Do grain subsidies make Americans consume more calories?

Christopher Shea highlights a new study that analyzes the effect of U.S. grain and soy subsidies on the American diet. The study's abstract leads with its contrarian, we're-taking-on-Michael-Pollan angle:

Many commentators have speculated that agricultural policies have
contributed to increased obesity rates in the United States, yet such
claims are often made without any analysis of the complex links between
real-world farm commodity support programs, prices and consumption of
foods, and caloric intake.

The researchers go on to argue that eliminating current subsidies--and thus the artificial cheapness of grain and grain-fed meat--would reduce overall caloric intake, but only slightly. And if the feds went farther and also eliminated tariffs on imported food, the cheaper sugar and dairy that resulted would more than counteract this effect. In short: current agricultural policy makes us consume fewer calories, not more, because the things the government props up are less calorie-dense than the things it restricts.