Hubby and I are reading through Joel Salatin's new book "Folks this ain't
normal" and I came across such a good analogy about the "high cost" of good
food (grass fed beef, pasture eggs, etc..)
Folks do complain about the high cost of our pasture eggs (us personally - not Salatin) and I know
I have more than once thought about the high cost of grass fed beef.what
most of us do not realize is that our tax dollars are used to subsidize
"conventional" farmers. The farmers growing healthy meats, eggs, veggies,
etc.. do not receive government assistance.
So - the analogy (this is a quote directly from the book):
"Suppose the nation have five automobile manufacturers and the government
decided to subsidize four of them to the tune of $5000 per automobile. Would
it be fair to scream at the fifth one about their high prices? Of course
not. And yet that is exactly what people do when they accuse the local,
ecologically based food system of high prices. We're charging the true cost
of goods and labor, not some artificial one. The truth is that the case
register price for regular industrial food at the supermarket - processed of
not- is a lie. It does not represent the subsidies. The biggest subsidies
are not direct payments to the farmers, they are the tab society picks up
for externalized costs. The cost or 500,000 cases of foodborne bacterial
diarrhea that Americans will get this year from dirty food. What's the price
on a case of diarrhea? I don't know, but I guarantee you if those were added
to the supermarket cash register, food wouldn't be as cheap as it is."
