Joel. Joel shares his decades of experience in sustainable agriculture, revealing how small-scale farming can revolutionize our food system. From regenerative practices to food sovereignty, discover why Joel's Polyface Farm methods have inspired a global movement through sustainable farming and conscious food choices:

Discussion on how bureaucratic systems are resulting in low-quality food products to the consumer.

“Everything I want to do is illegal.”

Joel explains how regulations are fostering large-scale producers due to the cost of regulatory compliance and overhead costs - “scale prejudicial”, making it virtually impossible for small-scale farmers and food producers to remain in business and make a profit. The rationale for this by the large-scale producers usually emphasizes “food safety” but in reality there are no “food safety” reasons.

RFK Jr. gives the historical example of how regulatory capture in agriculture started in Poland, turning a small-scale farming country into a control by large producers who used regulations to control and retain the market share of agriculture.

Joel gives an example of how industrial agri-businesses emphasize a volume-based paradigm at the expense of safety and quality - in turn making it difficult for a small business in the same agricultural product area. RFK Jr. explains how this is causing a negative toll on human health.

Joel suggests a transition strategy to get to a more decentralized set of farmers and food producers. One area to address would be to cut government subsidies to large-scale farmers and producers - small-scale farmers and food producers generally do not qualify or have access to these subsidies.

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In another podcast below with David Lin, Joel discusses more specific issues around regulatory capture.

“The first thing to do is to get the government out of the food business. Everything that the government tells us to eat is bad. They tell us that Fruit Loops and Cheerios are more nutritious than beef.”

As such, the U.S. leads the world in adverse health conditions, says largely due to bad dietary and low quality food products.

“We need to restore the health of the soil.”

Explains how the obesity epidemic is due to food pyramid of 1979 - with unhealthy foods including extensive consumption of sugar, seed oils and highly processed food products.

Joel emphasizes the government should take the “shackles” off small-scale farmers and food producers to allow them to do business - a “freedom to sell.”

Points out how soil in the U.S. has gone from 8% in organic matter down to 1.5% through unecological farming methods.

If 1 in 3 households had chickens in their backyards or next to their restaurants, there would not need to be an “egg industry.” 85% of what we put in land fills in the U.S. is compostable and 40% of it is edible - explains how an integrated system can be created from this.

Joel explains how regenerative agriculture methods are scalable, citing how his own farm is using these practices.

Joel explains how the regulatory environment does not make it conducive to entrepreneurialism in agriculture.

Americans used to spend 18% of income on food and 9% on healthcare - today it is 18% on healthcare and 9% on food. Better to spend more on good quality food and less on healthcare. Says people would be able to make better health decisions if they are enabled to more responsible on their health choices versus the government providing and controlling their healthcare.

Positive Ideas to Challenge Regulatory Capture in Food and Agriculture

• foster an environment making it easier and cheaper for small-scale farms and smaller food producers to do business in agriculture, food production and distribution

• conduct direct delivery of food products to host homes, pre-selling all food products ahead of time through the Internet and online sales, integrating directly with postal and courier services with sophisticated and optimized delivery technologies - at price points better than even local large-scale food providers

• emphasize the power of the Internet and online applications for food products and distribution, that has allowed an “uberization” and “democratization”

• develop culinary arts at the household level

• connect directly with customers and families interested in getting high quality food

• foster a decentralized large number of small-scale, community-based farmers and food producers

• eliminate government subsidies and crop insurance to large-scale farmers and food producers

• encourage self-sustaining ecosystem-based farming operations which help make regenerative agriculture be viable and scalable - “an integrated food system”

• offer certification on regenerative agriculture standards and best practice processes

• take an approach based on the principles of Market Environmentalism - each of these four principles embody many of the actions and initiatives mentioned above

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