Securing the Future Supply of Apple Pie and Related Challenges

*Co-Authors Madeline and Dr. Charles Mellinger are, respectively, Founder/CEO and Technical Director of Glades Crop Care in Jupiter, Florida. Madeline is also a member of the Farm Foundation. HHRA ED Charles Benbrook has worked as a consultant and collaborator with GCC on the adoption of biointensive Integrated Pest Management systems for 40 years.

Eaters Deserve More Complete Information About Nutrition and Health Impacts on Food Labels
Multiple lines of evidence point to consumer food choices as major contributors to diet-related disease, and poor health and fitness. In a peer-reviewed journal article published today, authors Chuck Benbrook and Robin Mesnage cite studies indicating that “Some 90% of the estimated USD 4.3 trillion in annual health care costs in the US is triggered or made worse by poor food quality and diet-related disease.” Benbrook is the founder and former executive director of the Heartland Health Research Alliance (HHRA). The authors recommend novel metrics on both the nutrient density of food, and how to more accurately and usefully characterize the degree of food processing and its impacts on public health. The article is open access in the journal Foods and entitled “Enhanced Labeling to Promote Consumption of Nutrient Dense Foods and Healthier Diets.” The core nutrient density metric is a ratio: the percent of daily nutrient needs satisfied by a serving of food relative to the percent of a 2000 calorie daily diet taken up by the serving of food. This single metric is unmatched in comprehensively reflecting the nutritional quality of food. A graphic option to convey the metric on packaging is presented in Figure 3 in the new paper: A novel graphic is presented in Figure 5 to which integrates both the nutrient density and food processing metrics and graphics in a single graphic, shown below. The impacts of ultra-processed food (UPF) on public health outcomes is among the hottest topics in nutrition, medical, and public health journals, and media coverage on food quality and health outcomes. At the request of the journal, the authors developed a video abstract that explains the paper’s goals, methods, and key findings and recommendations. The authors conclude their paper with these observations: Transparent and accurate food product-specific ingredient and nutrient composition data should determine the content of nutrition health labeling. Efforts to soften the message should be resisted in light of the overwhelming need for new food labels that help bring about substantial improvements in food nutritional quality and dietary choices. Benbrook and Mesnage’s paper builds on public comments HHRA submitted in response to the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) proposed rule in 2023 to update the definition of the term “healthy” on food labels. The proposed role would require foods labeled “healthy” to contain minimum amounts of foods recommended by USDA’s Dietary Guidelines, and to limit saturated fat, sodium, added sugar and other less healthy nutrients. Entitled “Food Labeling: Nutrient Content Claims; Definition of Term `Healthy’”, the comments recommended new nutrition/health messaging on the front of food packaging. Co-authors of comments included the chair of HHRA’s Policy Advisory committee Dr. Kathleen Merrigan, HHRA science advisors, and other experts working on how changes in farming systems and technology can increase the nutritional quality of food: Dr. Hannah Flower, Dr. Donald R. Davis, Dr. David Montgomery and Anne Biklé. In the comments, the authors introduced “NuCal” as a name for their new system. Resources HHRA February 2023 comments to the FDA. Benbrook and Mesnage (2024). Enhanced Labeling to Promote Consumption of Nutrient Dense Foods and Healthier Diets, Foods. https://doi.org/10.3390/foods13213377 Video Abstract: “Enhanced Labeling to Promote Consumption of Nutrient Dense Foods and Healthier Diets”
HHRA Weighs in on Key Pesticide Issues Under Review by the National Organic Standards Board
HHRA and ORG-Tracker, represented by Dr. Chuck Benbrook and Dr. Brian Baker, submitted comments to the Agricultural Marketing Service at the USDA in advance of the National Organic Standards Board (NOSB) meeting in Portland, Oregon, from October 22nd to 24th, 2024. Drs. Benbrook and Baker will both attend the conference and deliver public comments. ORG-Tracker is a project carried out by HHRA. It aggregates pesticide residue data from inspections of organic farms carried out by certifiers. The tables generated by ORG-Tracker utilize the results of certifier testing to compare residue frequency and risk levels to food produced on conventional farms. The team is working to more effectively highlight gaps and challenges faced by certification agencies to answer questions like What crops should we be testing, and where? Is a pesticide residue found in an organic sample likely caused by accident, pesticide drift, or an intentional and illegal application? How can we modify organic programs to better mitigate risk? The comments delivered to the USDA discuss risk-based certification, pesticide residue testing, and policies impacting the incorporation of so-called inert ingredients in the biopesticides approved for use on organic farms. They argue for a more rigorous, comprehensive, and health-focused approach to risk oversight. Regarding residue testing, they advocate for more expansive and effective data aggregation to inform consumers and the organics community. Finally, for inert ingredients, they recommend further review of current policy, including increased transparency of ingredients in pesticide products. Thank you to Drs. Benbrook and Baker for your advocacy and hard work! The three sets of comments are posted on HHRA’s website as part of our policy program: Comments to the NOSB on the Risk-Based Certification Discussion Document Under Consideration During the October 2024 Meeting in Portland, Oregon Written Comments on the NOSB Discussion Document “Residue Testing for the Global Supply Chain” Comments on the Inert Ingredients in Organic Pesticide Products Proposal dated August 13, 2024 Drs. Benbrook and Baker also submitted and presented comments at the Spring 2024 meeting of the NOSB, which are available on HHRA’s Policy and Regulatory Reform page.
Dr. Kimberly Yolton joins HHRA board
Dr. Yolton is a developmental psychologist and epidemiologist serving as Professor of Pediatrics at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center. Her interests include exposures and experiences that may alter a child’s developmental trajectory from infancy through adolescence. She collaborates on research projects on typical child development as well as those focused on the impact of exposures to environmental toxicants, opiates and stress during early development.
Paul Hartnett, HHRA’s Executive Director
Paul Hartnett has served as HHRA’s CFO since our founding . With the departure of Russell King, Paul has now joined the board and Executive Director. We thank Russell for his service and wish him the best in his future endeavors.
Heartland Study Enrolls 1,000th Mother-Infant Pair
July 19, 2024 – In June of this year, the Heartland Study achieved a major milestone, enrolling its 1,000th mother-infant pair. Enrollment is now at 50% of goal. The objective of the Study is to help fill major gaps in our understanding of the impacts of herbicides on maternal and infant health. Currently in Phase 1, the Study is focused on evaluating associations between herbicide concentrations in body fluids and tissue samples from pregnant women and infants, and pregnancy/childbirth outcomes. Phase 2 is designed to evaluate potential associations between herbicide biomarkers and early childhood neurological development. Much appreciation for the mothers enrolled, and the entire Heartland Study Team including scientists, support staff and clinicians for this tremendous achievement, and for our funders to making this work possible. Read more about the study including peer-reviewed studies published in Chemosphere and Agrichemicals at our publications page. The investment required to conduct this study exceeds $1 million each year. You can support this important work by making a donation here.

