For two decades, subsidies to farmers have helped make corn and soy increasingly cheaper than fruit, vegetables and whole grains. Food companies have built entire brands based on these cheaper commodities, which make up the raw material for a range of unhealthy processed foods and animal feed—all at a very real cost to the quality of the calories we consume. We know that people respond to food-price taxes on fat, sugar or other unhealthy ingredients. The more that food based on such ingredients costs, the less we consume. After all, the least healthy foods are usually the cheapest, the most advertised in poor neighborhoods, and the most available in inner cities—making it far harder to make healthy food choices. Solutions? Price incentives for healthy foods, initiatives to control portion sizes and a long-term campaign to support better food quality.
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