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Central PA | I agree with a lot of the replies here. One thing that sticks out in my mind when it comes to vegetable production is that vegetables are PERISHABLE. If we overproduce corn or wheat, no problem, put it up in the bin and wait for the price to go up. If you overproduce vegetables the market tanks and you have a big pile of rotting vegetables somewhere. The same theory would apply to all farms in the midwest growing a vegetable crop in their rotation; we would have tens of thousands of acres rotting away as they would all come to market at roughly the same time. The vegetable system needs to be a system of a somewhat consistent supply that does not overproduce. As a consumer I agree with that - I personally won't eat a "fresh" peach or tomato in January but I do enjoy being able to eat a salad at any time of the year.
That said, I do have concerns about the competition that corn is putting on vegetable operations in terms of land rent, fertilizer price, labor, etc. In the products that I do buy I feel it just the same as any other consumer and I'm not loving the grocery bills that are 50% more than they were 5 years ago.
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"It's time to rethink America's corn system"
