Not long ago, I was in France and took a picturesque train ride from Avignon to Paris. You know what I saw? Farms. Farms producing grains, lush melons, olives, flowers, orchards, and vineyards along with fields of dairy and beef cattle. The scene was idyllic.

Above: passing by a farm in Southern France

France is food independent, producing the most sugar beets of any country in the world. They also grow grapes for wine (of course), and corn for cattle and goats and other animals. A map of the farming areas here. They’re pretty proud of it, too, as evidenced by this cereal “Made and cultivated here in France.”

As an Iowan, I was always told to shut up any criticism of our monoculture farming. “We feed the world” is an oft repeated mantra. Clearly, Iowa doesn’t feed France. They have their own farms and vineyards. The fresh produce in the markets isn’t from Iowa. I got to wondering, does Iowa feed anybody? The answer is it can’t be relied upon for a healthy diet.

The US is the largest exporter of food but it is followed very closely by  Germany, France, the Netherlands, and Italy.  The US is also by far the largest importer of food. It imports more food than it exports, in fact. If we are feeding the world, we’re doing a bad job of it. (Click this link to see the import-export status of many countries.)  Most countries are food self-sufficient —even Saudi Arabia. The most food insufficient countries are in Africa, their farming disrupted by conflict and climate change. Being food insufficient is a crisis for a country.  We think of it happening elsewhere but in the US, the import, export ratio is not currently in our favor.

In other words, Iowa doesn’t feed the world. On a state by state basis,  Iowa ranks tenth in the amount of land converted to farmland. What are we doing with all that land? What are we producing? Corn is by far the most abundant commodity followed by hogs.

About 11% of all corn goes to processing for things like corn syrup and cereal. Fermented corn cobs can be used to make citric acid, a substance found in plenty of foods.

A whopping 57%-41% of Iowa corn goes to making ethanol to put in gasoline. As for ethanol, I try to avoid it. I have a hybrid car and rarely have to fill the tank. Under these conditions, ethanol can be corroding.

The rest of the corn grown in Iowa goes to feed animals to fatten them for meat. Less than one percent goes to the corn people eat. About 15% of Iowa corn is exported, mostly to Mexico. Mexico plans to ban GMO corn, beginning a phase out in 2024. Right now, the US Secretary of Agriculture, Tom Vilsack, has gotten them to soften their stance.

Iowa feeds the world meat and processed corn products and ethanol. If you look up the top ten farm products in Iowa, you’ll not see a fruit or vegetable. This isn’t a healthy diet. For fruits and vegetables,  we need to turn to another state–California is the nation’s top agricultural state.

France looked delightfully pastoral, a lot like Iowa in the old days, before ethanol took over with added windmills for energy production.  I’m not saying what we have now is worse, although the visual appeal of today’s monoculture is lacking. Ethanol’s driving force is to rely less on other countries for oil by replacing it and its feedstocks with bio-based materials. It made sense but with more fuel, all we did was use more.

What’s wrong is the refusal to consider the downsides and to plan for the future. It seems like asking for trouble to make so much “food” into fuel. Can we explore other energy options here and return in part to cultivating more food? Other countries have been working on it. We should, too. There’s nothing wrong with being proud of your place. But let’s be honest. Iowa doesn’t feed the world. To say we do is a lie. it’s arrogant. I can’t be proud of that.