Subsidies don’t just support farmers. They quietly instruct the food system. They signal what’s safe to scale, what gets grown, processed, and eventually, stocked on shelves.
In the US, most subsidies flow to commodity crops like corn, soy, wheat, and dairy. Otherwise known as the exact inputs that dominate ultra-processed food (UPFs) manufacturing.
UPFs are also some of the highest-margin products in food, reinforcing the system economically. Large food companies benefit from keeping these inputs cheap, which is why we’ve seen subsidy structures and lobbying supported here historically.
Today, 60–70 percent of the American diet comes from UPFs. In Europe, it’s closer to 27 percent on average, with some countries as low as 14 percent (i.e. Italy) and others up to 57 percent.
These numbers suggest that this isn’t just consumer choice. It’s policy, incentives, and supply chains.
If UPFs are linked to chronic disease, are we underwriting the problem at the subsidy level? And if Europe shows a different path, where’s the opportunity for others to power something similar for nation-wide health?
Sources
(1) U.S. Department of Agriculture. Farm policy & subsidy structure.
(2) Environmental Working Group. Commodity crop subsidy concentration.
(3) OpenSecrets. Food industry lobbying & subsidy alignment.
(4) Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Share of U.S. calories from ultra-processed foods.
(5) EuroHealthNet. UPF consumption across Europe.