Pictures really do equal a thousand words.

Yep, that would be beer, butter, and soda that have enjoyed the major declines.  And fresh fruits and vegetable that have seen the steepest increases.  Ben over at consumerist asks the obvious question - hey washington what’s up with subsidizing corn syrup and soy, but nothing for broccoli?  we live in a topsy turvy world when a six pack of Coke is cheaper than some bell peppers.

The Rudd Center has a great little calculator that estimates how much revenue a city or state could generate with a tax on sugar sweetened beverages.  On the low end with a tax of 1 cent per ounce, Washington, DC could generate $25 million per year:

The big winner? California with an estimated intake of $1.8 billion per year.  And we all know they could use the money.

(H/T Bitten)

photo courtesy of flickr user thisisbossi

Sigh.  Next they will be concern trolling that secret police will be raiding the kitchens of apple pie baking grandmas everywhere.

For the record - no one sane has proposed any kind of food ban (with the exception of extremely endangered species, but that’s not health concern related).  People should be free to eat as many jelly donuts as they like.  Of course, the it would be nice if the health costs were reflected in the food prices.

When the Great Recession hit here, people lose their McMansions.  When a  global economic crisis hits the developing world, people starve to death.

Worldwide, the number of hungry people is estimated to have reached 1.02 billion — up 11 percent from last year’s 915 million, FAO has said.

At at least one company is upbeat about the dairy crisis in the US.

British cattle genetics company Genus (GENS.L) predicted a strong recovery in its key U.S. cow business due to pent up demand and hopes for a rise in dairy prices, helping to send its shares almost 7 percent higher.

OK, this is just weird.  Reuters, which has a better reputation than most media, put out this piece today.  They don’t ask this company how much they think the dairy sector will improve by in the next year, and in the very next breath admit that the company making those claims, benefited from making such claims with a jump in their stock price by 7%. I would love to think that the dairy industry is on the brink of a strong recovery, but wishes aren’t calves, err ponies.

Is this what counts as business reporting these days?

Really detailed analysis of the dairy sector across the world by Via Campesina Europe, plus some recommendations. Here’s the key part:

Everywhere in the world, the current price is far too low for producers to make a living. This does not benefit consumers, however - the price of dairy products in supermarkets has remained high since the food price crisis of 2007/08. The milk industry and big retailers are making huge profits at the cost of farmers and consumers.

The European Union has decided to liberalise further the milk market by putting an end in 2015 to its supply management system (quotas), and by increasing quotas by one percent per year until 2015. This policy has led milk producers, women and men, to an unprecedented state of crisis and could end in social and environmental disaster.

In the United States, free traders and dairy processors continue to demand further deregulation of milk markets and emphasise the need to be “globally competitive” and export oriented. Milk pricing is largely determined by the price of cheese at the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, which is easily prone to manipulation by a few corporate entities. In December 2008, Dairy Farmers of America (DFA), the nation’s largest dairy cooperative, was fined $12 million for price manipulation at the CME. DFA was also under investigation for two years by the US government for antitrust abuses in monopolising markets and forcing dairy farmers to become part of their cooperative. In many parts of the country, dairy farmers have few alternatives than to sell their milk to DFA.

The Whole Foods food fight continues this week, with Michael Pollan defending the grocery giant as an integral part of developing an alternative food system:

Because if health insurers can no longer pick and choose their clients, and throw sick people out, they will develop a much stronger interest in prevention, which is to say, in changing the way America feeds itself. When health insurers realize they will make thousands more in profits for every case of type II diabetes they can prevent, they will develop a strong interest in things like corn subsidies, local food systems, farmer’s markets, school lunch, public health campaigns about soda, etc. So Mackey is wrong on health care, but Whole Foods is often right about food, and their support for the farmers matters more to me than the political views of their founder.

