A Brief History of Food (Prices)

In the last few years, there has been a growing national dialogue about the way we feed ourselves. What sorts of foods we eat, where they come from, how much we eat, and how much our food costs...and for good reason. Dietary habits are one half of the the looming American obesity epidemic (the other half of the equation is physical activity). Calories in, calories burned. It's a simple equation.

In the last series of months, there has been a lot of talk about rising costs of food. The recent rises have been attributed to many things, including:

-rising costs of gas needed to run farm machinery and for transporting food -- often from thousands of miles away
-increased interest in biofuels which have driven up the costs of certain crops such as corn and soy. The majority of common foods contain corn or soy in some form, including meats -- most farm animals are now fed corn.

Food prices are increasing significantly today, but they have been pretty stable in recent history, right?




Not exactly. The above graphic shows the change in food prices from 1985 to 2000. Notice that the price of fresh fruits and vegetables increased by almost 40% while the cost of soft drinks decreased by almost 25%! If you look closer at the graphic, nearly all the foods that fast food and junk food contains decreased in price while the essential foods for a healthy lifestyle, increased in price. Why?

The Farm Bill
The change in food prices has been driven, in large part, by The Farm Bill, a huge piece of federal legislation that contains over $25 billion of subsidies for corn, soy, wheat, rice, and cotton, and close to $0 to encourage nutritious fruit and vegetable production. Learn more about the Farm Bill HERE.


Below are some additional resources about food in America.

Movie:
King Corn: http://www.kingcorn.net/



Articles:
You Are What You Grow: www.nytimes.com/2007/04/22/magazine/22wwlnlede.t.html
Unhappy Meals: www.nytimes.com/2007/01/28/magazine/28nutritionism.t.html

Books:
The Omnivore's Dilemma: www.michaelpollan.com/omnivore.php
Fast Food Nation: www.amazon.com/Fast-Food-Nation-Dark-All-American/dp/0060938455