For years, farmers have known that providing consumers with the food that they want is the main focus of their future. 75 years ago, grandpa didn’t have to worry about the processors, truckers, retailers, etc.
As one of the two dairy farmers who supplied milk to our town, grandma and grandpa milked the cows, separated the milk and bottled it in glass milk bottles that grandma washed herself. They made sure that every milk cow was . . .
vaccinated and blood tested so that there was no disease in our barn and they delivered the chilled, fresh milk daily (except on Sunday) directly to your door, with Rock the horse pulling the milk wagon.
If the milk wasn’t number one in town, grandpa lost a customer to Arthur Dagg (the other dairy farmer who delivered milk in town). Neither Dagg nor grandpa lost a customer, so the milk quality and service must have been good. Loss-leaders did not exist then, so neither Dagg nor Gordon offered a dozen eggs for two cents more if you bought their milk for a cent less than the other farmer charged. The farmers who didn’t believe that the consumer was number one gradually disappeared from the farming community.
Recently, there has been some talk on both radio and TV that food prices are getting overpriced. Before either farmers or the farm organizations start to respond to, or defend any price change in what they produce, they decided to engage some noted economists to speak about some noticeable increases in consumer spendings, caused by what?
At the recent annual meeting of Quebec milk producers, the head economist from one of Canada’s major banks was invited to speak in depth about the major increases we have seen and can expect to see in the next year or two. He came equipped with enough charts and answers to fill this entire newspaper, but also had the major spendings divided into four major groups.
The first group and most talked about was food. Although the percentage of our total income Canadians spend on food has been going down each year and the 2022 Food Freedom Day was Feb. 8. That’s the day that if everyone in Canada put all their projected income for the year into one pot and calculated the total cost of food for the year and divided both the total income and the total food cost by 365 days, then all the food that you need for the year would be paid for by Feb 8.
He projected that although in 2021 the average per cent that a Canadian worker spent on food was 17 per cent of income. He predicted that for 2022 that Canadian worker would spend 19 per cent of wages for the same amount of food.
The second group that the economist mentioned was housing. This could either be rent or lease cost or the cost of owning a house, interest, insurance, repairs, taxes, etc. Something that muddies the water here is when you place too much weight on the cost of a house as an investment. When the inflation rate greatly exceeds the interest rate, that big investment looks great because it increases in value much quicker than the puny little interest that you pay. But I can remember paying 18 per cent interest back in the 1980s.
The third group which we all understand is transportation. Whether you take public transit, or drive a $100,000 gas guzzler, that city bus, a Yaris, or a caddie, you burn fuel or gas and need insurance and repairs. Since there is tax on fuel and everything else associated with transport and as fuel costs go up, so does the tax collected that is applied to it. Because of the large amount of fuel farmers buy each year to plant and harvest and feed animals, when fuel prices rise, the cost to produce grain, beef, dairy, eggs, chicken also increases and hence food prices also increase with it.
The fourth group is what’s left, like holidays, clothes, kids sports, entertainment, a new travel trailer, a cottage or just a night out.
All economists predict that fuel prices will remain high for a while. We are already seeing a movement of former city dwellers to the rural areas where housing costs and taxes are less. If they can find a waterfront, winterized home then that expensive vacation might be crossed off too. If they can find one with good Internet, then they may be able to continue working from home and save buying that expensive gas.
Buying as much locally produced food and other goods as possible can save everyone transportation costs, know where that food came from and what’s in it, or not in it and encourage more small community businesses.
With changes in the way we are forced to live, the tightening of margins both on the farm and in small businesses and even balancing household budgets, an increase in stress levels, various levels of mental health problems and even suicides have been noticed by both clergy and health workers.
No matter how busy that we think we are, it’s good for both neighbours to take a minute to talk to and watch each other.
