June 6

6/6 – I’m an analyst. I evaluate issues on their merits. And it seems clear to me that the Biden Administration’s new framework to “transform the U.S. food system to benefit consumers, producers and rural communities” will do absolutely nothing for the restaurant industry. The USDA said the program is designed to “improve the food supply chain and create a more resilient system.” How? By spending $300M to help farmers transition to organic because only 14 cents of the food dollar go to producers - and organic gives farmers “a higher value proposition.” Also included are: $375M for expanding independent meat and processing, $400M to create regional food business centers, and $600M to support new food supply chain infrastructure. In all, a tidy $1.675B in farm-industry political pork. Odds are that 80% of these government funded start-ups will be out of business in less than 5 years.