Comments Raise More Hell has made

High prices here to stay

You can wish what you want, but food prices at the supermarket will continue to climb. Industrial ag uses 10 calories of petrochemical energy to deliver one calorie of food energy. As small farmers, who are less efficient in terms of human labor, but incredibly more efficient in terms of energy and water, achieve price parity, and demand for local food rises still more, we can hope that more folks will be attracted to farming. Because we need millions of new farmers, farming sustainably.

The whole concept of cheap commodity prices was put in place not for the consumer, and certainly not for the farmer, but for the benefit of the giant corporate processors.

As to the value of Washington's program to put local foods into schools, it's helping to raise awareness. But the dollar amount is miniscule. Especially when you consider that the Washington State Department of Agriculture is dedicated to killing small farmers in the state. Several years back I raised pastured poultry on my small farm north of Spokane. The WSDA put me, and about thirty other producers east of the Cascades (and my guess is more than that on the west side) out of business. They did this by promulgating new regulations which would require us to build a factory to continue to slaughter chickens. Building a factory would adversely affect the cleanliness of the product, and double its price. One producer, raising half the federal limit (10,000 birds) would gross about $125,000.  They killed a local ag sector that was putting millions into the economy with the potential for far more. And now you give them credit for the paltry $600,000 subsidy (I've heard that far less will actually be spent). They've gone on to target small dairies, and I understand local egg producers will be in the crosshairs next.On Why Michael Pollan and Alice Waters should quit celebrating food-price hikes posted 1 year, 8 months ago 27 Responses