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Jill Richardson digs into the data and learns that about as much land goes to grow corn for high-fructose corn syrup as goes to grow fruits or vegetables:
The USDA site also says that 4.1% of U.S. corn goes for high fructose corn syrup. That means that since 29.9% of all U.S. cropland harvested was planted in corn in 2007, 1.2% of all U.S. cropland harvested in 2007 went for high fructose corn syrup. That's only slightly less than the 1.5% of U.S. cropland devoted to vegetables or the 1.6% of U.S. cropland devoted to [fruit] orchards.Says something about our priorities. That comes via a Tom Philpott post running through some data showing that subsidies for high fructose corn syrup have merely a moderate impact on consumption.
