ON THE LIGHTER SIDE

My better 7/8ths insists that the only two things growing on me are my waist-line and my hat size. Regarding the hat size, I concur. My latest addition from the haberdashery keeps blowing off. The waist, well that’s debatable. I think it is more that I am getting shorter as time goes by. But talking about my lack of proportions is not what I invited you up here on the verandah to chat about; it’s about what causes this girth and our collective good health.
It’s the abundance of good quality food that only now is starting to go up in price.

Let’s face it. Food is still cheap. At any given time, I can go to a grocery and come out with enough sustenance to keep me and my friends well fed for a week for less than a Robert Borden. The menu may be more Spartan than what you are accustomed to but I can guarantee you it would be nutritious and ample. There would be some lesser cuts of beef (I bought some round steak over a week ago and it came back to see us four times in various forms), some beans (dry, in a 500 gram bag of course, no cans please), yes, some canned tomatoes, some green things like broccoli, frozen peas, a head of lettuce, a jar of dressing (no-name, is there any other brand?) some carrots, some tatties (you have to have these), milk, butter, sugar, oatmeal, whole
wheat flour, shortening, honey, jam, a dozen hen fruit, breakfast links, apples, bananas, some tea bags and some coffee beans. There, all done and by my count that all fit in three come-back-again bags and I got change back from my Robert Borden.

My point? I wondered when you would ask. First of all, I understand there are other items you may wish to have on my list such as toothpaste, detergent and shampoo or baby things but these not food and don’t count in this discussion. With the exception of milk, butter and most recently flour, have any of these products gone up in price to any significance? No!

Has toothpaste or detergent or shampoo gone up? You bet!

But I am already hearing the rumblings about rising food costs, even from my farm and rural friends. People, give your head a shake! Where is it written that those in the food producing business shouldn’t be rewarded for their efforts? Did you see car companies lower their prices when their industry was pushed back on its heels because of better quality imports? No, only when local Canadian car dealers saw regular customers going stateside with their strong beaver bucks to buy their flivvers and mini-vans did they start to take notice and drop prices.

Speaking of cars, for some reason, while gas prices are getting comfortable around the $1.10/l level, I am not hearing much in the way of serious complaints about this situation.

Most pundits and those lemmings that follow them lay the blame for higher food prices on ethanol. Granted, while corn for ethanol has helped boost demand, it is soybeans and wheat that have seen the greatest hikes in value. And with corn, the demand side is boosted far more by the world’s deeper pockets than the ethanol argument. More people around this globe can afford to buy higher value food products. When you consider the population of Asian countries as compared to us here in North America, it’s a big deal when several billion people can afford to eat a little higher on the hog. So don’t blame ethanol for all of this.

Our politicians will be soon be assailed by constituents calling for an investigation into food prices. If it hasn’t happened by now, it soon will. It seems the only time farmers get the attention of government is when things finally start to pick up. Not to leave out my pork and beef producing friends. It always seems to be that way, if livestock is good, grain is not and as we see now, the table has turned.

I harken back to the 70’s when Gene Whelan’s nemesis, Beryl Plumtree tried to roll back food prices. I think the only thing that changed back then was the dismantling of the two price wheat legislation that was a carry-over from the 40’s.

The Food Prices Review Board didn’t work but the scrap it made between consumers and food producers sure made lots of fodder on the news.

As I sit here on the verandah, I am going to forecast that food prices will reach a new plateau, just like wheat, corn and soybeans with all the blame for the higher prices being placed on the backs of growers. Then, when commodities crash, as they surely will, the same argument will be dropped and we’ll hear things such as labour, transportation and other such excuses for the high prices. Always has and always will.

Meantime, I want food producers to grab as much of this return as possible because as surely as my head size continues to grow, prices will fall.

I know this diatribe is being read by the converted and I doubt it will have much impact where it counts, but the next time someone harps about food prices do me a favour, forget about it. Farmers deserve it!