Like I’ve posted about before, I’m working on Tim Peter’s perennial rye, making selections and trying to get improved seed.

With normal annual rye, it dies off at the end of the year so you don’t have to worry about killing it.  In my case, out of the 300 or so plants I started with, I selected about 20 for transplant to another place to save.  I had to kill the remaining plants, so I first cut them down to about 50cm high to make them easier to manage, then covered them with woven black plastic.  I did this last fall.

I’m busy preparing garden beds, so I just pulled the plastic back.  I was a little amazed at what I found.  The ground was covered with very good quality and clean straw.  If I had wanted to use it where it was, it would have been no problem to just plant right into.  In my case, I needed mulch for my garlic, and it was very easy to just rake up and move.  I sometimes use plant debris for mulch, but honestly I buy a lot of mulch (mostly straw from local farmers) because it’s just easier.  I’ve never grown any plant myself that made such good quality mulch in useful quantities.

In the picture you see a few weeds poking through.  This is mostly because I used overlapping pieces of black plastic and some weeds grew through the edges.

After I raked up the straw, I had another surprise.  My camera didn’t take a good picture, but underneath was very rich chocolate brown and crumbly dirt.  I’ve never seen anything like that in my garden before either.  My garden is on top of an old peat bog, hundreds of years old, mixed with a lot of clay.  The deep roots of the rye plants (these can get to about 2m deep) pulled up lots of great nutrients and even some of the color of the peat.  The dirt also had a great smell!  Don’t you just love the smell of rich dirt?!

I think it’s written by a she, who’s interested in permaculture, sustainable living and gardening.  In her most recent post she mentions she has a PhD in land reclamation:

…which involved studying the re-creation of vegetation systems on restored open cast coal sites. I am fascinated by looking at natural relationships and seeing how these can be applied to physical and social systems created by people. For me, the easiest way to think about this sort of design is in my garden, because I understand the value and function of things like soil structure, micro-organisms, micro-climate, water, pollinators, decomposers and vegetation. But I am increasingly intrigued about how I can apply systems-level thinking to other aspects of my life: starting a new business, working with other people, designing a course for adult learners…

Her blog is already bringing back memories of the first few years of this blog, and I think it’s going to be very interesting to follow as she goes along.

If you’re vegetarian like me, you might not find his meat interesting, but it’s still very nice to know there are people out there like him raising meat humanely in environmentally friendly ways.

In particular his mentioning animals who eat grass just don’t get sick, goes along with a discussion I had a few months ago with a local farmer who also raises his animals on grass.  He referred to his cows as their own pharmacist.  He said, he could watch them eat, and when they weren’t feeling well, they would eat the plants in the pasture their bodies needed, in the right amounts.  He said he could just sit on the fence, watch them, and could tell all kinds of things about them by what they were eating at any given moment.

Wageningen is the main agricultural university in the Netherlands.

The Netherlands has a multi-party system that normally results in coalition governments of some kind.  Unlike the US or UK, we don’t really have just a few parties, one of which is certain to win, but rather a number of smaller parties who’s popularity ebbs and flows.

At the moment we have a coalition government formed of a number of smaller right wing parties.  This coalition resulted because in the last election the popularity of the larger parties faltered, and many smaller factional parties got the majority of the vote, with nearly a perfect 50/50 left right split.  It’s not a strong coalition, and a particularly contentious and unpredictable member is the PVV, Geert Wilders anti-immigrant party.

At the moment the Dutch government is busy trying to pass their budget, together with austerity measures needed to bring government spending within European norms.  Broad support of as many political parties as possible is necessary for this, but especially those within the government coalition.  As of yesterday, the PVV had walked out of these negotiations, and if they do not return, the austerity measures are not likely to pass, and this will almost certainly cause the collapse of the government and trigger new elections.  Even if they do pass the austerity measures, the government is not expected to last much longer.

Okay, so what happens during and after an election?

You can find the current public opinion polls here.

Okay, the blue bars on the left are the current Dutch lower house seats from the last elections.  The red bars are the polls from about 3 weeks ago, and the cream colored bars are the most recent polling.  If you hover your mouse over the bars, the number on the bottom is the number of seats.  A coalition needs to be formed of at least 76 seats in order to form a cabinet and government.

