Here are a list of simple (although may not be easy) changes to our food system we need to consider for comprehensive reform to the American Food System:
- Reforming agricultural subsidies towards fruits, vegetables, and legumes, and incentivizing farmers to diversify crops. This should be geared towards both incentivizing health food and maintaining/restoring our farming soil to ensure we have healthy land to grow our crops.
- Strengthening local food systems and enhancing food access in underserved communities through initiatives like public gardens.
- Addressing food deserts through infrastructure changes and incentives to encourage grocery stores to open in underserved areas in both rural America and urban neighborhoods.
- Regulating food marketing, especially for children, and clear food labels for nutritional facts and health risks.
- Expanded support of the SNAP food program with modifications to the approved lists of purchasable products to support healthier food options for those needing financial assistance.
- Investing in nutrition education and public health campaigns at the federal and state levels.
- Investing in and supporting modern agriculture and food science advancements that can make nutritious food more accessible.
- Limiting corporate lobbying (could assist in other policy areas as well) so that they can no longer have overwhelming influence over our food environment and public health.
- Strengthening anti-trust enforcement and breaking up large agribusiness and food conglomerates to improve local food markets and production. This localized food approach will also help reduce emissions on the environment due to less travel for bringing to neighborhoods, as well as reduce transportation costs/food waste from produce going bad.
This is far from the only items that can be done to improve our Food System, but would be a good start.