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I Went to Market and I Bought....

The initial buzz over organics and food standards has disappeared from the media, submerged under a flood of recession-thinking and recession-spending. Not the time to be buying organic we may think? Well, think again. Research now suggests there is no such thing as cheap food. In a slow economy, false economy creates greater cost to the recession.

Organics; one of the fastest growing industries of the past decade has hit a road-bump. After overcoming natural and man made opposition, it's the consumer that now poses threat to sustainable, healthy, and ethical food production.

In the decade ending 2006, organic food sales in the UK alone rose 20% each year. Last year, organics declined in market share. Organic food revenues was down 5.3% against food inflation hikes last year. The USA faired a little better. Whilst industry growth dropped from 30% to 1%, it still grew in the last year.

The recession has hit the 'luxury' market most severely and organics has fallen into this bracket. If cost is the problem, then we have a problem in understanding.

There is no such thing as cheap food. The only choice is when we pay for it, how we pay for it and whether it's worth it. The cost of organics are higher at the checkout. The costs of industrial farming are life-long and multifaceted.

If cost is defined in purely monetary terms, then the costs of industrial farming methods bypasses the checkout and hits at both a micro and macro level later. Whether we pay for our healthcare privately, through insurance premiums or through taxes, our healthcare is getting increasingly more expensive largely because of the food we eat.

We eat more meat today than we ever have. To meet the high demand at low cost, livestock, whether cattle, poultry or swine, are fed on genetically modified and corn treated with pesticides and fertilizers. They are given growth hormones to mature quickly and their muscles grow abnormally large, they are kept in close quarters, deep in their own manure. Livestock are routinely given preventative antibiotics to help dispel the higher level of sickness that inevitably results.

Such factory farming methods have many effects on human health. High fat content, growth hormones, pesticides and genetic modification based food chains, salmonella, CJD, flu epidemics, all effect human health. Aside from the cost to quality of life and the emotional cost of a death or sickness in the family, there are great fiscal costs from related sickness and deaths. To businesses, healthcare providers, loss of skills in the marketplace, incapacity benefits and dependents, there are many health related costs caused by farming practices. Just the healthcare expenditure due to antibiotic-resistant bacteria caused by overuse in farming, ranges from 4 to 5 billion dollars per year in the USA alone.

Certain cancers, diabetes and obesity related health problems are but a few of the health issues that arise from factory farming. That health is seen as a luxury is a scary modern reality. Our low quality meat and added sugar in processed food has created epidemic obesity that adds $147 billion a year to our doctor bills. If we look outside of the human cost and look at the abuse to livestock and the environment, we would realize our cheap burger just caused immediate suffering and long-term local and global environmental damage. Industrial farming's energy-intensive system uses 19% of U.S. fossil fuels, more than any other sector of the economy.

Defining as luxury, food free from genetic modification; poisons and artificial fertilizer; salmonella and antibiotic resistant bacteria; CJD and an overly high fat content, is to say that these are the new accepted normal in food standards. It also points to our social propensity to spend on treatment rather than prevention. Just as individuals, businesses and governments spent-first and paid-later into a recession, now too we want to spend little and pay later within the recession. It is still the same mentality of instant gratification and long-term cost that created the current situation. Spending may have changed but thinking is exactly the same.

Organic farmers, hit by falling demand, now have a critical choice to make. If they revert to low cost production their land becomes unusable for organic produce for years to come and expensive to convert back in the future. The wider set-back for healthier, environmentally sound food will be close to a decade. Food choices in the recession, will effect organic food prices for years to come. Consumers cannot opt out now and opt back in later, without effect on the organic market. More than ever, consumer values have far and long reaching effect. How we spend now and what we eat now will effect our health and our wallets for the future. Maybe it's time to change the way we think and not just the way we shop.

The Reading List>>> from Hannah Lee

1. Clean Food by Terry Walters

This book is phenomenal. The recipes are divided by seasonal availability. It is all vegetarian but you can add in/tweak the recipes. That's the beauty of cooking! Making your own version! It's a total lie when people say they don't have enough time to cook. It is an art and makes you appreciate what you made.  Just take 10 mins out of your day to plan what to eat for the next day/week.

2. The Kind Diet by Alicia Silverstone

I picked this one up recently. This has been really helpful in the aspect of how we effect the earth.  She's a vegan and she comes more from the animal friendly conscious side of the equation. This book is full of facts that make you think twice about what you eat and it has lots of recipes!

3. The Organic Food Shopper's Guide by Jeff Cox

I'm reading this one right now (I borrowed it from the library).  It is chalk full of great information and facts. It lists almost all foods (meats, veggies, fruits, herbs, grains, nuts, etc.) and the benefits of eating organically vs. non organically. He also adds a recipe or two for all of the ingredients. 

Sarah Bainbridge is a vital part of the Living Generously team. She liaises with Charities, writes articles and develops the project! Sarah has spent time in India working with communities impacted by the Tsunami  and is passionate about social justice. Currently living in California, Sarah loves life, lakes and coffee...not necessarily in that order!

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