The price of food doesn’t always reflect its true costs

Some people think that local foods are too expensive. Over recent decades, industrially farmed and processed foods have become the standard by which many judge how much all food should cost.

But it’s all sleight-of-hand. Food often costs more than advertised. The magician gets you to focus on his left hand (price) while the right hand hides what makes the trick possible (hidden costs). Among them are degraded land from mono-cropping, erosion, aquifer depletion, toxic algae blooms from fertilizer runoff, loss of crop and animal diversity, antibiotic resistance from over-drugged animals, pollinator losses from insecticides and disappearing habitat, and our own chronic poor health from over-processed, nutrient-scarce foods.

Sooner or later, we pay the real price.

Even organically grown isn’t the best quality when done industrially. Corners are cut. Farmers can’t really know exact soil conditions and needs when farming thousands of acres.

Yes, there’s technology to pinpoint soil nutrient status, but it’s usually used to add chemicals more precisely to plants — a short-term solution.

And farm labor? Truth is, they’re paying a much higher price for your food than you are.

Most of the crops used in highly processed, minimally nutritious foods are subsidized (wheat, soy beans, sugar, rice, dairy, corn, etc.). Many farmers grow them because of subsidized crop insurance and guaranteed markets. Given the risks they already face, it’s understandable, but agricultural policies have had increasingly (usually unintentional) negative effects on our health and environment.

Unless you grow some of your own food or buy seasonally from local farms, you probably don’t know how tasty truly fresh food is. Produce that comes from far-away fields, bathed with chemical fertilizers and pesticides, doesn’t taste like that just harvested from healthy, nearby soils. The nutritive content can differ, as well.

Animals raised for food, and their products (milk, eggs), also taste different according to how they’ve been raised and fed.

One farmer who raises poultry, beef, lamb and pork on rotating pastures — minding the land as much as he does his animals — said people think his products are expensive. And they are, when compared to industrially farmed products. But because consumers are so accustomed to lower prices, he can’t charge enough to do more than barely cover costs. How can such farmers pay their workers (and themselves) fair wages, let alone any benefits?

Many local farmers, including some producing seeds for food crops, are certified organic, which is another expense. One that can be lost (along with their customers) if contaminated by neighboring farms.

As our economy shifts and wages stagnate or drop, farmers producing foods for local consumption at fair-wage prices are criticized even more for their “high prices.” Everyone must eat, and someone must be blamed.

Criticism belongs with agricultural policies, deceptive food ads, and a stock-market mentality where investors are paid more than the people who actually produce goods.

Small farmers producing fresh-market food in our community contribute to food banks, gleaners and efforts to get healthful food to our assistance-eligible neighbors.

The irony is that some of those farmers and their employees might qualify for food assistance themselves, were they not harvesting for their own needs, too.

I don’t claim small, local farms are perfect. All farming involves a complicated choreography of valuable resources. As consumers, we must be cognizant of costs as much as prices.