As if $4 gas and diesel didn’t dig deep enough into your RVing budget’s pockets, now it appears that we are in the spiral of a major upward shift in food prices. Much of the upward price pressures come from the increase in the cost of fuel, running tractors and other farm machinery, as well as transporting food to markets.
But that’s not all. With the government subsidies on corn, wheat, and soybeans, farmers have been switching over from radishes, scallions, and tomatoes that have no subsidies. Fruit and nut growers also receive no subsidies, and in growth areas where suburban development is crowding fields and orchards, farmers are throwing in the towel and selling out to developers and retiring, rather than take the financial risk of planting and harvesting just to barely squeak by. So with farmers producing less non-subsidized crops, lower supply translates to higher prices.
The farmers that persist say they have to make greater profits to survive, that we Americans not only have the cheapest fuel among the non-oil rich nations, but we also have the cheapest food. They’re right, of course. The Texas Farm Bureau says that 81 cents of every food dollar goes off the farm–only 19 cents goes to the farmer.
But the disparity lies rather with the government’s agricultural policies, that enrich the wealthy farmers (most of the subsidies go to corporate mega-farms) instead of to organic and small family farmers.
We RVers have three major expense categories, unless you’re also into recreational drugs or collecting French wines: fuel, food, and campgrounds.
As I have advocated driving less to reduce our fuel bills, I can hardly suggest we eat less–though for many of us that might be a sound idea. However, we can choose our foods wisely: Buy bulk foods (8% of every food dollar goes to packaging), buy locally grown fruits and vegetables (lower transportation costs, cut out the middle man food broker, more $$ go to the family farmer), buy fewer prepared foods (fresh salads, vegetables, etc. taste infinitely better and cost less than packaged foods).
As I said in my last post, on your travels shop farmers markets, roadside fruit and vegetable stands, and U-Pick orchards, for not only the freshest, tastiest, and healthiest foods, but to also cut your food bill. You will not only save money–now when we need to do so–but you will be the better for it, and so will the earth.
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Bob Difley
John – So true. The current demand for corn Ethanol has raised corn prices and everything made from or including corn, from high fructose corn syrup to tortillas, which is one of the reasons why biofuels have to change feedstocks to celulosic materials, such as switchgrass and forestry waste, which can be grown on marginal land with little irrigation and fertilizer and produces much more usable material.
Price supports (subsidies) is a big subject, on the one hand supposed to help farmers compete against low-cost imports but instead goes to the wealthy mega-farms, and on the other hand to support the use of biofuel feedstocks while that market develops, but is instead controlled by corn interests which is not the right answer. Thanks for the comments.
John Ahrens
One part of the increasing food cost you didn’t mention: bio-fuels. Since there’s a big push to use foodstuffs (such as corn and soybeans) as fuel, and use farmland to grow crops for fuel, we are not only seeing higher fuel prices raise the cost of food, but the direct competition between fuel usage and food usage, is increasing the cost of food, perhaps more than those other reasons.
I do believe that getting the government out of the farm business, at least as far as price supports and import restrictions are concerned, would long term, help everyone out.
Its Me
Sorry, I was mistakenly on the wrong post. I was on an old one.
Bob Difley
L2 – Thanks for the comments. Adding to the small family farmer’s plight is that when we see headlines about crop subsidies, we assume that farmers in general are living high on the hog. The small family farmers do not have the PR budgets of the mega-corporate agricultural complexes to lobby hard and expensively–as they did prior to the last farm bill vote–to make their case, that the big guys get the subsidies, not them. So the small farmer has to try to eke out a living without help and with all the weather related perils that could befall him. Not only do my wife and I NEVER pass a farmers market, even if we do not need anything (we often find something different), but we try to buy something from as many vendors as we can to spread the $$ around. And you’re right about the price of fuel affecting nearly everything. Few business don’t use something that has to be shipped in, and that takes fuel.
L2
Bob, you,re posts are always interesting and informative. Ive heard a saying of
” Farmers crying Poormouth” but you’re post exemplifies what Ive always known.
Farmers do the most work for the least money. Raised in farming country I well know farmers are hard working folks. Its a shame that as a rule the small family farmers are being forced out by big business because they can’t scrape a living out of what use to be the ” Backbone of America.” One does’nt have to look far to see all prices are being affected by fuel. I’m an HVAC/R contractor and we’ve had to raise our prices, not only because of fuel, but our materials costs have increased also, as they too are trucked in. So, also a fuel increase.
I’m quite sure its similar here as in Texas as fuel costs are similar. I spent
a lot of years in Texas. After several years back in my home state I would Never
want to live in Texas or any other place again. They are nice places to
visit, but as the old saying goes “Theres No Place Like HOME”