36 Taking Stock
becomes critically important as to how markets perform over time, as
we’ll see in chapter .
The other important qualifier to keep in mind is that market
economics is a human-created system, a societal invention founded on
what people are willing to value and are capable of measuring. Market
economics has no divine authorship. It was never a third tablet left
on Mount Sinai and later picked up by Adam Smith. The “hand”
Smith describes may have been invisible, but its origin was not. Market
economics did not invalidate the need for government nor replace laws
of nature or geophysical realities. Though markets can play an im-
portant role in the modern food system, they are not omnipotent.
While Smith acknowledged the known limitations of his time, in the
modern era, society’s unquestioned reliance on markets has increased.
So how has market economics fared from our brief glimpse of the
modern food system? Over time, the portion of income spent on food
has declined.^ More than twice the number of calories a moderately
active adult woman needs to function are readily available.^ The
Cavendish banana is now the number-one fruit consumed.
But market economics did not save the Big Mike from extinction,
or arrest the global spread of the TR fungus. It accelerated the loss
of the Patagonian toothfish fishery rather than protect it. In meat, it
promoted protein while soft-pedaling fat. In dairy, it helped yogurt
become a top breakfast food even when (or especially when) yogurt
is loaded with added sugars or fat. For processed foods, it rewarded
health claims that blurred nutritional content and homogenized con-
sensus of science. In prepared foods, it reinforced the consuming of
more calories despite a national epidemic of overconsumption.
Alas, markets are not a forever-infallible guide in our relationship
with food. Like other human-made systems, they are based on assump-
tions and values that change over time. Not questioning the premises
that markets are built upon can lull us into believing that being awash
in food is ideal, serves America well, and will never let society down.
To be clear, markets do play an important role in the food system.
But to overstate their power is to understate the influence of other