I realize I’ve gotten swept away with the concept of this site and just so excited about following many different avenues that I have not yet posted all the information about HFCS that I want to share. I’m going to try to go step by step and keep it simple – its a convoluted subject though.

While it appears to a casual observer that corn follows the laws of agriculture and commerce, this is far from true. The first issue is that crops grow very well some years, and simply don’t grow other years. This is what societies have always struggled with. In the 1930′s – the years of The New Deal – farm programs were developed to attempt to even out these natural cycles so that we would have food every year, not just in good years. Therefore, storable crops such as corn were given a target price by the government which was based on the cost of production. The idea was whenever corn dropped below the target price, the farmer didn’t have to worry (which would typically happen in “good” years as the market was flooded with crop); the farmer was guaranteed the target price – which remember, is based on production cost. I’ve greatly simplified how the program works, but in essence there was a guaranteed price point for the corn. This may not sound like the most capitalist system, but the goal was to solve a hunger problem, not necessarily promote big business. Or was it?

In 1973 Earl “Rusty” Butz was the secretary of agriculture under President Nixon. Butz set to work dismantling the New Deal programs. Only he went farther than just removing the “target price” concept. The new laws (because you didn’t think he just repealed laws did you?) said basically if corn was cheap then the government would buy it. But buy it for how much? The price no longer had anything to do with production costs or the reality it took to produce corn. In effect what happened is that the government stopped supporting farmers and instead subsidized every bushel of corn.

This sounds like nothing doesn’t it? It sounds as though it was just a technicality how the farmer was paid for the corn he grew. And perhaps for a year or so that held true. But the government started lowering the purchase price. And it just kept getting lower. So how to make money when the price keeps dropping? Why make more of course. And what a cycle. With the drive to produce the *most corn possible,* fertilizers took hold, crop rotation fell out of practice, adding nitrogen to the soil also began. This part is complicated so let’s save it for another post – but the bottom line is that the price keeps going down and farmers are forced to try to produce as much as possible. Again – I know this might sound simple – I am trying to break it down to its core components – but these subtle changes have a huge downstream effect.

First of all – why are prices going down? Do you think the government just arbitrarily lowers the price? Well I guess that is possible but like most things these prices are being lowered by lobbying. Who would lobby for lower corn prices? Not you and I specifically – right? But big business. Big business who discovered that corn is an ideal candidate for processing. Currently in Iowa for example, it costs ~$2.50 to grow a bushel of corn. But in October of 2005 (when these stats are from) the going price for corn was $1.45 a bushel. Do you see? The farmer is selling each bushel for ~$1 less than it costs to produce it. Clearly a losing proposition. So what do they do – well they try to produce MORE to make up for that deficit. And then the government subsidizes the farmer. What a perfect system, no? Impoverish the farmers then give them federal moneys to live since the federal government has undercut the corn price.

You may still be thinking – what on earth does this have to with high fructose corn syrup?! OK let’s get on to it. Nearly all corn is sent straight to a processing plant where it is then divided up into its components which are then broken down into their chemical components. The corn arrives and is soaked for about 36 hours in water and a small amount of sulphur dioxide then ground at a mill. The slurry then goes into a centrifuge where the germ floats off. The germ is dried then squeezed for oil. So far – really natural and healthy, no?

Now we have only crushed kernels left: a mush of protein and starch. The goal of the next steps is to draw as much of the protein off as possible so the kernel mush goes through progressively finer grindings and centrifuges. The extracted protein – called gluten – is then used for animal feed. What is left is a super fine powder – called corn starch. Back in the 1840′s the corn starch was the final product and the biggest customers used it for laundry. Now we use it in a huge percentage of our food. By 1866 processors were using acids to break the starch into glucose. And so the sweetener industry was born.

I’m going to summarize here because the evolution and affect of HFCS deserves its own post, but in the 1960s a Japanese food scientist found a way to further break down the corn syrup (glucose) into fructose – and shebam! High Fructose Corn Syrup – which tastes exactly like to real sugar to humans – was born. You could easily be thinking: “That sounds gross and I feel bad for the farmers, but SO WHAT? What does this have to do with HFCS and why you aren’t eating it?” Right?

Here are the keys reasons:

1. HFCS is CHEAP b/c the government subsidizes the corn AND taxes imports of raw sugar heavily.
2. HFCS is a liquid – and liquids are easy to transport.
3. And HFCS extends shelf life of the food it is added to.

But still – what does it mean to you? It means that government subsidizes and chemicals have made it cheaper to take apart all the food nature produces and put it back together again with more chemical processing. It is the primary reason that processed foods are so abundant and cheap.

Next time is more about HFCS and processed foods.

Source of note: Pollan, Michael, The Omnivore’s Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals.