how can the american public think the price of food is too high if they have no idea ot the cost of production
american consumers have no idea the cost financially or mentally that farmers endure every year with the weather and rising cost of fuel ,fertilizer labor,chemicals and seed. nobody forces us to do it year after year with chance of losing hundreds of thousands of dollars overnight in a freeze, hailstorm or hurricane katrina that hit us in 2005 ,but we must be able to make a profit to stay in business and grain prices are where they need to be for that to happen. we can continue to provide a safe abundant supply of food for america, but we can’t grow food below the cost of production without government support if prices fall back to lows we’ve been seeing for 20 years. if american farmers can’t stay in business then our food will have to be imported in from other countries and if your one of those people who likes imported oil, then your really going to love imported food.
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3 comments
Karlos on June 20, 2010 at 4:37 pm
To the average consumer, prices are arbitrary numbers set by the seller. In reality, prices communicate the costs of producing and distributing a good.
Mikel on June 20, 2010 at 4:37 pm
We can think that the price of food is to high because it is, on most people’s incomes anyways. Around my area there are lots of people working their butts off for a crappy wage. Most of these people probably have 2 kids or so. All of their money goes to living expenses such as food, housing, and heat.
I personally do not think that food is to high. It seems about right for where we are at in this day and time.
Farmers do have it hard….there are plenty of them around here
Bottom line….people complain about food being high, because their wages are so low.
Hubris252 on June 20, 2010 at 4:37 pm
I think the price of food is too high because I know that cheap subsidized corn has been flooding the world market for decades discouraging agricultural production in developing countries. The price of food is too high today because agricultural production is too low worldwide. Also, I don’t like the idea of the ranchers who provide the beef and chicken having to compete with subsidized ethanol for their inputs.
Also, what’s so bad about imported food? England has been reliant on imported food for centuries and they’re doing fine. I do recall the Corn Laws, which aimed to promote self-sufficiency in agriculture, causing the price of grain in the UK to soar and generally lowering the quality of life for Britons.