"THE REAL COST OF CHEAP FOOD"

Last week I was in the dentists office browsing through magazines when I came accoss this title on the cover of Time for August 31, 2009. WOW!

I turned to the article on page 31. The article points out the hidden costs of producing cheap meat and grain: soil degredation and erosion, rising concern over antibiotic resistant bacteria in farm animals, global climate change. It goes on to point out that this style of farming uses up 19% of US fossil fuels. That's a lot!

It points out that the current "a food system - from seed to 7-eleven- that generates cheap , filling food...is also a principal cause of America's obesity epidemic."

The article was accompanied by a little chart with a dollar bill on the left and on the right what that dollar could buy:

1200 calories of potato chips or 875 calories of soda or 250 calories of veggies or 170 calories of fresh fruit

Geez! But would you feel better and be healthier if you ate the veggies or the fresh fruit? Yes.

One of our CSA shareholders explained his family's philosophy on food like this: He said, they would rather pay more for better quality food. This approach means they eat less, but much better. No one in their family is overweight.

Hmmmm.

You can read the article for yourself by clicking here: http://www.pewtrusts.org/news_room_detail.aspx?id=54765

Let me know what you think.