20th anniversary of José Bové’s 'attack' on a McDonald's in rural France

Re:20th anniversary of José Bové’s 'attack' on a McDonald's ... by JoeAltmaier on Monday August 12, 2019 @10:21AM (#20675637)

Lets understand why we're here. Corn was first to be hybridized and resulting seed marketed. As yields grew, farming became more stable and farmers less poor. Corn got cheap and many commercial applications (starch, syrup, protein, fibre) seized on it as a practical source for many products.

Like VHS vs Betamax, sure there are better choices for food and commercial uses. But corn won, won early and won big. It'd cost trillions to switch to something else now.

So complain all we like; still we find ourselves in the same place. Corn is king.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:20th anniversary of José Bové’s 'attack' on a McDonald's ... by davidwitt415 on Monday August 12, 2019 @04:18PM (#20679503)

You are missing a key factor: government subsidies, which incentivize maximum corn production. Cut the subsidies and the desired change would happen; we would still have corn to eat, but much less HFCS and Ethanol (another corn product that causes more harm than good).

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:20th anniversary of José Bové’s 'attack' on a McDonald's ... by bdauvergne on Monday August 12, 2019 @11:04AM (#20676040)

Strangely it did not happen in France[1], we do not use as much corn sub-products in our agriculture and food, I think it's mainly used for feeding our poultry; still a bad idea as corn is not really adapted to our climate (not enough tropical rain I suppose as corn is a tropical plant coming from Mexico), most of the farmers crying when there are water restrictions are corn farmers in France.

Biggest french region cultivating corn is Les Landes which was a big swamp before the 18/19th century, maybe because it's more adapted to corn as it rains often (oceanic climate) but is hotter than Brittany.

[1]: https://www.agro.basf.fr/fr/cultures/mais/basf_agro_et_la_fi...

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:20th anniversary of José Bové’s 'attack' on a McDonald's ... by JoeAltmaier on Monday August 12, 2019 @11:15AM (#20676163)

Unless you drink Pepsi? Its 1/3 corn syrup.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:20th anniversary of José Bové’s 'attack' on a McDonald's ... by distances on Monday August 12, 2019 @01:01PM (#20677370)

I don't think it is in Europe? The recipes vary a bit according to tastes, so I'd assume sugar is from beet in European soft drinks. Wouldn't make much sense to import syrup for such a bulk product.

[ Parent | on HN ]