Amanda from Pandagon on why Pollan is wrong:

I appreciated the Whole Foods boycott, because I think it was a symbolic reminder that eating food labeled “organic” isn’t some kind of health tonic that will negate your need for health care.  John Mackey’s opinion on the whole health care debate was only deemed important because Whole Foods is associated with healthiness, and therefore the whole thing was a way to strengthen the belief that the only reason we need universal health care is that “some people” are lazy and inattentive to their health.

…

Of course, Pollan supports health care reform—and actually makes good points about how health care reform could lead to food reform—but the problem with these sorts of things is that most people just remember that Pollan defended Whole Foods, and thus feel reassured that their beliefs that the non-organic-eating don’t deserve health care are sound.  Pollan’s more subtle message is going to get lost in the chest-puffing healthiness contests.

Meanwhile, Amy Muldoon points out the class warfare undertones of this dust up:

As obesity has become more of an issue in American life and politics, a growing awareness of the connection between race, class and health has emerged. However, the prevailing perspective from the media, politicians and corporate boneheads like Mackey is that the poor simply lack the discipline to improve their lives.

Over at Civil Eats, Whole Foods anti-worker practices are in the spot light.  The growing focus on Whole Foods hypocritical nature and black mark on their image is a bigger liability in the long run than the growing boycotts.

However, unlike out-and-out opponents of the legislation, Starbucks and Whole Foods have built labor friendly images by supporting fair-trade and offering better wages than some other chains, despite being aggressively anti-union. Now it appears the retailers are cashing in on that image to modify the EFCA and remain, as Mackey says, “100% union-free.”

The hypocrisy is not lost on Whole Foods’ employees – one states, people need “to know just how false their [Whole Foods’] ’socially responsible’ image is, especially with regards to their own workers.”

This weekend, Oakland hosted the Eat Real Festival, and the organizers took the event in a much more accessible direction this year:

Several festival organizers were involved in last year’s Slow Food Nation in San Francisco, which included a victory garden, farmers’ market and a food hall that cost $65 to enter. They decided they wanted to make healthy, environmentally conscious food available to a large audience that could not or did not want to spend that kind of money.

Most items on sale at Eat Real were in the $1 to $5 range, and admission was free.

Kudos to them.  This is real (food) change we can believe in.

Yes, dairy farmers are still in crisis.  Yes, the USDA keeps buying up surplus milk to no avail.  No, a floor price for dairy has not been set.  That’s why this is such a big opportunity to get something done on the dairy crisis:

USDA established the Dairy Industry Advisory Committee in August 2009. The purpose of the Committee is to review the issues of farm milk price volatility and dairy farmer profitability and provide suggestions and ideas to the Secretary on how USDA can best address these issues to meet the dairy industry’s needs. USDA also seeks nominations of individuals to be considered for selection as Committee members.

Here is a hige chance to get small family dairy farmers and cooperatives inside the door to actually have a say.  Now we just need some folks to nominate.  Who would you recommend?

Nominations should be sent to Judith Lindsay , secretary to Brandon Willis, Deputy Administrator, Farm Programs, Farm Service Agency, USDA, 1400 Independence Avenue SW, Room 3612-S, Stop 0510, Washington, D.C. 20250-0510; Facsimile: (202) 720-4726; E-mail: judith.lindsay@wdc.usda.gov.

Big Dairy already announced the openings to their friends.  The question is whether we can get advocates for consumers and farmers on the board as well.

Advisory committee members will elect the chair and vice-chair, who will each serve a two-year term. As Deputy Administrator of the FSA Farm Programs, Brandon Willis will serve as the committee’s executive secretary.

So Obama wants a farmers market outside of the White House.  I figured it was so overplayed I wasn’t going to write about it here.  Even if this endeavor comes to fruitition, do you really think anyone is going to be rubbing elbows with Barack over the best bunch of kale?  Secret Service must already be developing stress ulcers.

