Author: Mike Lieberman

The rising food prices have been in the news a lot lately. I mean c’mon it helped to cause an uprising in Egypt.

Here in the States, the food prices are starting to rise as well. While indeed that may be true, it’s not the food that is too expensive it’s everything else that goes into getting the food to your plate that’s causing the price to increase.

The Daily Green had a great post titled For Every Dollar You Spend on “Food,” Less than 16 Cents Pays for Food. They broke down where the money goes based on what the USDA reports.

Wait how much actually goes to the food?
As you can tell by the title less than 16% of each dollar goes towards the actual food. The other 84% goes towards the marketing of the food.

They break down that 84% even further. Food processing (19%) and services (34%) make the lion share of that 84%.

Food processing are the ones that process your food into the “food” products that can be found on the shelves. Food services are the ones that distribute, package and label the food.

Pretty much what this means is that most of the money that we are paying for food goes to the middleman NOT to paying for the food. This system doesn’t seem like one that can work and is sustainable in the long term.

That is the real issue.

Great food prices are rising, but what can we do?
Our current food system relies on these middlemen to provide us with our food. I say we cut these middlemen out of the equation thus bringing down the price of food.

There are a few ways that you can cut out the middleman and get your food from closer to the source.

• Start to grow your own food. You might not be able to fully survive off of what you grow, but every little bit matters.
• Go to your local farmers market and buy directly from the grower. There is no middleman involved there.
• Join your local CSA. This is a good way to connect with others in your area and to support the local farmers.

By doing any of those or a combination of them, we can combat the high prices of food and help to cause the change that we want to see.

What are other things that we can do about the rising food prices?

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4txpTgGpvBw

There are plenty of safety problems in the food industry and your dinner is linked to them. These safety problems are why you should grow your own food and organic gardening makes sense to me, but right now I want to discuss problems beyond the food.

Let’s talk about how the workers are treated, but more specifically the female workers. There was an article on Alternet.org titled “Why Women Who Pick and Process Your Food Face Daily Threats of Rape, Harassment and Wage Theft.”

That’s a pretty heavy title. Here’s an excerpt from the first paragraph:

The report, “Injustice on Our Plates: Immigrant Women in the U.S. Food Industry,” compiles the experiences of 150 immigrant women who came from Mexico or other Latin American countries to work in the food industry, both in fields and in factories, across the United States. The picture it paints is grim. Women, who make up nearly a quarter of U.S. farmworkers, face the same indignities that immigrant men face — and then some.

It makes it difficult to sit down and enjoy your meal today, doesn’t it? To know that anyone, especially a woman, is being treated this way so that we can enjoy our food. Can you really enjoy your food knowing this?

As you read what goes on in the post, it hits you like a ton of bricks. There is no way that I could consciously support these practices and companies that employ them.

This is why I like to vote with my dollar, since George Washington is the most powerful man in this country.

Even though it’s a depressing post, there are things that you as an individual can do to stand up against the way these women and workers are treated.

Totally removing yourself from the industrialized food world might not be possible right now, but here are somethings that you can do:

• Be self-sufficient. This is a long term goal of mine, but one that many might not be able to do right now.
• Start your own garden. You can start to grow some of your own food. Space shouldn’t be an issue or excuse because I’ve already shown you what can be done on a fire escape and balcony.
• Support local growers. Shop at your local farmers markets or join your local CSA.
• Buy organic produce. At the very minimum, you can buy organic produce. If these workers are going to be working the fields under these horrible conditions, at least let them be fields that are free from chemicals.

The next time you sit down to eat your meal, think about where you food came from and how it got to your plate.

How else can we join together to not support this exploitative food system?

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tebyf2y7_Y4

One of the biggest news stories over the past week has been the USDA’s announcement that it’s going to be deregulating Monsanto’s genetically engineered alfalfa.

There has been a lot of confusion circulating around this news. This confusion started with Organic Consumers Association report that the “Organic Elite” of Whole Foods, Stonyfield Farms and Organic Valley decided to surrender the fight. They decided to give up and select what amounts to the lesser of the presented evils.

I’m always for listening to all sides of the story. Initially I jumped to the conclusion that these companies caved and surrendered. After reading through lots of posts in the past week and the PR statements issued by all of the parties, I still hold that same opinion.

First off, it’s nearly impossible to read the entire PR statements issued and understand what they are saying and the point. That’s the first problem. They are company issued and crafted PR statements. They are not true and genuine statements. At least they don’t seem that way to me.

Here’s an excerpt of the statement as posted on Stonyfield’s blog:

In December, to no one’s surprise, the USDA took a complete ban of GE alfalfa off the table as an option, leaving only two choices: complete deregulation or deregulation with some safeguards to protect organic farmers, which they called “co-existence.” The choice we were faced with was to walk away and wait for the legal battle in the courts or stay at the table and fight for safeguards that would attempt to protect organic farmers and consumer choice, still maintaining the option for legal battle later.

Read Stonyfield’s full statement.

This is an excerpt from statement Organic Valley’s that was posted on their Facebook page:

However, as of December, they had left only two options on the table: allowing unrestricted commercial growing, or partly restricted growing. As much as we wished a complete ban could still on the table, it wasn’t, and we knew we needed to throw our whole weight behind advocating for certain rules, so that farmers would have legal recourse in the face of contamination, and contamination could be avoided by mandating sizable buffer zones and geographical planting restrictions.

Read Organic Valley’s full statement.

Besides the fact that both of those statements are pretty similar (think their PR people spoke with each other about crisis control?), here is how I interpret these excerpts:

We didn’t have any options. We didn’t want to fight anymore. We caved and chose the lesser of the evils presented.

What happened to standing up for what you believe in and fighting? At this point, I don’t think you can continue the fight. They know that if they stand still long enough that you will cave. So they will wait you out, and you’ll cave again.

Thank you “Organic Elite” of Whole Foods, Stonyfield Farms and Organic Valley for opening up my eyes to what you truly are and stand for – just another corporation making a dollar. I can say that I will no longer be supporting any of your brands anymore.

This is just another reason why you should start to grow your own food. We don’t need these corporations controlling our food and making decisions for us. Go to your local farmers market and support your local farmers. Get to know them and ask them questions about their farming practices. Join your local food co-op or CSA. The power is truly in your hands to make a difference.

Beth Buczynski did a good write up on the Care2 blog about this situation called 3 Major Organic Brands Surrender To Monsanto’s GE Alfalfa. She received some heat and copy and pasted corporate response from some of the companies involved, and I’m sure that I will as well.

When David from The Good Human asked the Organic Elite to outright deny the Organic Consumers Association piece, they wouldn’t. They just responded with their cut and past PR statement. Sad.

In the ideal world, I hope that I’m wrong and that they did fully stand-up against Monsanto and GE alfalfa. Maybe I am misinterpreting what has gone down. I’m just stating my opinion as to how I see the situation. I vote with my dollar and will not be supporting these brands.

What are your thoughts on this whole scenario?

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fz01BVgW2cE