Comments on: The End of Cheap Food

By: dave

dave — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 18:49:31 +0000

Making bio-fuel from algee waste from water treatment plants is the way to go. We spend millions every year to get rid of the stuff. We have the technology to turn it almost directly to burnable fuel. We get it by the tons, and dont have to pay to get rid of it. And we dont need any farmland to grow it.

Plankton can be grown at an astonishing rate in wherehouses. Uses no farmland. Grass, and other weed/junk plants can also be used on land not fit for corn or wheat.

Saying we need to use food for fuel is nothing more than a scare tactic by big oil.

By: Crafty

Crafty — Fri, 04 Jan 2008 13:52:17 +0000

I grow fresh high dollar veg and buy low dollar food crop, thus I beat the high dollar cost of shopping using simple hydroponics. Seeds are cheap, Perlite is cheap, herbs grow! Looking to grow lettuce next.

By: Daniel Gibbons

Daniel Gibbons — Thu, 03 Jan 2008 07:31:06 +0000

It’s interesting and disturbing that all of these Bush-era Republican strategies follow the same pattern: transfer tax dollars from the poor and middle income earners to large business through subsidies and government contracts, yet disguise this reality with the rhetoric of helping hard working Americans enjoy their simple, honest lives. And then in turn stand by as the same recipients of these subsidies and contracts use them to make the lives of those who paid for them still more miserable.

By: Tom Jacoby

Tom Jacoby — Sat, 22 Dec 2007 00:33:50 +0000

you seem surprised? I believe you mentioned a few years back the class effect of food costs. The wealthier eat better, the scrambling class can’t afford to, and get fat/sicker.

Your Corn Syrup is poison and should be outlawed! Hopefully we can find more local food sources that can be made more easily available.

I’m not holding out much hope while hamburger prices are driven below that of coffee by the market. Or the politicians ensuring fuel costs don’t reflect the costs/impact on the country.

By: Ben Wong

Ben Wong — Fri, 21 Dec 2007 07:47:43 +0000

Good post. Something I’ve given little thought to. I’ve always been astonished at the prices of food in the US. Sometimes I shop at Walmart in Bellingham and it is so much cheaper than in Canada.

At McDonalds there you can get a McChicken for $1.00. That’s almost as cheap as Thailand. Plus the food on the shelves, made w/ corn and wheat, is quite inexpensive.

If the cost of food does go up and the price of a twinkie is the same as an apple, I wonder if the obesity rate in the US will drop.

Perhaps if the cost of producing food with highly subsidized corn increases, people may eat more healthy and the cost of health care will decrease and things will even out.

By: Boris Mann

Boris Mann — Thu, 20 Dec 2007 23:37:21 +0000

Great to see you writing about this, Ian. Also a long term passion of mine — sustainable and more local food. Even “organic” food is done by megacorps today.

Better go buy another copy of Square Foot Gardening…