It’s a good news-bad news story: We are moving into a post-Recession universe. We have seen prices drop on important commodities like milk and eggs: That’s the good news. Now flip the coin, and you get the other story. We escaped a near Depression cycle, but are headed onto a collision course of higher food prices. That’s a problem.
If people are supposed to spend again (post-Recession), and consumers have changed their ways of shopping, cooking, and dining out, this could be a red alert to slow down the rising price cycle. Rising prices will once again turn them away from major purchases if so much of their money has to go to basic food necessities. We must have learned something from this past cycle. Sure not every product dropped in cost (cereals and bakery products are up for the year), but many of the major ones were lower (beef prices were down over 2% in July) enabling cooks and chefs to be creative with a range of foods.
At the same time farmers continue their struggle. Farm incomes are down 38% no matter how many of us have joined CSAs, visit farm markets, and support all the Buy Local campaigns. It’s never been easy farming the land, but this news is truly depressing as the farmer in many ways has become the superstar of the food industry with all the attention being given to finding the best products locally. We have to save the farm.
So we have a double whammy situation: Rising basic food costs and farmers struggling beyond the bounds of livability. Both of these issues need immediate attention from the Administration.
We cannot move forward by continually sliding backwards.
#1 by suzy rieber at August 31st, 2009
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we would love to support a csa here and have been making a 20 minute drive each way once a week to do so. However, this past weekend, in the middle of the cycle, our farmer told us he’s sold the farm and moving out of state. DH and I have a bet on a bottle of two buck chuck that we’ll never see the rest of our money he promised to pay back. The point is, we tried to support locally and he couldn’t hold up his end of the bargain. Some of the items we got from him were rotten and substandard and we were pretty disappointed. On the other hand, our csa in IL was dynamite. maybe it comes in waves?
#2 by admin at August 31st, 2009
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It’s a real ying and yang. Without consumer support, as in cash to sustain the farmer, through a CSA, the farmer often has little chance of making it. With cash as with any loan whether trade or direct goods, the risk factor is high. Sorry to hear your farmer story. Unfortunately, there are so many similar ones. Stay with the local farm market and farm stand for the rest of the season. Maybe at the beginning of 2010, you’ll be able to find a farmer who’ll be able to sustain himself and your family.