Food Freedom, Lost and Found Today you can walk into a super market and find anything you want right? The stores are large, there’s more selection, what is there to worry about? Food seems cheap enough. The average person spends only 10% of their income on food. But every day we hear news stories about food health and safety concerns and product recalls but still the stores look bigger and better and have more selections. Loosing your freedom of choice What looks like variety is really produced by a handful of companies that continue to swallow up other companies to control the products from field to plate thus giving less option to choose from in the store, higher quantity of food at a smaller price but lower quality. A report from the University of Missouri that came out in 2001 says: “horizontal integration through consolidation has occurred very rapidly in the last three years. Today, Kroger, Albertsons, Wal-Mart, Safeway and Ahold USA account for 42% of retail food sales in the US, whereas in 1997 top five food retailers had only 24% of the market.” That means that 5 companies control almost half the food sales in this country in just three years. With consolidation comes power. This same report from the University of Missouri says “Retailers are now in a position to dictate terms to food manufacturers who then force changes back through the system to the farm level. Perhaps 50 - 75% of the total net profit for large retailers comes from retailer fees, presentation fees, slotting allowances, display fees and failure fees.” Consolidation of food processors 4 companies control 89% of the cereal market. 4 meatpacking companies control 81% of the beef market. 4 companies control 50% of the production and processing of broilers. 1 company controls 30% of the dairy industry. You are looking at a future where food production is centralized and no longer regional. Not the most secure system of food production. Everything is shipped across the country. A food item on average travels 1500 miles to reach the consumer. Farms become fewer and larger. 100 years ago, farms were small and diversified. They raised many types of products and sold most of them directly to the consumer. After W.W.II farms stopped being diversified and became specialized. Dairy farms, beef farms, corn and soy bean farms. Farms stopped selling to consumers and sold to processing companies because of the higher volume of production needed to stay in business. Today the farmer might not even own the livestock. In many poultry and pork farms the processor owns the livestock and the farmer is just an employee. What are the alternatives? There is a movement these days by farmers and consumers known as sustainable agriculture. Sustainable ag means building farms that can sustain a healthy soil, produce healthy food and be profitable as well. The farm then becomes a vital economic part of the community. Where can I find these alternatives? Producer only Farmers’ Markets Producer only means just that. The only people that can sell at the market are the folks who actually produce the food. No reselling. The markets are generally once a week through the season (June thru Oct.).In the last 10 years the number of farmers markets has doubled in this country. CSA (community supported agriculture) CSA’s or subscription farms are mainly organic produce farms. Customers are shareholders in that they purchase shares for however many people they want to feed in their household. Shares are purchased before the season starts then the customer comes to the farm every week to pickup their share of produce for that week throughout the season. Directly from the farm Many sustainable farms have sales right on the farm. You can purchase meat, poultry, eggs, milk, produce, cheese, just about anything. Having a diverse, local, sustainable food system benefits you the consumer because you have not only a choice but a say in how your food is produced. Sustainable farms grow what the consumer wants NOT just what the farmer would like to sell. After all, they don’t have a multimillion dollar ad budget to sway consumer opinion. As peoples tastes and needs change the small sustainable farm can change with them. Large farms can not do that. It’s like turning an elephant. This true Jeffersonian idea needs your help. The farmers can not do it alone. After all, this is not just the farmers food, it is YOUR food. I believe the keystone to sustainability is community and good community starts with good food.

 

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