The last three decades have seen tremendous growth in sales of processed food sales now total $3.2 trillion, or about three-fourths of the total world food sales. But, contrary to initial expectations, this phenomenon has not led to significant growth in global trade only 6 percent of processed food sales are traded compared with 16 percent of major bulk agricultural commodities.
In 2003, U.S. Surgeon General Richard Carmona said in testimony before the House of Representatives: "I welcome this chance to talk with you about a health crisis affecting every State, every city, every community, and every school across our great Nation. The crisis is obesity. It's the fastest growing cause of death in America."
Do farm program payments boost the vitality of rural communities? We might suppose that, by maintaining farm incomes, these payments allow participating farms and their households to remain viable and to continue purchasing local goods and services.
The United States is expected to import more than 8 million hogs from Canada in 2004, a far cry from the 921,000 head imported just 10 years ago. Moreover, unlike 1994, hog imports this year will likely continue to be skewed in favor of feeder pigs.