The major parties are:

VVD: These are the fiscal liberals, with liberal having the European meaning conservative or right wing, unlike what it means in north America.  This is a center-right to right party, with a strong sense of needing to keep the rich people rich.  In the past they have been part of left wing coalitions, and for example recently supported legalizing euthanasia and gay marriage, but mostly they favor more conservative social policies and are more likely to form political coalitions with parties more to the right.

PvdA:  This is the Labour party.  Historically they support collective bargaining rights, and tend to be center-left on the political scale.  Like their counterparts the Democrats in the US, and similar parties in other parts of the world, they have been having a bit of an identity crisis lately.  Sometimes it’s hard to tell the difference between them and politicians on the right, because they all vote for the same policies.  They were in a coalition with VVD several years ago, that was popular at the time, but in hindsight most people considered a failure because the PvdA did not do a good enough job expressing themselves.  They were in the news lately because the former leader of the party decided the party should be more left, but couldn’t find support for this within the party so he stepped down.  It’s looking pretty likely they will find themselves in another coalition with VVD after the next elections.

PVV:  This is the anti-immigrant party headed by Geert Wilders.  A small percentage of the country actually votes for them, but because of the multi-party system here they are able to have a lot of influence in the government.  Pretty much none of the other parties want to work with them, but in the end some will probably have to.

CDA:  The Christian Democrats.  They are popular with Christian voters, and for a number of years were the largest party in the country.  While they are socially conservative, mostly they are just slimy politicians and increasingly people are realizing this and not voting for them.

SP:  Socialist Party.  This party hasn’t been in a government within recent memory, but they are doing very well in the polls.  Many people don’t want to vote for PvdA any more, because no one knows if they are left or right, and so are choosing SP instead.  Most of the other parties do not want to work with SP, because they are considered unpredictable, but it seems pretty likely they may be part of the next government.

D66:  This is a center-right party, non-religious and always small.  They are similar to CDA, but are sometimes thought of as more honest.  The other parties probably consider them untrustworthy, because they caused the collapse of a recent government coalition and triggered elections.

The other parties are probably too small to be considered serious contenders, but if anyone is interested in hearing about them, let me know.

After the elections, the party with the most votes will initiate coalition talks with the other parties.  If they don’t succeed, the party with the second largest number of votes tries, and so on.  If no coalition can be found, new elections are called again.

Most of the emails I get are obviously spam.  The basic idea is that someone writes an article for me of dubious quality in exchange for some links to irrelevant commercial sites or badges for my sidebar,  that have nothing to do with gardening.  I suspect what’s going on is there are people willing to pay enough to get these links onto my site, that others are trying to make a living writing guest posts to go along with these links.

Increasingly these guest post offers are looking less like spam.  They sometimes refer to websites that I know are associated with guest post spammers, but are making better offers for higher quality posts, often citing some of their other work.  Even though I suspect they intend to include some irrelevant commercial links into their guest post, at least they aren’t coming right out and saying it.  These people sometimes say things to suggest they have done some research, and either read my blog or found a good online summary of it somewhere.

I’m even starting to get some compelling stories that come with guest post requests.  The latest from someone who says they are a graduate student and wants to publish an article related to their studies here, because they feel the theme of my blog goes well with what they do, and they hope a post will make them better known.  In emails like this, it can be very difficult to find any sign of spam or intentions of spam.

I think all readers of this blog must know by now that I would like to help people in general, and in particular like to use my blog to help others.  I have also published some guest posts in the past.

I’m afraid I just can’t accept guests posts, with the possible exception being from other established bloggers that have some existing relationship with this blog.

I toyed with the idea of accepting some posts, but not from spammers and not with commercial links.  The problem is I don’t really have any way of knowing for sure who is a spammer or not, or what links are commercial.  Even answering these requests, involves possibly sending an email to a spammer, and can result in further unwanted emails.  Also, mostly, this blog is a personal expression of who I am and and what I want to write about.  Negotiating guest posts takes time, and doesn’t always add a lot to my content.

If you’re looking for a place to make a guest post, I suggest starting your own blog or finding a place on the Internet that accepts ad hoc posts.  If it’s relevant to this blog, send me an email and ask me to link to it.  I honor most requests like that.  Then what you write is your own to do with whatever you want, no one has a say in the content, and it’s not a part of mine or anyone else’s blog.

Are there any other bloggers out there with guest post experiences?

The good news is the Agricultural Minister promised to ban this variety like 9 other EU countries have already done.  The bad news is his statement also included the condition ‘this would only be possible with the permission of the European Commission’.

