Essays & Perspectives
Agri-Pulse Opinion: The farm bill should follow the data on children’s health
Many policymakers now believe America's children are facing a widespread, systemic health crisis. That belief appears in federal commission reports, congressional testimony and media coverage. Taken at face value, and without context, it has begun driving debate over the farm bill and broader agricultural policy on the conviction that the food system is failing children's health.
The data tell a more complicated story.
LA Times Letter to the Editor: When California law affects national markets, Congress can step in
The current debate in Congress is not about overriding California’s voters (“China-backed Big Pork wants to override 63% of California voters. Even conservatives are mad,” March 12). It is about Congress exercising the authority expressly assigned to it in the Constitution when state rules reshape interstate commerce.
Disclosure Is Not Disqualification in Dietary Guidelines Review
A dispute over Dietary Guidelines isn’t about hidden conflicts — it’s about an effort to turn transparency into a disqualifier.
Carver Center Letter on DGA Scientific Review Expertise
The Carver Center has submitted a memorandum to federal Inspectors General clarifying the public record and legal standards surrounding the 2025–2030 Dietary Guidelines. Read the full letter.
States’ Rights End Where National Markets Begin
When a single state’s sales conditions reshape farming decisions nationwide, federalism enters new terrain. The question is whether interstate commerce is governed by Congress or by market power.
Report: States’ Rights End Where National Markets Begin
A new Carver Center report examines how California’s Proposition 12 turned state authority into national rule without Congressional action.
When Policy Turns Food Markets Into Islands
How pork prices in Hawaii, California, and Utah show what happens when regulation adds distance to the grocery aisle.
America Faces a Protein Gap
Across the country, families are stretching meals thinner and thinner, often sacrificing protein first when budgets run tight.
What ‘Affordability’ Really Means
Affordability is measured by whether families can keep food on the table week after week without falling behind elsewhere. It depends on scale, stability, and the freedom to choose.
Our Mount Rushmore: Risk-based Science Feeds and Protects
Why food and farming depend on practical decisions, not hazard absolutism
Patchwork Regulation Is a Land of Oz
The growing risks of allowing individual states to govern production beyond their borders.
Why the Carver Center for Agriculture & Nutrition Exists
An initiative focused on affordability, access, and evidence in food and agriculture policy.