Wednesday, February 09, 2022

Food in the News


Orange juice, which mainly comes from Florida oranges, will be increasing in price – again – because of a huge drop in the Florida orange crop.  The primary cause is a disease of orange trees called citrus greening, but unusually cold weather this winter is also affecting the current orange crop. During the pandemic, moreover, the demand for orange juice has been increasing. A gallon of juice that cost a restaurant $8 before the pandemic and $12 last week has now gone to $20, according to an article in the Washington Post last week. (https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2022/01/29/orange-juice-prices-skyrocket/)

Breakfast cereals and other pantry staples recently increased in cost by as much as 20% after General Mills, maker of many popular cereals, increased prices. Given that many people in the US at all income levels rely on cereal as a center of breakfast, this makes a difference! General Mills announced late last year that it would be "raising prices in mid-January on hundreds of items across dozens of brands. They include Annie's, Progresso, Yoplait, Fruit Roll-Ups, Betty Crocker, Pillsbury, Cheerios, Cinnamon Toast Crunch, Lucky Charm's, Wheaties, Reese's Puffs." (https://edition.cnn.com/2021/11/23/business/cheerios-grocery-prices-general-mills/index.html)

Avocado prices have soared, and evidently, avocados in the form of guacamole are an essential element of the Super Bowl, so this affects our society in a very alarming way. "A year ago, the United States had record shipments of avocados coming from Mexico. This year, despite consistently high demand, shipments are more in line with the five-year average. There just aren’t enough to meet demand, which has driven prices higher. Avocados are 100 percent more expensive than they were a year ago." This is one example in a large number of price increases of fruit and vegetables. (https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2022/02/07/grocery-produce-inflation-guacamole/)

Food prices are in the news all the time. Besides packaged foods and produce, meat and dairy prices have been covered extensively as they have been rising throughout the past year or more. Global grain supplies increased in 2021 and will increase slightly again in 2022, according to FAO, but costs are going up so prices will go up. (https://www.fao.org/worldfoodsituation/csdb/en/)

Workers in the food industry are deemed essential, but treated unfairly. Just one of many examples – at a strike at an ice-cream cake factory in California, "The dispute centers on food workers, hailed as heroes early in the pandemic, who are struggling to cope with spiraling costs of living as the company that employs them posts billion-dollar revenues." (https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/feb/05/us-cake-workers-california-rich-products-corporation)

The behavior of Big Agriculture has consequences in many areas of concern. One area is cruelty, both to workers in processing plants and to the animals they slaughter and process. Another area of concern is damage to the environment from animal farming. For example, in their short and brutal lives, chickens eat a lot of grain and soybeans, so Tyson Foods, a major producer of chicken meat, controls vast areas of agricultural land.

In an article today, I read this about the land Tyson controls:
"Tyson Foods utilizes between nine and 10m acres of farmland – an area almost twice the size of New Jersey – to produce corn and soybeans to feed the more than 2 billion animals it processes every year in the US alone, according to new research. ... the scale of farming needed to produce animal feed contributes to many of the environmental problems of large-scale agriculture. These issues include changes to soil and the natural flow of water, the way solar energy relates to the earth, and disruption of plants and animals. Pollution from fertilizers and pesticides are another big concern, and the risks of contaminating drinking water and harming ecosystems."

While Tyson pledged several years ago to address issues of sustainable agriculture in the land it relies on, the pledges have largely been unfulfilled. (https://southeastagnet.com/2019/06/10/animal-activist-groups-target-tyson-contract-growers/https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/feb/09/us-poultry-giant-tyson-farmland-twice-size-new-jersey-feed-animals)

Along with the many economic dislocations of the last two years, the food supply and food prices have been a major source of worries, especially among people whose food budgets are limited, but also among people who worry about the welfare of everyone, not just their own well being. Among the factors besides price that appear in food news stories, are the scarcity of labor in food markets, the abuses of labor in industrial food processing, the impact of climate change and local weather on food production, the increasing cost of transportation of food, and the increasing burden on food banks and other organizations to help people in need. 

Blog post © 2022 mae sander.

20 comments:

Kitchen Riffs said...

Really a nice roundup of news. I continue to eat meat, but I'm becoming increasingly concerned/unhappy/angry about the modern meat industry. The fake meat substitutes just don't cut it for me. Lab grown meat is on the (probably distant) horizon, but that sounds a bit creepy. Sigh. Anyway, thanks for this.

DVArtist said...

