by Chas Bonner
We in the farming industry are blessed yet again. In the past few months, the popular press has been inundated with articles about the importance of healthy eating, and not just because of the exorbitant costs of being unhealthy. From almost any standpoint, human beings do much better eating healthy. To wit:
- The USDA recently released a study illustrating that healthy eating was cheaper than eating high calorie junk food, whereas many had argued in the past that one could get a full meal at a fast food restaurant, and for less than $3.00.
- If measured solely by calories, we get more in a fast food meal, but when measured by healthy calories, vitamins, minerals, poly-unsaturated fats, we get far more sustenance from simple fruits, vegetables, whole grains, meats and dairy products.
- When considering costs, most economists are now calculating full costs, and not just of the food, but the results of the food. We are well aware that the obesity rate in America is now over 30%, expected to rise to 42% by 2030. Obesity is now referred to as the “Next Great Epidemic” in America, and our obesity is largely caused by empty, but perhaps tasty calories.
- Because calories that come from junk food, donuts, candy bars, etc., are digested quickly (simple sugars can bypass the digestive system and go directly into the blood stream), hunger returns quickly, forcing yet more food ingestion and more obesity.
- Man has evolved over almost 4 Million years, and yet modern food processing has evolved over about 150 years. As a result, today we are eating foods that the human body has not yet evolved to eating and processing well.
- In many foods, up to 90% of the cost of the food does not show up at farm gate, but is all processing, packaging, marketing, shipping, and retailing cost. As a result, moving back to simpler foods is cheaper, healthier, and benefits farmers more directly.
We know there are exceptions to every rule, but our opinion is that current food trends will provide more benefit to the growers of that food rather than to the processors and marketers. There is simply too much evidence to support that thesis, and yes, we do feel blessed to be in this business.
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