Sustainable Horticulture

Food Prices Rising…Only the Start

Posted by sustainable_hort on May 23, 2011  |  No Comments

With all the recent headlines, the story of rising food prices has been on the news back burner. But, for many people, both here in the US and in most under-developed countries, these climbing costs are much more important than a royal wedding, the Trump comedy series about birth certificates, and, even, the elimination of Mr. Bin Laden. Hunger tends to trump (no pun intended) most other concerns.

Yet, for whatever reason(s), we are seeing food prices rise quickly. We have to go back to the 1970’s to find a similar situation. Then, oil prices and availability were not the key issue they are today. The increases in food prices then were driven mainly by Russian wheat crop failures. But, the pressures on food prices now are coming from rising energy and commodity prices, plus several weather related crop issues. As I have written on this blog, petroleum is more than gas for our cars…it is literally is the foundation material for much of the modern world. The majority of consumer products depend on these substrates at some level. Think plastic!

Food is no exception! The earth’s oil and natural gas are used to produce fertilizers, pesticides, herbicides, and plastics; they are used to power the tractors, sprayers, harvesters, and generate heat; and obviously they are the fuel for the trucks, trains and planes that move our food around the world. Whether it is speculation, increasing demand from the China and India, or peak oil’s decreasing output, oil prices will rise in the long term…and food prices can only follow.

I recently attended a talk by Gary Paul Nabhan, author of Coming Home to Eat: The Pleasures and Politics of Local Foods, whose main message was the importance of local “food sheds.” While this is not a new concept, it seems to gain importance as we watch drought, floods, tornados and rising production prices wreck havoc with US agriculture. It is the old cliché “don’t put all your eggs in one basket.” It is in the interest of regions, at least, to be able to produce all the key components of a healthy diet. This idea is catching on.

For instance, here in Oregon’s Willamette Valley, we are seeing a return of wheat, and an organized effort to grow a wide range of beans, now all shipped in from great distances. It is an expansion of the local food movement, one that consumer consider more important than “organic.”

But, for many consumers, price is and will remain the primary consideration. This, I feel as a produce grower, is a misaligned focus. Food “quality” should equal nutrition, not cost. But, there is good news. Recent research indicates local foods, not necessarily organic, can cost less at your local farmers market than the national chain supermarket. And, even at a few cents more, local produce, especially the more delicate “greens” categories, will literally be a week fresher. Turn over those plastic tubs of greens at your local supermarket. While the “use by” date may be days off, I will bet you can see some early deterioration of the produce, particularly the red lettuces. If you store the package a few days, you are eating greens that are ten to two weeks old. Just how nutritious, let alone tasty, can this limp product be? Not much. If you want to read more, check out: www.theatlantic.com/life/archive/2011/05/the-farmers-market-myth/238661.

Food Choices…Ours or Theirs?

Posted by sustainable_hort on March 2, 2011  |  No Comments

Why do we eat what we eat? How do we make our food decisions? Or, more important, who else is “helping” us make those food choices?

As consumers of food, we really need to understand how we got to our present food system from the marketing side, the forces that created our weak, subliminal attachment to food. Read these books and then walk down the aisles of your local supermarket (not around the outside where most of simpler foods are displayed). Take a few minutes and read the ingredients in most of the processed “foods.” I can promise you will never see food the same again.

In her fascinating look at the forces that created our present relationship with food, Kitchen Literacy, written by Ann Vileisis, the scientific, cultural and marketing forces that took us from a hands-on existence with food (unless you had servants or slaves) to one that is carefully controlled by today’s mega-food companies. She examines the arc from eating only seasonal and/or stored foods to the current supermarket cornucopia of “foods,” with their emphasis on calorie count while being made from a long list of industrial “ingredients.” I will take an in-depth look at this book on my blog at www.19thstreetfarms.com in the next couple weeks.

A complementary work is The End of Overeating by David Kessler, MD. He approaches from a different direction, looking at exactly how major food companies have developed foods that appeal to us. Their clever combinations of “fat, sugar & salt” have obviously worked. Just walk down the aisles in any major grocery store and they are there. Thousands and thousands of prepared foods, convenient to use, calorie rich, and seemingly less expensive. After reading this book, I cannot look at any food, commercial or not, without looking at how it matched up to that wonderful marketing triad. Kessler’s sub-title sums up his aim…”taking control of the insatiable American appetite.” Eating can continue to be a sensuous, satisfying, social activity, but based more on simple, seasonal foods prepared at home. The last section of the book explains techniques and strategies to regain our real appetites

While the first two books focused on the whys of what we eat, another new release, The Safe Food Handbook, concentrates on avoiding common contamination issues with food. The food industry has had to deal with numerous food-related outbreaks over the past few years…spinach, sprouts, meat, etc., etc. This has lead to an increased concern about food safety. Author Dr. Heli Perrett’s handbook gives a concise, easy-to-use format for consumers needing an overview of the issues, common problems and, most important, solutions and methods to avoid contamination and illness. It does not cover much new ground. Books like Marion Nestle’s Food Safety and What to Eat cover this area in more depth, with extensive historical background. But, for the average consumer, The Safe Food Handbook provides the crucial information needed to avoid getting sick from common foods.

The first two books can help us eat better but will not solve the upcoming issue…rising food prices. A perfect storm of bad weather, increasing demand from new economies and now the Middle East turmoil threatens to drive up all agricultural production inputs. With most food production and transportation being petroleum-based, so as gas prices break $4.00/gallon, food prices can only follow. And, food has been one of the driving forces in the Middle East uprisings. In fact, some say the self-immolation of Mohamed Bouazizi, protesting the confiscation of his fruit stand, really triggered these series of falling dominos as “the people” speak up in country after country.

Meanwhile, the whole world will begin to deal with the cost of food, the availability of food, and should develop alternative plans for feeding people as the current system moves toward serious problems. More on this in an upcoming blog.