Food and Agriculture | Union of Concerned Scientists
Our agricultural system has lost its way.
Millions of acres of corn, soybeans, and other commodity crops, grown with the help of heavy government subsidies, dominate our rural landscapes.
To grow these crops, industrial farms use massive amounts of synthetic fertilizers, herbicides and pesticides, which deplete our soil and pollute our air and water.
Much of this harvest will end up as biofuels and other industrial products—and most of the rest will be used in CAFOs (confined animal feeding operations) or in heavily processed junk foods, which seem cheap only because their hidden costs don't show up at the cash register.
Industrial agriculture is unhealthy—for our environment, our climate, our bodies, and our rural economies.
A Better Way: Sustainable Agriculture
There's a better way to grow our food. Working with nature instead of against it, sustainable agriculture uses 21st-century techniques and technologies to implement time-tested ideas such as crop rotation, integrated plant/animal systems, and organic soil amendments.
Sustainable agriculture is less damaging to the environment than industrial agriculture, and produces a richer, more diverse mix of foods. It's productive enough to feed the world, and efficient enough to succeed in the marketplace—but current U.S. agricultural policy stacks the deck in favor of industrial food production.
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Now...just try and guess who it is that that controls ag policies...
big ag = big money. They want big profits...they want to control land and family farmers get pushed off the land. You get junky processed food. They win...you lose. Obesity rates rise...fat people ARE stupider. Diabetes and alzheimer rates are increasing. Dumb people can be told how to vote. Drug companies can sell their drugs to the dumb people.
Everybody's happy except those who aren't making profits and aren't dumb? 
Simplistic...but true?