Major food price rises are all but
inevitable. Philip Clarke, the chief executive of Britain's biggest
supermarket chain Tesco, has admitted as much to the British press.
Tesco, was heavily implicated in the recent horse-meat scandal, has
said that rising global demand means the historic low prices to which
British consumers have become used are now unsustainable. This is
tantamount to the CEO of WalMart or Kroger admitting that they can no
longer commit to keeping prices low for all Americans.
Any one who has been shopping lately
can attest to the fact that the “invisible grocery shrink ray” is
at work in our local markets. The packages may be rising slowly in
price but the quantity in the package is smaller over all. The
organics and locally grown stuff is characterized as for the elite
and other who want to be upper class.
Is Kentucky (or America) that far
behind this time? A recent poll, commissioned by the
Prince's Countryside Fund to mark National Countryside Week,
reveals that a majority of British consumers would be prepared to pay
more for food if they knew the extra was going to farmers rather than
to supermarket shareholders. With the recent introduction of the
“Udderly Kentucky” milk program by the Secretary of Agriculture,
James Comer, is he seeing the same sentiment from Kentucky shoppers?
The “Buy Local First” movement
seems to be making headway and local farmers markets are establishing
themselves in more locations every year. Still, the primary comments
are that they are out of the reach of many residents. Sadly, such
costs are reflective of the unsubsidized production costs for local
entrepreneurs.
The United Nations Food and Agriculture
Organization forecast last month that global food prices could rise
by as much as 40% over the next decade. Much of this as a result of a
growing middle class in countries such as China and India. With the
prospects of America's middle class waning and poverty moving to our
once booming suburbs, this global rise will hit Americans very hard.
Usually,
supermarket bosses (British and American) have proved extremely
resistant to admitting economic pressures would affect the cost of
groceries. WalMart has recently
committed to its sourcing more locally produced fruits and vegetables
without discussing whether price differences will be kept to a
minimum. One way the WalMart has kept their prices low is to require
the producer (or middleman) to do more preparatory work so that their
“associates” don't have to.
What
comes to mind next is WalMart's (and possibly the federal
governments) definition of locally produced. Generally, the range of
500 miles is sufficient for most programs and for Lexington that
means as far away as Central Michigan or the Gulf Coast. Local could
them mean about 2/3rds of the Eastern U.S. National brands and the monoculture farming of
agri-business can still dominate our food choices at that rate.
I
can see that a growing number of Kentuckians (and Americans) are
awakening to the reality that many of our corporations are (and have
been) leading us astray with phrases like “supermarket to the
world” while importing more and more under “trade” treaties.
With all of our corporate farming debacles, many countries will not
accept our exports for reasons like GMO's or processing concerns.
America's
food system has become unsustainable and there is more than enough
blame to cast in all directions. The big question is, can it be
turned around in time to prevent it from crashing like a house of
cards?
Larger
stores and bigger selections may have helped get us to where we are
but simply reversing those trends will not be a solution. Our
seasonal treats of yesteryear have become the culinary mainstays of
the declining middle class. Farmers who took great pride in their
goods on the farm now see disease and pestilence introduced in the
processing and packaging plants. Corporate marketing gurus have
persuaded us that only the perfect looking fruit or vegetable is
worthy of purchase. These trends also need to be altered.
The
way it is major food price rises are all but inevitable, which leaves
us with only one good option – to change the way it is.
