How Would Rerouting Meat, Egg, and Dairy Subsidies Help Food Deserts?

Posted by Calvin on January 19, 2024

If you live in a “food desert,” where the closest place to buy food is a store that sells unhealthy snacks, getting somewhere that sells fresh fruits and veggies can be an all-day grind. 🥵 In food deserts, which disproportionately exist in low-income neighborhoods and communities of color, people often have no choice but to eat processed meats, snacks, and other unhealthy—yet accessible—foods.

This situation leads to a whole lotta problems. Research shows that folks who regularly eat fatty foods high in cholesterol (which is only found in animal-derived foods, btw) have a higher risk of suffering from heart disease, diabetes, and cancer, which are all more common in food deserts. 😓

What Are Meat, Egg, and Dairy Subsidies?

Wanna hear something messed-up? The U.S. gov encourages us to eat more produce and fewer animal-derived foods—so why does it spend approximately $38 billion in tax money each year to subsidize (financially support) the meat, egg, and dairy industries and only about $17 million on the fruit and veggie industries? 🤔

The gov is propping up animal agriculture, but this barely benefits local farmers and economies—if at all. From 2006 to 2021, two-thirds of U.S. farmers didn’t get a single cent of the hundreds of billions of dollars spent on subsidies. 😠 Most of that dough went to big corporations, which harm animals and the environment on a massive scale and usually employ fewer workers.

Why Redirect Meat, Egg, and Dairy Subsidies?

PETA wants the gov to end these subsidies—which throw billions of dollars at wealthy meat, egg, and dairy companies—and incentivize grocers in food deserts to stock healthy vegan foods. 😊

Many programs are already working in this direction. Healthy Retail SF helps convenience stores in marginalized communities in San Francisco swap out unhealthy options for fresh produce, and the Garden School Foundation bolsters food justice—universal access to healthy and nutritious foods—by teaching young people in Los Angeles about gardening and nutritious eating.

How Do Meat, Egg, and Dairy Subsidies Hurt Our Health?

According to the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, vegans have a lower risk of dying from ischemic heart disease, lower rates of type 2 diabetes and cancer, and lower blood cholesterol and blood pressure. 😏 We also typically have stronger immune systems, helping us better fight illnesses like the flu. 💁

Animal agriculture, on the other hand, is straight-up terrible for public health. Pollution from factory farms causes problems in humans like brain damage, depression, miscarriages, and birth defects, and the industry is responsible for bacterial infections and serious breathing problems. 😬 Big yikes.

Who Would Benefit From Redirecting Meat, Egg, and Dairy Subsidies?

Besides folks living in food deserts, you know who would benefit if the gov stopped subsidizing these toxic industries? Animals used for food. 🐄🐖🐔 Fewer cows, pigs, chickens, and others would be subjected to violence and abuse. Farmed animals are usually crammed into filthy sheds and cages and routinely mutilated. At slaughterhouses, their throats are slit, often while they’re still conscious. 😨

Redirecting subsidies from animal agriculture toward fresh produce would help the planet, too. 🌎 Animal agriculture is one of the world’s leading causes of the climate catastrophe, land degradation, air pollution, water pollution, and biodiversity loss. If people in food deserts had access to healthy vegan foods, we’d def see a huge decrease in meat consumption and production. 👌🌱

Take Action Now

Urge your local, state, and national representatives to redirect funds that support the meat, egg, and dairy industries toward incentives for grocers in food deserts to stock fruits, veggies, and other healthy vegan foods. You can use the sample letter below, but feel free to personalize it:

Hello,

I’m urging you to redirect meat, egg, and dairy industry subsidies toward incentives for grocers in food deserts to stock fruits, veggies, and other healthy vegan foods. This redirection would help prevent countless cows, pigs, chickens, and other animals from being crammed into filthy sheds and cages, being subjected to routine mutilations, and having their throats slit—which many endure while they’re still conscious.

Redirecting these funds would also help people in food deserts, as their most accessible foods are processed meats, snacks, and other unhealthy items. Research shows that folks who regularly eat fatty foods with high cholesterol are more likely to suffer from heart disease, diabetes, and cancer. Access to high-quality vegan foods, on the other hand, is generally much healthier—according to the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, vegans have a lower risk of dying from ischemic heart disease, lower rates of type 2 diabetes and cancer, and lower blood cholesterol and blood pressure.

From 2006 to 2021, two-thirds of U.S. farmers didn’t get a single cent from the hundreds of billions of dollars spent on subsidies. Instead of throwing billions of dollars at wealthy meat, egg, and dairy companies, please end these subsidies and incentivize grocers in food deserts to stock healthy vegan foods.

*****

Being vegan in a food desert is possible when you know some basic best practices. Check out our blog to see who benefits from food deserts, how this connects to animal rights, and what you can do to thrive as a vegan in a food desert.