Our diets are, to a large degree, the result of routine. We commute, so we grab a coffee and pastry or a granola bar. We quickly swallow a fast food lunch between meetings. We’re too tired at home late in the day to cook from scratch, so we’re grateful for the ease and tastiness of processed meal selections. These are the dietary realities of our busy contemporary lives. Through it all, we take great pleasure in eating. It is a reward for the grind of life’s responsibilities. So we indulge, creating leisure spaces that incorporate food as the medium for social gatherings. Accepting the boundaries of our food preparation limitations and our cultural dietary histories, however, doesn’t change the fact that the Earth is experiencing a biosphere crisis. Agriculture production is a significant part of that damage. How can we reconcile our contemporary meal habits with the reality that, all too often, the foods we eat are sourced in ways that are warming our planet and creating climate havoc? Make America Aware of its Diet (MAAD) As in many areas of the US federal government right now, ongoing tensions among platforms, politicians, and regulators point to more imbalances between free speech and social media content moderation, which taints important conversations about food safety and nutrition with a backdrop of food disinformation. Many people were hopeful that the strategy report released by the Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) Commission would offer some real insights into US diets and meaningful suggestions for better health. Fingers were crossed that clean food, a dietary approach that focuses on choosing whole and less processed foods, would be foregrounded. Think vegetables, fruits, whole grains, the bean family, nuts, seeds, healthy fats, and high-quality proteins. While the report did highlight the important role of food and fitness in our lives, with a tiny bit of emphasis on nutrition and food systems, the MAHA report failed to address in substantive terms the prevalence of ultraprocessed foods on US health. Additionally, its glaring gaps in agricultural innovation and peer-reviewed evidence were disheartening. With indeterminate promises to “support potential future research and policy activity” and to explore “potential industry guidelines” about marketing unhealthy food to children, the report was more sugar than substance, more Whopper than wellness. As Freudenberg and Nestle suggest in a Civil Eats editorial, though, “MAHA’s use of personal stories and narratives, its capture of public attention, its acceptance of internal differences in opinion, and its successes in rural communities are accomplishments worth emulating.” We can learn by being objective, listening attentively to viewpoints that don’t match our own, and, all the while, continuing our quest for legal and regulatory reforms in food, agriculture, and pesticides. Zooming in: An Ultraprocessed and Yummy Snack For a long time, animals have been incorporated into advertising campaigns as a mechanism to capture audience attention, awaken emotions, and stimulate positive feelings about a particular brand. “Wow,” an animated possum says in the Nature Valley commercial below. “Salty nuts and sweet granola. Dipped in chocolate-y stuff.” “What?” the other possum exclaims, looking down at his genital area. “My nuts are dipped in dirt, Gerald. Dirt.” The double-entrendre brings a smile to us as we watch. A voiceover ties everything together. “Nature Valley: We make nature delicious.” Nature Valley snacks may be “delicious” and “chocolate-y,” but their wholesomeness is questionable. The Nature Valley granola bars were originally labeled “100% natural.” In 2018, though, three consumer groups filed a lawsuit against Nature Valley owner, General Mills, arguing that these treats contained the herbicide glyphosate (Roundup). Ultimately, the “100% natural” designation had to be removed. Today, Nature Valley bars contain sugar, corn syrup, and other ingredients that aren’t generally considered part of a healthy diet. Profit-driven markets historically have sacrificed nutritional outcomes in food for the sake of their shareholders and bottom lines. As a result, industrial agriculture today is less about producing food and more about generating animal feed, biofuels, and industrial ingredients for processed food products. The Story behind the Scenes of Big Agriculture Social historian Heather Cox Richardson reminds us that “Trump’s initial tariffs of April 2025—his so-called “Liberation Day” tariffs—destroyed the foreign markets for US agricultural products, while Trump’s war on Iran has sent the price of the diesel fuel farmers need skyrocketing and put the cost of fertilizer out of reach.” Secretary of Agriculture, Brooke Rollins, testified before the House Agriculture Committee this week and stated that, of the total number of US farms, “315 had gone into bankruptcy.” Cox Richardson states that, “while the number of bankruptcies is correct, it does not reflect the loss of smaller farms to consolidation.” That number is 15,000. Other statistics have hurt the livelihoods of US small holder farmers. Farm diesel has gone up 95% in the last year to $5.41 a gallon. Farmers lost $28 billion last year;. 70% of farmers say they cannot afford fertilizer because of Trump’s war on Iran. New appreciation for agricultural small holders shifts control of food systems and gives local and regional farmers incentives to develop technologies so native food systems thrive. Soil integrity and ecosystem biodiversity become held in high esteem. Local infrastructure supports local food so that processing centers, aggregators, transportation hubs, and distribution locations become part of robust community building food system efforts. Food systems can attain circularity and stability, but it will take a clean climate paradigm and the willingness of government leaders to guide citizens toward a health food system tomorrow. Resources Freudenberg, Nicholas and Marion Nestle. “Op-ed: Can the food justice movement and MAHA find common ground?” Civil Eats. February 23, 2026. Richardson, Heather Cox. “June 4, 2026.” Letters from an American. Substack. US Department of Health and Human Services. “MAHA commission unveils sweeping strategy to make our children healthy again.” September 2025.
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