There has been considerable coverage of escalating food prices around the globe. The prices that people in the developing world are facing is at a crisis level. With draught, civil unrest and redirection of food crops for the production of fuel, many areas of the world are experiencing shortages and high prices.
Not in Canada
Of course we do have major concerns about the distribution of adequate food to the poorest citizens of this country; many of whom are First Nations. This is a very real problem. But, rising prices should be expected just as we expect other costs of living to rise. The price of food has been artificially held at a low level, to the detriment of food producers.
Farming is a business. If one can’t make money at their business, they will look to other means. Farming is expensive and the bills need to be paid regardless of how much money was made. That is one of the factors contributing to the transition towards growing grains for ethanol production. Farmers have been receiving inadequate payments for grains for too long. It is only natural that they would look towards other markets that will pay them what their product is worth. Consumers in this country can blame themselves for their expectation of cheep food.
The amount of food that is thrown away everyday in this country could likely feed the world. Go to any major grocery store and see how much fresh food is thrown away daily. These corporations do not send edible foods to food banks, they put it in a compactor and send it to the landfill along with broken electronics, seasonal decorations, plush toys and household products. The waste that we produce in this country is disgusting.
Consumers are paying more for food. But the growers are not the ones benefiting. Consumers are purchasing ready made, pre-cooked, packaged foods like microwavable rice and powdered potatoes in plastic pouches. The processors of these foods are demanding low cost food so that they are able to make huge profits off of the processing. The farmer is still loosing out. The profits being made in the food sector are in the processing, packaging, marketing and transportation of these ‘foods’. Consumers can save themselves considerable money of they just stop purchasing these low quality, high cost foods and start to focus on staples such as whole grains, legumes, FRESH vegetables.
I don’t even want to think of the long range health implications of relying on these types of foods. With the daily publicity about the dangers of plastic, it is difficult to believe that anyone would actually purchase foods that are stored on a shelf in a plastic bag and then put that plastic bag in the microwave to heat and cook it in the plastic. Now we can even purchase special plastic bags to ’steam’ vegetables in! How difficult is it to steam vegetables on the stove? Well, I don’t even own a microwave so maybe I am biased.
But I am getting off topic. The only fresh foods that are getting in on the price increases are those that are also pre-packaged such as packaged lettuce and green onions. Notably, those same products that environmentalists hold up as the answer to our food security. Major brand organics. No other green onions in my grocery store are sold in a plastic bag, but those coming from the major organic player are. One has to wonder if the plastic bag is necessary. Not to mention that when ever I have purchased their packaged lettuce it has an identifiable plastic taste that I do not get when I eat my own farm grown lettuce.
Back to food prices. People seem to have no problem paying extra money for name brand clothing and electronics. They seem to have no problem paying for expensive coffee drinks. But threaten to raise the price of lettuce and people freak out. It is consumer priorities that we need to focus on. I would gladly give up new shoes if it meant I could purchase high quality food. Everyone is talking about “Fair Trade” but that sentiment seems to end when it comes to the necessities of life. Those are things people continuously expect for next to nothing. Maybe if we started paying the TRUE price for our fresh foods and our water we would solve some of the problems that are associated with excessive consumerism.
Two years ago our farm did a cost analysis of the pickling cucumber production. What we found was that with the cost of the purchase of seeds, hand seeding, hand weeding, hand picking, hand sorting and time spent calling customers for pick-up, we were loosing money. Big time. So we raised the price. People complained. A lot. Even after we explained how time consuming it actually is to grow those little cucumbers that people want for their special family dill pickle recipes. We kept the price up. We still have a very slim profit margin on that product. The point is, that if the consumer is not willing to pay the price needed to make growing your food worthwhile, we will stop doing it. All farmers will stop doing it. And we they will grow food for oil. Simple.