That being said, people are getting (overly) excited about this idea.  And everyone has an opinion.  Even Ben Buchwalter from Mother Jones, who seems to think he has the recipe for success.  As he claims, all Obama has to do is:

Booths must provide free samples. And I’m not just talking about peaches. A farmers’ market has got to be more than a place for people to buy produce. Consumers need to roam freely to get a feel for the lay of the land before making buying decisions. Free samples of bread, veggies, and hummus-type spreads make this possible.

Don’t try to sell me $8 eggs. Yes, it’s important to buy products that come from humane farms. But some studies have even shown that cage-free eggs may not be “all they’re cracked up to be.” And you can find organic, humane eggs for a reasonable price.

How about some hot meal options? After a good hour of farmers’ market roaming, I tend to work up an appetite and a red pepper just doesn’t cut it. But farmers’ markets are often tempted to bring in chains so that they can charge higher booth fees. Including Chipotle or Panda Express is a quick way to destroy the market’s legitimacy.

And throw some live music in there for good measure. But President Obama, resist the urge to go for star power. I don’t want to see Bono and Mary J. Blige headlining the main stage at your farmer’s market. Like the vendors at the market, the live musicians should be locals.

So let me quickly explain why Ben should not quit his day job and open a stand in Dupont Market.

1. Nobody has to provide anything, and trust me no one wants a bite of raw onion.  But product samples are always welcome. BTW - I’ve yet to find a local farmers market that sells homegrown hummus.  This is DC not Tel Aviv.
2. I agree on the eggs.  Its true that DC area farmers markets are over priced and its the most obvious in the egg prices.
3. Apparently you, unlike me, has never tried to beg the fresh crab cake guys to cook up a serving for me while I shop.  They won’t do it.  Requires all sorts of licensing that’s just not worth it.
4. Live music is always fun.  Can I recommend Bonjour, Ganesh!?

I’ve been out bacheloretting this weekend and have been a very bad blogger.  While I’ve been gone, many are abuzz with the new cover story from Time “Getting Real About the High Price of Cheap Food“. It’s a mammoth article which I have not gotten completely through yet.  The pork industry has though, and they don’t like it one bit. The editorial “Time Trashes American Agriculture“, from Pork Magazine has all sorts of scathing, caustic retorts to the piece, although it is laughably short on rebuttals.

Obviously, Time thinks it appropriate that American agriculture discontinue feeding as many people as it currently does at a reasonable cost. After all, what do they have to worry about? Those who are priced out of Time’s idyllic food production scenario likely are neither subscribers to their magazine nor customers of their advertisers.

The article laments the fact that “American farmers now produce an astounding 153 bushels of corn per acre.” The reader is led to believe that it would be much better if the yield was half of that, with our “cattle chewing contentedly on the pasture.”

The “story” leads the reader to wonder if the author or editorial staff of Time have ever produced an ounce of food for themselves or others, or if all their ramblings are tossed in from the sideline. They are not part of the solution of feeding people, they are part of the problem.

Big Ag really is starting to sound like a broken record.  Have a problem with our food system?  You are anti-American and everything this country stands for.  Want our food system to be more sustainable?  You’re an elitist who wants everyone else to starve.

So, once more with feeling.  Our food system benefits big corporations, not small family farmers.  We produce more food than we could ever eat in the US.  However we produce calories, not nutrients and the ensuing health problems are killing us all.

The Guardian asked me to weigh in on the Whole Foods Boycott that has been circulating the interwebs. Please go check out the op-ed I wrote for them (and I can’t take credit for the “rotten core” line - that was the editors, not me).