By Madeline Mellinger, Charles Mellinger, and Charles Benbrook*

What does Mike’s Pies in Florida have in common with a pregnant woman in the Midwest who is worried about the potential impact of rising herbicide use on her pregnancy and soon-to-be delivered child?

It turns out a lot. “How climate change and extreme weather are crimping America’s pie supply” (Laura Reiley, Washington Post, November 17, 2021) explains the myriad of ways climate change has disrupted the food-supply chains supporting Mike’s Pies in Florida.

Glades Crop Care (GCC) is one of South Florida’s largest and oldest independent crop consulting firms. Crop Care works with growers and shippers producing Florida’s fruit and vegetable crops. Disruptions all along farm-to-table supply chains starting out in GCC-grower fields have been unprecedented.

The list of endemic and disruptive forces impacting Florida agriculture is a long one. Big hitters include new invasive pests, water issues and runoff, labor shortages, demand changes due to COVID-19 lockdowns, endless economic pressures and the many factors undermining our growers’ profit margins.

But there are four major drivers of ag and food industry problems that all Americans should be concerned about. Collectively they are beginning to cut deeply into the muscle of American agriculture.

Plant pathogens like the citrus greening shown here are often worsened by climate change.

First, climate change is leading to more frequent and severe droughts and flooding. The GCC team is struggling to help growers preserve at least some of the Florida citrus industry plagued now for over a decade by greening disease. Too often our scouts deal with a new pest or one that is surging and beginning to require more frequent pesticide treatments.

Second, growing high-quality fruits and vegetables and getting them to people and into Mike’s pies takes people with skills and experience, time, and patience — and a living wage all along food chains. Those people who promise a robot for this and a drone for that mistake growing food for writing computer code. Artificial Intelligence has its place, but will benefit farmers only when wisely deployed and not asked to do too much.

Biological systems don’t follow code or behave as we think they should. Boots on the ground connected to people with experience and knowledge cannot be replaced. Those companies, academic institutions, and enthusiastic entrepreneurs promising solutions programmable from smartphones are overstating what artificial intelligence can bring to the task of feeding the world.

Third, cheaper imports arguably dumped into the US market have been steadily trimming the diversity of fresh produce grown and marketed in Florida, Texas, the Southwest and key production regions in California, Oregon and Washington.

The price of land, water, inputs, regulatory compliance and labor is much higher in all these states than in Mexico, Latin and South America, and many other countries. Our markets are the promised land for them. Their success comes at the expense of our growers and our nation’s capacity to feed our people. How about this radical idea — Buy local, or at least American.

Fourth, we see no end in sight of climate-change driven shifts in pest pressure. Some of our pests in South Florida are headed north into Georgia and the mid-West where they will pose new challenges. Our growers in South Florida will be contending with new invasive pests from Cuba, Latin America, and the Caribbean. Movement of people creates movement of pests and pathogens and resistance genes. Our inspection systems need upgrades because prevention is so much cheaper and better than treatment.

And farmers everywhere will have to find ways to contend with the growing number of pests that have become or are becoming resistant to several, if not most widely used pesticides.

This brings us to the connection between Mike’s Pies and pregnant women in the Midwest. In the Heartland the spread of weeds resistant to most widely used herbicides is driving an unprecedented increase in reliance on higher-risk herbicides and may soon threaten the sustainability of corn-soybean production, the backbone of the US food system.

Rising herbicide use is accompanied by rising human exposures. Pregnant women, infants and children are the most vulnerable among us when pesticide exposures are rising. Climate change in the Midwest is making weed management even more challenging.

Rising use = Rising Exposure. Concern about the possible health implications to our most vulnerable – pregnant women, infants, and children – of increased herbicide use is why our team came together to plan and conduct The Heartland Study.

Solving the climate-change driven problems facing Mike’s Pies in Florida and corn and soybean farmers in Iowa will be the stress test for this generation of farmers, food companies, scientists and policy makers.

For the health of the next generation of babies born in the Midwest and apple pie lovers in Florida, we need to address these four major drivers of change more effectively. Let’s encourage unbiased research. We worry that the scope and scale of challenges facing farmers and the food industry might outpace agricultural system and food industry innovation. If that happens we will have to become accustomed to periodic shortages of apple pie and a whole lot more.