What a load of rubbish!

Not only is there no one in particular to ask such permission from in the EU, or anyone likely to give it, but it’s not necessary.  Poland is a sovereign country and can pass it’s own laws without EU approval.  Do we need to remind the Polish minister that the ban in France was overturned by the courts, and so the ban in Poland should avoid the issues that led to this?

Please write Mr Marek Sawicki, the Polish Minister of Agriculture, and let him know what you think!

marek.sawicki@minrol.gov.pl
tel.: +48 226231510; fax: +48 226231788

Please also send a copy to ICPPC – International Coalition to Protect the Polish Countryside, who are coordinating this campaign.  Contact information is on their website.

I’ve known Ramon as Mr. Brown Thumb for a number of years now.  He was one of the original garden bloggers, probably the first well known one from the Chicago area, and now very active with the preservation of heirloom varieties. Even though we’ve known each other, our paths strangely rarely cross, almost never commenting on each others blogs or participating elsewhere in the same discussions.

One of the things he said in the article linked to above is:

Unfortunately, the search engine results can be gamed and the best gardening websites aren’t always at the top of search results.

This is getting to be incredibly true by now.  Not just search engines, but site statistics and even supposedly private website log files, are all being gamed these days.  It’s getting to the point where such a huge percentage of the Internet traffic is manipulated by a few large companies, or people that pay these companies, that no one can tell anymore which sites exist because of commercial interests or the quality of their content, what’s popular and what’s not.  The only reliable thing we have left is word of mouth.

Not only does this list of garden websites include some of my favorites, but I also think Ramon himself is worth keeping an eye on.

The second video here is of the day following the seed exchange, where some people got together and started a garden on an empty construction site in Amsterdam.

English:

Nederlands:

I gave two workshops, the first a seed saving introduction, and the second a presentation on my garden and this blog.  Both workshops were packed, with people standing outside the door in the hallway.  There were other workshops given by other people, and I understand they were given to overflowing audiences as well.

If you were one of the people who attended or participated, thanks for coming and making it such a great success!

In the afternoon there was a debate, with some of the most important people involved in traditional agriculture and plant breeding in the country on the panel, as well as participants from Germany and Belgium.  There were some gentle disagreements, but overall broad agreement on the general direction future agriculture needs to take.

In the evening was dinner.  Later was live music, but we didn’t stay that long because we were very tired from a long day.

For the people who got seeds from me, here’s a description:

Cherokee Trail of Tears Beans:  One of the best ‘ordinary’ green beans available.  Grows very strong, and gives harvest over a long period.  Heavy cropper.  Pole bean (stokboon).  These beans were not grown in isolation, expect 2-3% crossing.  Plant after the soil warms, about 15 May in Amsterdam.

Hidatsa Early Edamame Soy:  North hardy soy bean that grows well in Amsterdam.  Normal beans need rhizobia bacteria, and these beans need a different one.  This means the first year you grow these they may not do as well as you expect, but the second year of growing them in the same spot they will probably do much better. Plant after the soil warms, about 15 May in Amsterdam.

O Driscall Pole Bean (stokboon):  A bean from the UK Heritage Seed Library that seems to do well in my garden.  This is my second year growing it, and it is very prolific.  Probably best suited for dry beans, but the green beans are also reasonably good.  These beans were not grown in isolation, expect 2-3% crossing. Plant after the soil warms, about 15 May in Amsterdam.

Yellow Forest Bush Bean (stamboon):  These are originally from Friesland, and in my garden are a sort of ‘no weed’ bean.  That is, when grown in healthy and initially weed free soil, and in a block or adjacent rows, they are very vigorous and smother nearly all weeds.  A little weeding may still be necessary, but not very much.  They are also a good tasting green bean, and also good dry.  The green beans have a very nice appearance, and are a little unusual.  These beans were not grown in isolation, expect 2-3% crossing. Plant after the soil warms, about 15 May in Amsterdam.

Early Purple Sprouting Broccoli:  This is a very large broccoli plant that must be grown over the winter (start seeds in August) and won’t stand up to a very cold winter like this last one.  In the spring it produces broccoli shoots instead of the usual heads, and they are purple in color but turn green during cooking.  The distance between two plants needs to be about 1 meter.  I purchased these seeds from Baker Creek Seeds in the US.

