Sowing seeds of confusion

Re “Soaring demand, record profits,” April 1

Your reporting grossly distorts our understanding of this serious issue because it labels huge corporations and the individuals who own them as “farmers.”

To illustrate this point, you quote an Argentine “farmer,” “whose family-owned firm is the country’s major soy producer.”

This is akin to telling us that the chief executive of a fast-food chain that is this country’s major hamburger producer works as a burger flipper.

Indeed, the leaders of these major food-producing corporations only stand to earn greater profits through your mislabeling because it invariably leads to misunderstanding and confusion.

And in a world in which the sowing of seeds of confusion can allow these companies to reap immense profits, we should be working to prevent this confusion by accurately labeling this corporate form of the farmer as “agribusiness.”

Tom Wilde

Santa Monica

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Re “Food aid costlier as need soars,” April 1

Terribly sorry about the cost of food rising as agricultural companies convert foodstuffs into fuel.

While I’m sure that most of us would agree that it is more important to feed our SUVs than a hungry Saharan child, something must be done. Has anyone tried converting America’s waste products into food?

We seem to produce much more waste than any other country -- and our own homeless seem to survive quite well by picking through it.

H. Allen Evans

Los Angeles