Posts Tagged ‘thanksgiving meal’

A reminder to thank the farmers

November 27th, 2008

As we sit down at the Thanksgiving table, tradition requires many of us to offer a prayer of thankgiving for the food we are about to eat and the farmers who produced it.   In these tough economic times, however, I’m afraid that people are often blaming farmers rather than thanking them.

And why shouldn’t the public blame farmers?  For most of the year, the media has publicized record corn prices, creating the perception that farmers are rolling in the dough while the rest of us struggle.  This perception is reinforced every time we go to the grocery store and experience higher food prices first-hand.  It’s tough not to feel that farmers are flourishing while many American are struggling.

Any feelings of jealousy I might have been harboring towards farmers were washed away this morning as the Daily Yonder reminded me of how little of the costs of my thanksgiving meal reaches the farmer’s bank account.  Citing the National Farmers Union and the US Department of Agriculture, the Yonder tells us that:

80% of the cost of food goes for off farm costs, such as marketing, processing, wholesaling, retailing and the cost of those feeding stations that crop up in food stores these days.

There it is in a simple, plain language:  If 80% of food costs go to non-farm activities, then farmers don’t deserve all of the blame for rising food prices.  It’s a lot more complicated than that.

So before digging into your meal today, I ask you to say a prayer of thanks for farmers.  And if anyone at your table complains about the rising cost of food and blames the farmers, I hope you will tune them in Daily Yonder’s article and other links I offer below. 

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