March 4, 2011 | Robert Puro

Mark Bittman’s latest blog post on the NYTimes Opinionator, Don’t End Agricultural Subsidies, Fix Them, argues for a more sensible program that could, among other things, more robustly “fund research and innovation in sustainable agriculture, provide necessary incentives to attract the 100,000 new farmers Secretary of Agriculture Vilsack claims we need, and to level the playing field so that medium-sized farms — big enough to supply local supermarkets but small enough to care what and how they grow — can become more competitive with agribusiness.” Also check out Bittman’s mea culpa to David Rockefeller, a noted advocate and patron of sustainable agriculture through the Stones Barns Center For Food & Agriculture.  Bittman singled out Rockefeller in his blog post on subsidies as representative of the type of wealthy farmer who does not need the extra cash provided by US ag subsidies.