Paquebot recently asked me to update the list of tomatoes he’s offering from what I posted here for him last year.

Emphasis in 2011 was on big fruit so about half were to a pound or more.

Paquebot lives in Wisconsin, USA. He’s offering more than 350 tomatoes, organized into the year grown, giving an indication of the age of the seeds. Tomato seed are normally good for about 10 years, sometimes more, so age isn’t an issue if you plant them within the next couple of years.

He’s offering them as part of the Seed Network, and in particular he said they are available to anyone, anywhere in the world. You have to discuss payment or trading terms with him yourself.

If you’re interested in anything here, send me an email and I’ll forward it to him.

2011 Seeds
1884
1884 Purple
ABC Potato Leaf (ch)
African Queen
Andes Horn
Anna Aasa, Red (ch)
Anna Aasa, Yellow (ch)
Ashleigh
Banana Legs
Believe It Or Not
Big Zebra
Brimmer
Buckbee’s New 50 Day
Cabin
Canadian Heart
Carol Chyko’s Big Paste
Count Banyani
Doubloon
Eli
Gildo Pietroboni
Green Ghost
Heinz 2653
Homer Fike’s Yellow Oxheart
Hunt’s Family Favorite
Libanaise des Montagnes
Magyar Piros Boker
Mirabell, Red
Mr. Tartar’s
New Yorker
Novosadski Jabucar
Orange Oxheart
OSU Blue
Paquebot Roma
Pomodoro di Albenga/Luguria
Red Barn
Rio Grande
Rostova
Sicilian Saucer
Skorospelka
Spark’s Yellow
Stardust Cherry (ch)
Strawberry Margarita
Sun Baby (ch)
Sylvan Gaume
Tangello
Tappy’s Heritage
Tarasenko 6
T.C. Jones
Terhune
Tlacolula
Tlacolula, Yellow
Veepick
White Rabbit (ch)
White Snowball
Wild Rose
Winsall
Winsall Gold
Wisconsin 55
Wisconsin 55 Gold

2010 seeds
Absinthe
Amazon Chocolate
Arkansas Traveller
Armenian
Aunt Ruby’s German Green Cherry
Babywine
Barnes Mountain Yellow
Basket Vee
Beaute Blanche de Canada
Belle Angevine
Big Rainbow
Black Crimson
Black Elephant
Black Ethiopian
Black Zebra
Bonne du Roussillon
Canestrino
Chadwick Cherry
Cherokee Chocolate
Chuda Rynka
Coburg
Copia
Coyotte
Creole
Early Chatham
Falcon
Fidelio
Gary O’Sena
German Gold
Goji Faranji
Goldman’s Italian American
Gold Nugget
Grandma Josie
Hong Yuen
Huayu
Indian Stripe
Jack White
Large Black & Red Boar
Large Red Cherry
Livingston’s Golden Queen
Livingston’s Paragon
Marion
Mark Twain
Mazarini
Meme Beauce
Mule Team
Negro Azteca
Old Brooks
Peaches & Cream
Quingza
Radio
Red Target
Regina’s Yellow
Rita’s Black Pear
Rutgers
Serre Wonder
Shumway’s Sensation
Sioux
Southern Night
Sugar Plum
Super Sioux
Tangella
Tasmanian Yellow
Urbanite
Valiant
Velvet Red
Wagon Wheel
White Oxheart
Wisconsin Chief
Yellow Scotland
Zigan

2009 seeds
Aker’s West Virginia Black
Albany Georgia Heirloom
Amish Paste
Anna Hermann
Apelsin
Apricot Brandywine
Aunt Ruby’s German Green
Banjan Roomii
Belgian Heart
Big White Pink Stripes
Black Sea Man
Bosu
Buckeye Yellow
Carbon
Caro Rich
Chico III
Chocolate Cherry
Cour de Bou
Cow’s Tit
Eagle’s Beak
Endless Summer
Ernesto
Fantome de Laos
Giraffe
Guido
Guernsey Island
Hawaiian Orange Cherry
Hawaiian Pineapple
Hazelfield Farm Red
Heinz 1439
Japanese Black Triffle
Kardinal
Lagidny
Limmony
Marizol Purple
Mirabell, Yellow
Monkey Ass
Moya
Northern Crown
Northern Lights
Pantano Romanesco
Persimmon
Pink Ruffled
Portugal Monster
Principe Borghese
Riesentraube
Rozovii Giant
Sainte Lucie
Siberian
Silvery Fir Tree
Snowberry
Super Snow White
Ten Fingers of Naples
Tennessee Britches
The Orange
Tiny Tim
Togo Trefele
Turks Muts
Volgogradskij 5/95
Vorlon
West Virginia Pink Slicer
Willamette
Yellow 1884 Pinkheart

