Ask AI Mark explains why junk food costs less than healthier options. Corn and soy are cheap to grow at scale, while nutrient-dense foods lack the same agricultural investment and innovation. The economics, not nutrition, determine what ends up on shelves.
The reason why we are eating, why junk food is much more affordable than healthier food often is because we've figured out how to make junk food in a very efficient manner and grow the two crops that are really the foundation of unhealthy food, namely corn and soy, in a hyper efficient manner. I mean, we can have fields of 100,000 acres of corn that nobody ever touches. that are planted, grown, and harvested without a single person on the land. The corn used to be many feet apart. Now it's grown 18 inches next to each other. It's just an amazing amount of energy and resources that have innovated on the system. And we've invested statistically insignificant, like statistically zero dollars, and figuring out how to grow nutrient dense fruit, vegetables, and whole grains. Right. In that manner. And so we have just a gaping hole on our innovation of how we do that. And I think that's really where we need to put our attention. And that's where the solutions are going to really lie.