The Co-op Food Stores

added 04/07/08

The rising costs of food production may send consumers shopping closer to home.

The New York Times reported recently that Michael Pollan — a best-selling author and journalism professor at U.C. Berkeley who writes frequently about the food industry and dietary trends — sees rising food prices and food-transportation costs as having a negative impact on the highly processed staples of the American diet like soda, fast-food, and frozen dinners. He and his colleagues say that might not be such a bad thing.

Pollan and other critics of industrial dietary trends argue that the rising costs of highly processed foods might drive more Americans into the realm of the Localvores — or those eaters who prefer to buy locally produced goods. Though local growers are hurt by rising food production and transportation costs as much as anyone, Co-op staff note that area farmers produce foods and products that are less affected by the increases — a savings that is passed along to consumers.

“We let the farmers themselves determine the prices, and we believe they’re both fair and steady,” says Bruce Follett, a Co-op merchandiser. “The farmers know how much they need to get a fair price and pay living wages to their workers. We’ve seen food costs rise just like everyone, but local products have stayed pretty consistent. They don’t seem to be impacted as much.”

Supporting area producers is an important part of the Co-op’s FESTBL philosophy—or the “financial, environmental, and social triple bottom line” that the Co-op operates by. In the 2007 Co-op Annual Report, for example, General Manager Terry Appleby reported that the Co-op supported more than 250 producers and growers from within 100 miles of the Co-op’s stores. Criteria for these vendors are that they are independently owned and produce or grow their own products. Local produce sales at the Co-op stores during 2007 were just short of $7 million, or over 11 percent of total sales. The benefits of all those purchases from local sources had a wider benefit, as studies have shown that dollars invested in local businesses stay in the local economy at a far higher rate than when they go to businesses based out of the region. Appleby reports Co-op estimates the value of additional dollars staying in the local economy from these purchases to be $1.9 million.

What do you think?

Could there really be an upside to rising food prices? We’d love to hear from you! Please email us what you think.