2008 seeds
Amish Red
Belarusan Heart
Besser
Black From Tula
Black Plum
Black Prince
Bloody Butcher
Boondocks
Borgio Cellano
Brianna
Cherokee Purple (PL)
Chianti Rose
Chocolate Stripes
Dinner Plate
Dr. Lyle
Dorothy’s Mennonite Beefsteak
Dorothy’s Mennonite Bicolor
Dorothy’s Mennonite Big Heart
Douce de Picardie (PL)
German Head
Giant Belgium
Giant Oxheart
Giant Roma
Giant Tree
Gigante Liscio
Golden Dwarf Champion
Hungarian Italian Paste
Japanese Oxheart
King Pineapple
Lancaster Pink
Large Pink Bulgarian
Legend
Long Keeper
Marglobe
Market Miracle
Mexico
Noire Russie
Old German
Preacher
Red Heart Yellow
Red Penna
Red Zebra
Russian Annie
Sandul Moldovan
Spoon
Super Beefsteak
Super Choice
Tater Kin
Taxi
Teton de Venus
Thessaloniki Oxheart
Valencia Pink
Watermelon Beefsteak
White Tomesol
Woodle Orange
Wuhib
Yamal

2007 seeds
Ace 55
Amana Orange
Ananas Noir
Aunt Madge’s
Aussie
Bear Claw
Beauty King
Berkeley Tie Dyed
Black Oxheart
Blue Beech
Boyarsky
Boy Boy
Brown Berry
Bull’s Heart
Burracker’s Favorite
Carmelo
Chateau Rose
Clover Trefle
Costoluto Fiorentino
Crimson Cushion
Crnkovic Jugoslavian
Danish Export
Des Andes Jaune
German Queen
Gogosha
Greater Baltimore
Gregori Altai
Grosse Cotelee
Hartman’s Yellow Gooseberry
Hog Heart
Howard German
Japanese Golden Pear
Julia Child
Kalman’s Hungarian
Korney’s Jelly Bean
Kosovo
Lemon Giant
Lumpy Red
Mandarine
Matt’s Wild Cherry
Mennonite Orange
Merveilles des Marches
Minibel
Nelson’s Golden Giant
Novikov Giant
Oaxacan Jewel
Olive Doree
Orange Giant
Paul Robeson
Peacevine Cherry
Pigmeo
Pipo
Pomodoro Palla di Fuoco
Pomodoro Red Pear
Raspberry Giant
Sausage
Scatalone
Selandia
Super Marmande
Tiger Tom
Tumbling Tom
UC82B
Ukrainian Pear
Wanda’s PT
Wes
Zebra
Zorica’s Croatian Bull Eye

2006 Seeds
Abraham Lincoln
Amish Salad
Amish Yellow
Aunt Gertie’s Gold
Aztec
Balkon Star
Black Cherry
Bradley
Cherry Roma
Cherokee Green
Cosmonaut Volkov
Croatian Heart
Douce de Picardie (RL)
Emeraude
Gardeners Delight
Garden Peach, Red
Garden Peach, Yellow
German Pink
Giant Syrian
Goose Creek
Greenbush Italian
Green Cherry
Green Giant
Green Zebra
Harvard Square
John Baer
Kristina Vatcheva
Leatha’s
Lemon Drop
Lithuanian
Long Tom
Marianna’s Conflict
Marianna’s Peace
Medford
Moby Grape
Mr. Fumo
Novogogoshary
Nyagous, Red
Oregon Spring
Perito Italian
Roman Candle
Segler
Sheyenne
Striped Cavern
Surender’s Indian Curry
Tigerella
Tommy Toes, Red
Tommy Toes, Yellow
Ugly Ripe
Voyage
West Virginia 63
Yellow Pear
Yoder’s German Yellow

World sugar consumption has tripled in the last 50 years!

Well first of all the world population has more than doubled in that time, so this accounts for most of it.  Beyond this one of the things Michael Pollan pointed out in his book Omnivore’s Dilemma is during the time high fructose corn syrup was introduced into US soft drinks, America’s consumption of ordinary sugar stayed nearly constant.  In other words, the HFCS was just more sugar added on top of existing consumption, and HFCS probably doesn’t satisfy an appetite for real sugar.

