I share many of the same skepticisms that you do. I recently purchased a copy of a book that Cat recommended by Ivan Illich called Medical Nemesis that looks interesting, but I have to finish the other Illich book I'm reading (Deschooling Society) before I div e into it.

That Nels Stemm article was indeed interesting, and there is another health-related piece on LRC today that is interesting as well. I'm not at all a fan of industrialized farming, which is one of the reasons why I plan on starting a garden as soon as I have some land to work with. In the meantime, I buy produce from the local food co-op or the farmers market. I also discovered recently a local farm through a site called Local Harvest where people can buy shares of what is grown on the farm and pick up their share of the harvest on a weekly basis. So even if you don't have the time to grow all of the food you need for your family yourself, there are other options that allow you to avoid industrialized food.