Very good post. I knew most of what your wrote and have been worried about the food supply for quite sometime. Since I had to close my business last year and lost 2/3 of my income I have been doing everything I can to stock up on food and non food items that we will be too expensive to purchase sooner than we think. I always go back to the movie Soylent Green. Not that we will be eating people any time soon but the overall story.

gluten Free A_Z Blog said...

I have noticed a continuous rise in my grocery bills. Many items have gone up significantly. For example, a jar of organic salsa from Aldi's that Is a staple in my soup cooking has gone from $1.35 to 2.35 over the past year.I've also noticed a significant increase in the cost of organic bagged apples and other fruit. I thought it was because of the lack of truck drivers and gasoline prices rising. According to your reserach there seem to be other factors as well. Thanks Mae

Deb Nance at Readerbuzz said...

Many of my dad's very-elderly friends live on extremely tight food budgets, and the inflation that has come with the pandemic has been hard on them. There is a little food pantry that's about the size of a Little Free Library at the church next door to me, and there is a steady stream of traffic stopping to get food there.

Cereal here has gone up about 25% and flour is more than doubled in price.

Debra Eliotseats said...

It's just crazy what you hear and then what you see (or don't see) in the stores. It's so hit and miss around here.

Jenn Jilks said...

It is a difficult problem around the world. I feel so badly for those who cannot afford these price increases.
Mind you, the CEOs of these big companies rake in multimillion dollar salaries. It is shameful.

Sallie (FullTime-Life) said...

Our grocery cost increases when we come to Florida from Oregon even in a "normal" year. Prices are just higher on everything. I'm sure we're spending more on groceries than we were last year, but because we're still not eating out at all, overall our food cost will be less than the last pre-covid year. We notice the savings. But I don't mean to minimize the problems you so clearly present. I can remember a time when we counted pennies and the price of cereal and orange juice for a family of six would have been noticed and would have been very difficult. I worry for families.

Tandy | Lavender and Lime (http://tandysinclair.com) said...

Prices have increased here as well making even more people food insecure. It's a pity that battery chickens and feed lot cows cannot be obliterated. It's a cycle one cannot see the end of, increase food costs leading to more people needing aid.

Sherry's Pickings said...

things are going to be tough for a while yet it seems. there are lots of people living in cars etc a bit south from us due to huge rent increases as southerners are trying to move north to escape - well, whatever it is. Landlords have used covid as an excuse for all sorts of things. let's hope things get better soon.

eileeninmd said...

Hello,
Great post and info. It seems our grocery bill increases each week we go shopping. I agree with Jenn above. It is disgusting to see these companies making huge profits and the CEO's making even higher salaries. Take care, enjoy your day!

Divers and Sundry said...

The price increases are dramatic. The state of our food supply is a problem. I can't but wonder how these industries aren't better regulated.

Jeanie said...

This is really interesting, Mae. I knew about the OJ and cereal but this avocado news breaks my heart. Molly just gave me the best avocado salad recipe that was to die for! I was counting on it. It's going to be tough for awhile. And worldwide. Not just us...

Bleubeard and Elizabeth said...

I like to eat half an avocado every day, but the last two Scott got for me were so hard, they never ripened. And the cost had jumped, too. It won't be long till I'll be eating nothing but ramen noodles for every meal. Very good message.

Amila said...

This is an interesting post with important updates. Sustainable agriculture is what we need today considering the entire world.

eileeninmd said...

Hello Mae,
I feel sorry for all the chickens. I am thankful for all the workers in our food stores, they seem to be working hard keeping items stocked that we need.
Since we are retired we live as frugal as can, watching prices go up on everything we buy. Thank you for linking up and sharing your post. Take care, have a happy weekend. PS, thanks for leaving me a comment.

Beth F said...

We don't eat cereal so I hadn't noticed any increases there. We buy mostly locally or sustainably produced foods and hit the grocery only to fill in. Prices everywhere, not just food are going up ... inflation is on the rise.

Shiju Sugunan said...

Nice compilation of news. The meat industry consumes a lot of water.

Breathtaking said...

Hello, Food prices have increased here too in Portugal, although there is not a shortage of anything.

Melynda@Scratch Made Food! said...

Food was expensive here in Montana BEFORE the inflation hit! And we have also noticed the climb in prices right along with the open shelving where food used to be. Sometimes our grocery store looks like it needs to go to the grocery store...

Marg said...

We have noticed a very definite increase in the price of our grocery shop too