Cheap Food Fascination

'What!  $20 for a chicken?  You must be a crazy farmer.' I often hear this from potential customers.  I don't take it personally anymore, in fact, this is where real opportunity exists to make positive change in the world; it's in these little things around us each day.

I smile and ask, 'What's a fair price for a chicken?'

The answers can be quite astonishing and it does make me sad in a way that so many people don't grow enough of their own food to have better insights.

We love to flaunt our gadgets.  Wide screen TV"s, the latest smart phone or perhaps a luxury car.  We take pride in their expense because it represents quality.  It's strange.  We reduce our savings on things that depreciate in value to demonstrate our wealth.

I wonder why we don't view food in this way?

How many times have you heard someone compliment a dish and then ask where they got a certain ingredient - let's say beef.  The second question is almost always, 'How much was it?'  If the price is cheap then the meal strangely tastes even better, but if it's considered too high, then doubt kicks in.

Times are tough.  We need to save and be frugal with every dollar we spend.  But like many things in life, there has to be a balance.

I'm not talking about pretentious prices for food.  I personally don't have the money to pay thousands of dollars in a celebrity chefs restaurant - no matter how hand-peeled the bowl of chips are.  I'm talking about a solid investment in the rare commodity of nutrient dense food that will pay dividends of health and regenerate the landscape.

Think about an industry you are familiar with and the way businesses compromises to make a product cheaper.  Perhaps we buy in lower grade steel or find some cheap labour overseas as an example.  Whatever it takes to get that "thing" out into the market as cheaply as possible compromises the product in some way.  It could be made better.  It could last longer, be stronger, safer, etc.

So what happens when we apply this to food?

The same thing really.  Nutrition values drop, flavour suffers, the environment is diminished, animal welfare issues arise, and let's not even look at health impacts.

Our bodies are highly sophisticated biological miracles, refined through millions of years of evolution and probably the most important thing we will ever truly own.  Strange that so many people want to fuel, nurture and care for something so precious with the cheapest thing they can find.

I dream big, too big sometimes.  I imagine a world where people actively seek out farmers and value them as critical contributors to their families well-being.  To be respected and revered as teachers and role models.  Why not as political advisors?  Imagine a regenerative farmers input on environmental action.

For now I would be happy just to see more people care about what they put into their bodies ... and maybe, just maybe, I won't seem like such a crazy farmer anymore :).