Money Matters

Over the course of the last four days, I have eaten more fast food than I have had in many, many, many months. I am a sucker for fast food, I admit it. Not very Zomppa-like or healthy, but it’s sometimes real good. But generally, it’s sort of a “treat” for me, not a way of life. So it was rather strange the last few days as I was unexpectedly called out of town to handle some unexpectedly work crises. The place was beautiful, but with 20-hour days, I pretty much missed most meals (sadness). By the time I could eat, the only food available were from places with drive-through windows and value meals.

Cheap fast food once in a while may be fine, but every day…I begin to wonder, “boy, this can’t be that great for me.” But when that is the only option, one has to eat…not to mention spending $3.30 on a full meal is certainly much more wallet-friendly than the $20 buckets of fresh, juicy blackberries that tempt me every weekend at the Farmer’s Market but I can’t justify paying for them. It’s sometimes easier for me to buy the $3.99 pint at the store instead by an unknown farmer from an unknown source.

Why is fresh food so expensive? Are these large-scale farmers rolling in the dough and not the hay? When we say farm, many of us think of the romantic small, family farm. But recent books and movies often show large-scale farms not to be bucolic and lovely, but conglomerate sub-contracters of Monsanto and Cargill, whose farmers drive out once a day in large trucks spraying chemicals but not “farming.”

What is the truth, and moreover, what is a farm?

When even many small farmers become part of a larger food chain, like an assembly line of a vertically integrated food system, with farmer to processor to packager to marketer to wholesaler to…so on and so forth., what does it mean to be a farmer? According to the National Farmers Union, any farmer’s shares are teeny when taking into account all the other costs that account for what a consumer pays for.

Large-scale farmer or small-scale farmer, they are real people growing your food. So next time we complain about the $8.00/pound steak, let’s not assume that the farmer is pulling a fast one – most of that $8.00 is going to the lighting, the gas, the salaries of the many, many middlemen that stand in between the farmer and your plate.

I’m not suggesting you be draconian about it, but each time we shop, we should pay particular attention to where that food comes from. Is the apple from Chile really necessary when an apple from a neighboring county seems just as good (and probably better because it’s fresher, juicier, in season…)? Although there will likely still be middlemen costs regardless (unless you buy straight from the farmer’s market, but this is not always available or accessible, so we have to be realistic), let’s remember the farmer. Yes, money matters. So we have to make choices and  prioritize. But the closer the food source to you, the more money the farmer is likely to actually take home rather than your money going to middlemen. (This does not count the Kraft factory down the road).

This philosophy goes for more than food.

• Where do your clothes come from?
• Where do your children’s toys come from?

Things to consider and remember when next you are shopping.

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