7 Ways Food Needs to Change

[Render]

NEW YORK — Food. It's among the most fundamental of human needs. But, over time, it has also entered the realm of high-tech, intellectual property, big business and environmental and social justice concerns. All the while, the world's population of hungry mouths is growing.

At a discussion on the future of food here at the American Museum of Natural History on Tuesday (March 5), a panel of experts grappled with the issues of how society produces and consumes food. Here are seven key points they addressed:

1. How much should food cost?

2. The need to feed a growing world.

3. What we're doing won't work."

4. What's the reality behind fears of genetically modified food?

5. Are patents necessary to spur the innovation we need?

6. Do we need "open source" in agriculture?

7. Better consumers needed.

http://www.livescience.com/27788-7-issues-future-food.html

[Q-C]

"statistics show progressively smaller shares of Americans' income going to food, freeing them up to spend more money elsewhere. But that cheep food has consequences, he said. "What is the cost of producing food ever more cheaply?" Gepts said, noting that such costs came in the form of ecological damage and the exploitation of farm laborers. "I think food right now is artificially cheap," he said."

What!? Food is not cheap! And if smaller shares are going to food it is only because housing and vehicle costs are out of sight, not because food is cheap or cheaper!

[Coffey]

"statistics show progressively smaller shares of Americans' income going to food, freeing them up to spend more money elsewhere. But that cheep food has consequences, he said. "What is the cost of producing food ever more cheaply?" Gepts said, noting that such costs came in the form of ecological damage and the exploitation of farm laborers. "I think food right now is artificially cheap," he said."

What!? Food is not cheap! And if smaller shares are going to food it is only because housing and vehicle costs are out of sight, not because food is cheap or cheaper!

Food is definitely not cheap.. lol I don't know where they got that idea from. lol

Maybe he meant that nasty food is cheap like those frozen pizzas and chips/fries etc. But for real food it's really expensive.

[Ashotep]

Food has done nothing but get higher in price. I don't know where he gets that from. Maybe if we all made what he does we would think it was cheap.

[rashore]

I think a lot of the food in the U.S. at least is cheap. Not meaning inexpensive, but rather meaning not good quality. Instead of using good quality ingredients, they use a lot of overly processed, refined stuff, and fillers. But the need better consumers part kind of cracked me up. They created the consumers they have, and now are whining about it? That's a little like a drug dealer whining about the junkies they got hooked.

[Frank Merton]

I don't like American food. The restaurants are pretentious and expensive and full of fat and the food unhealthy. The fast food is deadly fatty and greasy. A supermarket provides little choice and most of it processed to death. Any street market in SE Asia provides ten times the choice of varieties of fruit and vegetable, far more choices of shellfish and much fresher fish, and a variety of animals just not to be had in the States, such as rabbit and goat. It all seems healthier and even cleaner.

[Frank Merton]

There is one thing though -- SE Asia doesn't have turkey. Americans are lucky that way.

[Q-C]

"statistics show progressively smaller shares of Americans' income going to food

This is still off, imo. What about eating out? It ain't cheap either.

Maybe smaller families these days account for smaller shares, but not prices!

I think people under report or underestimate their food costs.

Sorry, but food costs aggravate me. Obviously, lol. But when i can't get out of a cheap food store after shopping for a family of three without spending a small fortune on nothing, it irks me.