You Can Fool Some of the (City) People...

A spike in readership led me to the Ethicurean site. Meanwhile Tom Philpott rails about the possibility high food prices will lead the EU to accept genetically modified crops:

Thus, the allegedly free market -- shamelessly rigged by U.S. and European biofuel mandates, which are jacking up the price of corn and soy -- overwhelms consumer desire.

But looking at some stories on the Ethicurean site, it's apparent the free market also helps the cause of organic farming and local food. For example, the farmer whom Michael Pollan devoted a chapter to in Omnivore's Dilemma is charging $1k (that's $1,000) for a personal tour of his farm. (There are cheaper alternatives.) That's easy for someone like me, who is somewhat skeptical, to mock, but city folks have the annoying habit of visiting just at milking time and having no appreciation for the rhythms of a farm, so I can't poke too much fun at it. Besides, as in the case of the "Carbon Farmers of America", if rural rubes can convince city folk to subsidize what they'd do anyway, it barely begins to counterbalance the con games originated in the city.