"As I listened to the people who came up to chat after my shows, it dawned on me that life in the heartland was not what I'd thought.
"Farming had become a grueling industrial occupation, squeezed between the corporations that sold farmers their chemicals and the corporations that bought their grain.
"To my disappointment, I discovered that most American farmers weren't actually growing food but rather raw ingredients for big food processors. These multinational corporations dictated everything their growers did, from the seeds they planted to the expensive fertilizers and herbicides they needed to grow them.
"It was a losing game for the farmers, who kept sinking further into debt as their input costs rose and grain prices fell. But the arrangement was great for the corporations, which kept right on dealing chemicals to their captive suppliers of cheap corn, soy and wheat.
"Flush with marketing dollars, Big Food was working hard to convince middle America that their folksy branded products were the protectors of the family farm and its wholesome values."
Liz Carlisle in "Lentil Underground: Renegade Farmers and the Future of Food in America"
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