The Cost of Overproduction in American Agriculture

Thirty-five years after banning its use in cosmetics, the FDA has finally prohibited Red Dye No. 30 in food. While this ruling is a victory, it’s decades overdue. Numerous harmful ingredients and pesticides still infiltrate our food, water, and environment—chemicals we’ve long known to cause harm. Some are strongly linked to brain damage in children or to diseases like Parkinson’s. Yet, efforts to criticize or regulate these substances are often countered with a familiar trope: that American farmers and food companies need these tools to "feed the world" and keep calories cheap. This narrative is, of course, a lie and a brilliant public relations strategy by large food and chemical companies.

The Origins of the "Feed the World" Narrative

The idea that American farmers must feed the world originated in the mid-20th century, a time when nearly 65% of the global population was malnourished. Advances in agricultural technology since then have resulted in production surpluses that surpass even the most optimistic expectations of economists. As a result, today 38% of the global population is over-nourished—overweight or obese—with projections indicating this could rise to 50% by 2035.

To further illustrate our extraordinary food surplus, one can look at the number of calories produced by American farmers. Enough food is grown for each citizen to consume approximately 4,000 calories daily. Unsurprisingly, we do. The average American eats almost twice the recommended daily caloric intake, which is likely why over 70% of Americans are classified as overweight or obese.

The Corn Revolution

Consider corn, America’s most ubiquitous crop. American farmers are producing over 90% more corn now than they did in 1990. Yet, when you look at the data above, nearly all of the extra corn is going toward ethanol, a biofuel made by fermenting corn sugars. This is a result of government mandates: the majority of our corn—nearly 45%—is burned in car gas tanks. All of the technological advances in agriculture of the past 35 years—GMOs, precision agriculture, synthetic biology—have simply led to more corn being burned, not consumed by humans.

When you break it down into calories, this enormous pile of corn that’s destined for ethanol production each year equates to roughly 250,000 calories per American citizen per day. Studies since the 1990s have shown ethanol is barely energy-positive, often requiring more energy to produce than it releases. This wasteful process squanders 30 quadrillion calories annually.

Pesticide Dependence and Consequences

At the core of our overproduction model is heavy pesticide use. Despite mounting evidence of clear health concerns associated with these products, the “feed the world” narrative is used to ensure their legality and prevalence in modern farming practices. As of 2019, the U.S. allowed the use of 72 pesticides that are either banned or being phased out in the European Union. The difference lies in regulatory philosophy: the EU permits pesticides only when proven safe, while the U.S. bans them only after they are proven dangerous.

Take glyphosate, for example—a herbicide essential to corn and soybean farming that has been directly linked to non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL), a type of cancer. Glyphosate use has surged over 3,000% since the 1990s, functioning as an integral component of our yield increases. Yet, its chronic overuse has driven the evolution of herbicide-resistant weeds that won’t die unless farmers use a more potent chemical.

The main chemical farmers now turn to is paraquat—a herbicide 28 times more toxic than glyphosate. It was banned in the EU in 2007 due to its direct links to Parkinson’s disease, kidney and liver damage, and cancer. Despite these well-established consequences, paraquat use in the U.S. has increased almost 900% since the introduction of glyphosate. In essence, the more glyphosate is used, the more resistant weeds become—fueling demand for even more toxic alternatives like paraquat.

A Path Forward

Of course, high yields are a very good thing—it’s better to be slowly poisoned with full stomachs than to starve. We are living in the most food-secure period in human history, an achievement that deserves recognition. Despite the waste of ethanol production, the United States remains the world's leading food exporter. Our soybeans, meat, corn, and dairy products sustain major markets such as China, Canada, and Mexico, along with numerous other nations.

Any argument to maintain unfettered access to the most dangerous pesticides in the name of overproduction is baseless. Outdated ethanol policies persist because they are immensely profitable for biofuel companies, chemical manufacturers, seed corporations, and the many middlemen entrenched in the system. If the USDA truly values health and sustainability, it must align agricultural policies with scientific evidence and the economic realities of its subsidies.