Mostly, I try to argue the following:

1. Whole Food consumers have a right to take issue with the company because:
   1. Whole Foods actively courts progressives, and portray themselves as progressive to their customers
   2. customers put up with, and often defend, Whole Foods’ higher prices because many believe that they are making ethically conscious purchases by frequenting Whole Foods stores;
   3. it is well known that their lefty clientele commonly see the health care debate in ethical terms
2. Mackey only has the bully pulpit he has because of the success of his company, therefore it is reasonable to take into account issues he advocates for when shopping at Whole Foods
3. Therefore the Whole Foods statement on Mackey’s stance is not reflective of Whole Foods positions falls flat with the concerns of their customers and will be construed a non-apology
4. This dust up doubly hurts the Whole Foods image because it also brings up Whole Foods anti-union practices, practices that up until this point were not widely reported on.  This can lead to a “Whole Foods is no better than Wal Mart” argument by detractors

photo courtesy of flickr user uwe hermann

Food companies sent a cheerful letter to Ag Secretary Vilsack this past week, warning of sugar shortages, leading to higher prices for consumers, manufacturing layoffs and that “trading patterns will be distorted” which sounds ominous, doesn’t it? Yes, folks, according to the food companies, it is the end of the world as we know it, and the USDA must act fast fast fast, to lower sugar trade barriers, or else!

Are sugar price up?  Futures on sugar are up:

The futures price of sugar traded on world markets closed at 22.2 cents a pound Thursday, down about a penny from the previous day but still up 72% in six months. Weather problems in the sugar-producing regions of India, the diversion of Brazilian sugar cane to produce ethanol, and a growing global sweet tooth are behind the increase, according to analysts.

However, wholesale prices are no where near that elevated:

There is considerable debate about whether the run-up in sugar prices is a sign of a looming crisis. Just a fraction of global sugar supplies is traded on international markets. And according to the USDA, the wholesale price of sugar in the United States has risen by just 15% from a year ago to a little under 35 cents a pound.

So what gives? Turns out this is just a good old fashion shake down of the monopolistic variety. First, maybe higher prices for sugar wouldn’t be such a bad thing for Americans’ ever increasing waistbands, Second, while the letter darkly warns this may be the end of sugar, sugar suppliers assure the public that no such nonsense if on the horizon. Big Food wants the USDA to increase trade quotas so that they can push down sugar prices even more, bringing US sugar farmers closer to the brink of insolvency.  Maybe if the processors get their way sugar will go the way of the dairy crisis.  Good times!

Heartbreaking.

The AP has another horrible story about dairy farmers going out of business.  Which is incredibly sad.  Part of the reason we have not seen a lot of ideas and discussion on the topic is that agricultural economics is an incredibly complex science that very few understand.  Take this calculation:

Last year, Reynolds was getting nearly $20 per hundred pounds for the milk. Now, he’s getting about $11.50.

By his estimate, that works out to a $130-a-day loss for each of his 550 cows.

By the math: Reynolds is losing $20 - $11.50 = $8.50 per hundred pounds.  Per cow, per day, that is $130 / $8.50 which works out to 15.3 hundred pounds a day.  Cows produce 1530 pounds of milk per day?  That can’t be physically possible. That’s about how much a cow weighs total.

If we need to work in the cost of feed and care which is a number we don’t have, but let’s assume that he was breaking even before and it is a constant number (which is probably not correct, as feed prices have increased), then difference is still $8.50 per hundredweight.  Even is we assume that costs have doubled, then the loss due to the price of whole sale milk would be $130 /2 = $65 per cow per day.  Which then leads to $65 / $8.50 = 765 pounds of milk a day per cow.

I am sure I am missing something, but that is my point - part of the problem is that the average non-farmer has no idea what really goes into the cost of their food.

As much fun as it would be to get ole Elsie to drag your tired hide to work, Cowpooling is not the latest transportation fad.  Cowpooling it the practice of buying months worth of meat in one transaction by buying a quarter side or even a half of cow to get the cost savings of buying beef in bulk.

Cash-strapped consumers usually find the cost-per-pound of buying beef in bulk is kinder to their pocketbooks, with an average $3 a pound, plus another 40 and 45 cents a pound to pay a butcher to process, or slaughter, the animal.

I don’t buy all that much meat (ok, pretty much never) so I can’t comment on whether this is a good deal, but it seems to me that one needs to factor in the need to power a freezer for all that meat to get the true cost.  Perhaps this is offset by less trips to the butcher?

Meat costs - its not for the feint of heart.