Text 4804, 159 rader
Skriven 2008-04-02 20:40:12 av CAROL BRYANT (1:123/140)
Ärende: Today's NYT
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Interesting article...

The New York Times
 
April 2, 2008
Some Good News on Food Prices
By KIM SEVERSON

WHILE grocery shoppers agonize over paying 25 percent more for eggs and 17
percent more for milk, Michael Pollan, the author and de facto leader of the
food intellectuals, happily dreams of small, expensive bottles of Coca-Cola.

Along with some other critics of the American way of eating, he likes the
idea that some kinds of food will cost more, and here’s one reason why: As
the price of fossil fuels and commodities like grain climb, nutritionally
questionable, high-profit ingredients like high-fructose corn syrup will,
too. As a result, Cokes are likely to get smaller and cost more. Then, the
argument goes, fewer people will drink them.

And if American staples like soda, fast-food hamburgers and frozen dinners
don’t seem like such a bargain anymore, the American eating public might
turn its attention to ingredients like local fruits and vegetables, and
milk and meat from animals that eat grass. It turns out that those foods,
already favorites of the critics of industrial food, have also dodged
recent price increases.

Logic would dictate that arguing against cheap food would be the wrong move
when the Consumer Price Index puts food costs at about 4.5 percent more this
year than last. But for locavores, small growers, activist chefs and others,
higher grocery bills might be just the thing to bring about the change they
desire.

Higher food costs, they say, could push pasture-raised milk and meat past
its boutique status, make organic food more accessible and spark a national
conversation about why inexpensive food is not really such a bargain after
all.

“It’s very hard to argue for higher food prices because you are ceding
popular high ground to McDonald’s when you do that,ö said Mr. Pollan, a
contributor to The New York Times Magazine and author of “In Defense of
Food: An Eater’s Manifestoö (Penguin Press). “But higher food prices level
the playing field for sustainable food that doesn’t rely on fossil fuels.ö

The food-should-cost-more cadre wants to change an agricultural system that
spends billions of dollars in government subsidies to grow commodities like
grain, sugar, corn and animal protein as cheaply as possible.

The current system, they argue, is almost completely reliant on petroleum
for fertilizers and global transportation. It has led to consolidations of
farms, environmentally unsound monoculture and, at the end of the line, a
surplus of inexpensive food with questionable nutritional value. Organic
products are not subsidized, which is one reason those products are more
expensive.

As a result, the theory goes, small farmers can’t make a living, obesity
and diabetes are worsening, workers are being exploited and soil and
waterways are being damaged. In other words, the true cost of a hamburger
or a box of macaroni and cheese may be a lot more than the price.

“We’re talking about health, we’re talking about the planet, we’re talking
about the people who are supporting the land,ö said Alice Waters, the
restaurateur, who has more than once been accused of promoting a diet that
is either unaffordable or unrealistic for a working person.

Urging others to eat better (and thus more expensive) food is not elitist,
she said. It is simply a matter of quality versus quantity and encouraging
healthier, more satisfying choices. “Make a sacrifice on the cellphone or
the third pair of Nike shoes,ö she said.

Anna Lappé, founder of the Small Planet Institute, which studies food and
public policy, said that equating cheap food with bad food is an
oversimplification, because food pricing is a complex process. Investors
skew the volatile commodities market. And less money is spent on the actual
food than it is on marketing, packaging, transportation and multimillion
dollar compensation for the biggest food companies’ executives.

“But it is really hard for people to understand speculations on commodities
markets and even how food companies externalize costs when they are going
to the store to buy a gallon of milk,ö she said. Besides, an intellectual
debate on food costs might not be exactly what a cash-strapped grocery
shopper needs right now. In fact, arguing for more expensive food seems, at
the least, indelicate.

“Someone on the margin who says ‘I’m struggling’ would say rising food
costs are in no way a positive,ö said Ephraim Leibtag of the United States
Department of Agriculture’s Economic Research Service. Even if the food
budget isn’t an issue, there are plenty of people who view low-cost food as
a national triumph.

“If you think that mass production and vast distribution predicated on
cheap energy is a good system, then the dollar hamburger is a good thing,"
Mr. Leibtag said.

Still, there are likely to be some tangible advantages to current prices.
For one thing, the relative bargains are likely to be found in the produce
aisle and the farmers’ market stalls. The Consumer Price Index for fresh
fruits and vegetables is slightly lower than a year ago. That is good news
for many shoppers, including the poor who use food stamps and are experts
in stretching a food dollar, said Laura Brainin-Rodriguez, a public health
educator who helps the poorest people in the San Francisco Bay Area eat
better.

“People here will take two buses to get to Chinatown to get cheaper
produce,ö she said.

Policies meant to support local farms and urban agriculture programs will
likely be strengthened, too. Shorter supply chains become increasingly
attractive as fuel costs rise, said Thomas Forster, a former organic farmer
and veteran of four farm bills who is working with the United Nations on
food issues.

To that end, both state and federal governments have begun to encourage
institutional buyers like school districts to consider geography and not
just price when seeking bids on food contracts.

“It could also lead to a move toward more local slaughterhouses and
stronger regional meat systems,ö he said.

In the category of meat and dairy, rising commodity prices could very
likely help the small but growing number of farmers who raise animals the
old-fashioned way, on grassy pastures. With little or no need for expensive
grain, these farmers can sell their milk and meat for more attractive
prices.

That is welcome news to Ned MacArthur, founder of an organic, pasture-based
dairy in Pennsylvania that sells milk, butter and other food under the
Natural by Nature label. Unlike dairy farmers who feed their animals grain,
people on the 52 farms in his consortium are looking forward to the coming
months, he said.

“The grass is starting to grow now so within the next couple weeks the cows
are really going to take off,ö he said.

Although prices for organic groceries are rising at least as fast as their
conventional counterparts, organic shoppers may soon find that they have
more low-priced options. Tighter grocery budgets could drive the expansion
of less-expensive “private labelö organic brands, as supermarkets and big
box stores try to attract new consumers and keep established organic
shoppers from walking away.

“Organics are still considered food for the elite, but private labels make
organics more the norm in the market place,ö said Gary Hirshberg, president
of Stonyfield Farm and a board member of four other organic food and
beverage companies.

Of course, all of this is theoretical. If the American shopper decides
cheap food is the most important thing, the intellectual musings of the
food elite might be trampled in the stampede to the value menu.

Marcia Mogelonsky, a senior research analyst at Mintel who has analyzed
food trends for 17 years, said it was too soon to tell.

“The main thing is that you need a little evidence before you say everyone
is clipping coupons and eating dirt,ö she said. “All we know for sure at
this point is that people are going to the supermarket and noticing butter
is $4 a pound and not $2.ö
 
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