Paying the Price of Low prices

A chill is in the air this morning.  Out my office window I see the yellow, gold and red trees on the hill sides.  I know soon the colors will mute to greens and browns and lots of white.  We are making the most of these days of fall.  All of our outlying hay fields are cut, baled and picked up.  Asa and the Farmhands will take a backpacking trip this week..Something they usually try to do earlier in the summer, but this year it got pushed.  They know they better go this week before the nights get too cold for it to be enjoyable.

This time of year morning chores start later as the water lines going out to the birds and pigs on pasture will have ice in them this early.  We have to wait until the sun warms them enough for the water to flow.  

The hens in the WinniEggos are still out on pasture everyday, but they are closer to the hoophouses, so we are ready to move them into their winter housing as soon as the forecast tells us its too cold for the birds and the waterlines to continue their rotation through the pasture.  

I took the last of the turkeys to Kansas last week to be processed in a USDA facility so that we can offer turkeys to restaurants, markets and dude ranches this year.  Our on farm processing only allows for direct to consumer sales.  The facility in Kansas is the closest USDA processing facility for Independent farmers.  It was a good experience and I was able to help process our birds and see what it’s like processing in a more automated facility.  It was also a VERY long drive, 700 miles each way and not something we’ll switch to for all our birds anytime soon.  

One benefit of a long drive like that is the time to listen to audiobooks and podcasts.  This drive had me listening to a book call “Animal, Vegetable, Miracle”  about a family that takes a pledge to eat as local as possible for a whole year.  They plan their menus based on the seasons and what they can grow in their own garden, buy from local farmers and preserve for the winter.   I found their story fascinating and the book was also filled with interesting facts about our industrial food system.  

One topic that really caught my attention was about Pay the Price of Low Prices.  Something I have often wondered ow the math would be.  You know better than most that shopping with a small scale farmer (us) carries a higher price tag than you will see on “similar” products in the store.  The products in the stores are part of a highly subsidized industrial food system.  In the book they break down the numbers: agriculture fuel paid for by taxes $22 billion, direct Farm Bill subsidies for corn and wheat $3 billion, treatment of food related illnesses $10 billion, collateral cost of pesticide use $8 billion, and the cost of nutrients lost to erosion $20 billion.  At a minimum that’s a national subsidy of at least $80 billion or about $725 a year for every American household BEFORE even shopping for food at the grocery store.  That’s a cost we all bear, but every dollar you spend with us and other independent producers helps strengthen a more local and sustainable food system.  

I'd love to hear your thoughts on this