Author: louisaenright

Interesting Information:  January 13, 2015

“The Real Cost of Real Food”

When Bill Hyde, PhD, retired from academia, he and his wife bought a seven-acre farm outside of Denver, Colorado.

In the Summer 2014 issue of The Weston A. Price Foundation journal, Wise Traditions,” Hyde walks through what it takes to put one dozen eggs into someone’s hands.  He considers ALL of his expenses–which is something industrial egg providers do not do in order to price their eggs.  For one thing, industrial egg providers do not have to pay for the “soil, air, and water deterioration and pollution that their farm practices create.”  Nor for “remedying the health problems of farm workers and consumers caused by eating and contacting these so-called foods.”  Further, they get breaks through tax policies that favor them, and small real farmers do not.

Hyde’s list of BEFORE PROFIT expenses includes buying and raising the chick (5 or 6 months until they start to lay), shelter and a yard, mobile tractor, feed, utilities , labor, packaging of eggs, transportation, cost of land, and chicken supplies–all of which adds up to $11.52 for a dozen eggs.

Think how we use eggs today.  They’re so cheap and so available all the time (did you know chickens don’t ordinarily lay in the winter months??? or that they are SO NOT vegetarians) that we don’t value them AT ALL.  (Yes, I’m screaming at how we take eggs so for granted.)

But, but, these commercial eggs are OLD when you get them (45 days or more is ok with our government organizations), are made by hens fed inferior food, and made by hens that are terribly mistreated.  (I dare you to watch one of those videos of a commercial layer hen operation.)  That’s why the yolks of a commercial chicken are pale, pale, pale yellow–hardly distinguishable from the white.  A REAL egg yolk is bright pumpkin orange.

Again, as it cannot be said enough, REAL farmers who husband the land and their animals get very, very little support from our nation.  That’s US folks.  Hyde says the following:

Incidentally, I do not believe my situation is unique. In talking to a variety of small farmers, CSAs, and farm co-ops, I have not found one that did not (1) inherit their land, (2) receive grants, (3) use volunteer labor, (4) have a spouse or partner with a real job, or (5) have a day job themselves. While it shows resourcefulness to patch together whatever is necessary to keep a farm operating, my point is that I don’t think it constitutes a viable long-term model for feeding our nation real food.

 And they sure don’t get what the food should cost.

And that’s where a set of statistics is important to understand.  The United States has the lowest food costs in the world…  Today, the average food costs are between 7 and 8 percent of income.  In 1970, average food costs were between 17 and 22%.  As a young married, we were told to allow for 25% on average for food.  Meanwhile in 1970, health costs were from 3 to 7%.  Today they are from 16 to 17%.   Bad food that’s tainted, poisoned, and has no nutrients and fake foods that are artificially flavored and engineered to appeal to your taste buds are making us sick.

So, yes, pay more for real, clean food and pay less in medical costs.  And, taking a longer view, strive to leave a viable world for the next generations.  What we are presently doing is not sustainable.

The Real Cost Of Real Food | Weston A Price.