Could higher food prices be good?

Agriculture News from HPJ - Your Ag News Source

Could higher food prices be good?

It's been hard to escape the news about the rising cost of food recently.

Just listen to the headlines:

"Consumers feel the heat from rising food prices."

"Food prices take a jump."

"Food prices surge."

While the media is writing and airing stories on the issue, the farm bill debate goes on. Some question why, with higher food prices, can't the farmer make it without government subsidies. It's another challenge for farm bill proponents to hurdle.

But, so what if Americans are spending more on their food bill? We can use this as an example as to why it is important to keep our food production domestic and in turn, why we need the safety net of the farm bill.

Do higher food prices mean the average family might have to cut the premium channels out of the 200+ channel cable bill? Perhaps their children might go outside and ride a bike if they can't watch the Sopranos on HBO.

Does it mean the kids might have to bypass the $150 athletic shoes and wear one of the 10 pairs they already have?

Or does it mean American families might have to eat out less frequently? That might mean, horror of horrors, more nights sitting together around the dinner table talking.

Americans have been spoiled at the grocery store for entirely too long. They enjoy having 100 different kinds of cereal to choose from. They are glad that there's always fresh bread in the bakery. And they like that the meat case always has a choice of pork ribs, steak and chicken for their weekend barbecue.

In fact, those choices and the readily available cheap food has become so expected that they don't even think about it anymore.

Perhaps if a consumer's food bill costs a little more, it might cause a little prioritizing on their part.

Think about the literally hundreds and thousands of news stories about gas prices recently. It is certainly a front-of-mind issue for many. Consumers don't like being subject to the whims of OPEC and how much money they would like to make today.

As a result, much more emphasis has been placed on energy issues. The renewable fuels business is booming. Research into better, more efficient and cleaner energy is being stepped up. Hopefully the outcome will be less dependence on other countries.

The bottom line is when an issue affects a consumer's pocket book, they pay attention.

If consumers are paying more for their food, let's hope they will understand the importance of agriculture a bit more and work toward keeping the American farmer in business.

Holly Martin can be reached by phone at 1-800-452-7171 ext. 1806 or e-mail at hmartin@hpj.com.