Considering an increase of all sweeteners together is misleading.  If you only consider per capita consumption of ordinary sugar, you aren’t likely to see a meaningful increase over the last 50 years.

Not only is a modest amount of ordinary sugar a relatively safe and constructive part of a balanced diet, but it’s an appetite suppressant and trying to eliminate or reduce it will almost certainly lead to the overconsumption of other foods.  It’s known for example that people who drink sugar-free soft drinks are statistically heavier than those who drink the sugared version, and this could be one reason.

Just Like Europe

It’s true a few countries in Europe have special taxes for soft drinks, but as far as I know this is not a tax on sugar.  In particular drinks containing aspartame are not exempt from these taxes.

In Europe it’s more common to drink soft drinks in restaurants, who often depend on sales of drinks for a large part of their profits.  It’s less common to drink soft drinks at home, and there are very few people who depend on soft drinks as part of their grocery shopping.  Taxing soft drinks is more a way to tax eating out at a restaurant than anything else.  Soft drinks are also usually an imported product, and by taxing them it encourages the consumption of local products like beers and wines.

In the US many people who consume large amounts of soft drinks live in the so-called food deserts of inner cities, with limited access to healthier alternatives.  A sugar tax would only serve to raise the grocery bill of these people.  A sugar tax in the US would be a disproportionate tax on the poor.

More Profit in Sugar Alternatives

The problem is while sugar is a commodity crop, and relatively speaking expensive to transport, process and store, as well as subject to swings in price depending on availability, the alternatives like HFCS and aspartame are not.  These alternatives are patented, cheap to manufacture and represent huge profits for the companies that sell them and own the associated intellectual property rights.

Calories

The argument is sugar ‘and other sweeteners’ contain too many calories, making it ‘better’ to consume an artificial sweetener like aspartame.  In fact there is not a single shred of credible evidence to suggest any link between the number of calories you consume and health.  Calories are a very old unit of measure determined by literally burning food and seeing how much heat is given off.  Your body does not metabolize food this way, and you can’t make any comparisons.

It’s true, there are low calorie diets which help people lose weight, but in nearly all cases the diets cannot be sustained and the weight returns after ending the diet.  In fact most people who attempt such diets end up heavier in the end.  This is all you can say about calories, and there’s nothing about this weight gain and loss that’s healthy.

Dangers of Non-Sugar Sweeteners

Alternative sweeteners like aspartame and HFCS have so many health concerns or suspected health concerns associated with them, that I’m not even going to get into it here.  I’ve written some posts about these, and you can find lots of other things by searching the Internet.

In particular both of these are suspected of being behind the current world wide obesity epidemic, and are both suspected or known carcinogens.

Age Limit for Buying Soft Drinks?

Not to be left out here are of course the tobacco and alcohol lobbies.

To begin with the tobacco lobby does not want any legal competition with their products.  This is the reason they were and are behind things like prohibition, worldwide drug wars and age limits that ensure young people grow up with a period of time where tobacco is the only legal drug available.  It’s pretty logical they would like to see sugar less available, because craving it could also make using tobacco more attractive.

More importantly the tobacco industry wants to see the culture of enforced age limits, as a way of making their products seem safer.  After all if we have age limits for everything from alcohol to tanning salons, and tobacco has a relatively low limit, it makes tobacco products seem safer and more normal to young people.  In fact there are few more lethal products worldwide than tobacco.

Alcohol follows closely behind tobacco, because if you’re addicted to tobacco, you’re much more likely to consume larger amounts of alcohol.

What is it about elections in the US that brings together such powerful political lobbies in such intrusive ways?

Alternatives?

How about some alternatives to a sugar tax:

Prohibition of soft drink and candy vending machines in schools, except for products containing 100% fruit, ordinary sugar, water or other completely natural ingredients.

Prohibition of sponsorship or promotion of processed foods, in a similar way promotion of tobacco products is prohibited in many places now.

Prohibition or tax on HFCS and aspartame.

A tax in the US on saturated fat, like in Denmark and Hungary.

End subsidies on corn, HFCS and ethanol.

A levy on brand name soft drinks, in a similar way brand name cigarettes are priced higher in the US.

Anyone have other suggestions?