The Privilege and Classism of Organic Food

[alp227]

Although there is plentiful medical research surrounding the topic of organic food, not much has been said regarding the privilege and classism of their consumption. I’ll be presenting several points to consider in this post, including those of wealth, race, and location.



In the picture above, you see several grocery list staples — bread, eggs, and milk. These are food items that both wealthy and low-income families purchase regularly. However, note the price difference between these three organic and non-organic items. On average, organic food costs 42% more than regular or store-brand food. What does this mean for families? (Here, we will be considering the USDA’s official “Food at Home” budget plan for families.)

For the wealthy: An upper middle-class couple may spend over $780 per month on groceries alone. This family doesn’t worry about utility bills or mortgage payments. They drive a luxury vehicle or two and spend more money on entertainment alone than any other income bracket. Buying all organic food is a possibility. They may regularly purchase fresh coconut water, non-GMO popcorn with truffle oil, grass-fed ground buffalo, or wild-caught salmon steaks. The sky is the limit.

full: https://wordsthingsstuff.wordpress.com/2015/02/08/the-privilege-and-classism-of-organic-food/

Please don't jump to conclusions and put words in my mouth, like "oh, you want poor people to eat potato chips?" I'm tired of posts like that. Make an argument how organic food can be available to the average working class person not just snobby upper classers who want to feel good about themselves.

[Snow Leopard]

1. Community gardens

Would be the first thing that comes to my mind.

[msongs]

2. if a store is open to the public anyone can walk in and buy stuff. personal choice applies here so

its not all about some kind of privilege ("privilege" is the latest trendoid fad these days eh?)

[alp227]

5. But if the buyer can't afford the food the buyer doesn't have choice nt

[NuclearDem]

7. My local Chevy dealer has Corvettes, so why don't I own one?

[Cal Carpenter]

9. Personal choice? Yeah, the low-income parents working 50 hrs a week at mininum wage

could just choose not to pay the rent or the electric in order to afford organic food.

Or they could just choose to get a six figure job.

Choice. You don't seem to understand the meaning of the word.

And don't even get me started on privilege. Just because the media and the privileged are talking about it now doesn't mean other people haven't been all along...

[postulater]

3. Here's how. And no argument, just an example.

http://www.growingpower.org/

[djean111]

4. Isn't everything like that? Clothes, housing, transportation?

The answer to this organic issue, according to some, is, I think, to not be able to sell or label anything as organic.

Unless there is either complete rationing and distribution of food, or some sort of wealth redistribution, this is the norm for everything.

To be cheaper, organic food would have to be produced on a larger scale, or community gardens would have to really proliferate. And the government would have to subsidize - which it already does for Big Food and Big Oil.

[jwirr]

6. Your OP is very correct. I have also bought apples that cost the same but have a lot less apples

in the bag than the regular ones. I am lucky with the eggs - one of our family has chickens for all of us that are at least free range. We also have berries, a garden and we raise small farm animals for some meat. So we make our food stamps go further. But at the prices listed for organic we would be in big trouble by the second week.

I am just waiting for some legislator in Kansas to tell people they cannot use food stamps on organic products.

[MineralMan]

8. Since most organic farming is done on a smaller scale,

their products are naturally more expensive. Anyone can see the difference on any trip to the supermarket, or even the farmer's market. Organic food is a luxury, because its price is much higher than conventionally grown and processed food. It's simple. So, how would the prices go down?

That's the problem. Organic farming isn't all that compatible with large-scale production. Free range chickens, for example, take up much more space than factory chickens. Space costs money, so the eggs from those chickens cost more per dozen. Organic bread is, of course, made from organic flour. Again, how many farmers are growing wheat or the other grains in quantities large enough to combine together to warrant a mill to process them? Is there an organic wheat farm near you? I live in a wheat growing state, and the answer for me is no. So, organic flour is more expensive.

Organic milk? I haven't seen any in my supermarket. I don't know of an organic dairy near the Twin Cities that is producing large enough quantities to appear on store shelves. There are a few raw milk dairies, but they're always on the verge of being shut down for health reasons. We've had a couple of listeria breakouts here from our raw milk dairies, and that's not making them popular with MN health departments.

Organic food costs more at the retail level for many reasons. Most of those reasons cannot be gotten rid of. Organic food will always cost more, unless you grow it yourself on your own property.

[Cal Carpenter]

11. A smaller scale?

Ever been to the central valley of CA? There are massive, massive certified organic farms that supply most of the country with organic produce. In Mexico and other parts south as well, supplying the likes of Whole Foods and Wal-Mart with off-season organic veggies and fruits.

There are farms of hundreds and thousands of acres growing organic wheat, corn, flax, and other grains across the US and Canada.

Perpetuating this myth that organic farms are tiny little local CSAs or 10 acre setups or something is not helpful to the conversation.

[MineralMan]

12. The retail price for organic is still higher by far.

Can you explain why that might be, given your post?

I just looked up organic egg prices here in the Minneapolis St. Paul area at our local markets. Roughly twice as high as other eggs. Why is that, do you suppose? They're all locally grown.

[Cal Carpenter]

13. The inputs and labor do have higher costs

Along with certain practices necessary for storage facilities, trucks, etc to be certified OG, the certifications and inspections themselves, etc. But a significant amount of the increased consumer costs, in terms of the products of these larger organic operations, is 'added value' - meaning they charge a hell of a lot more for something that only costs a smaller portion more to produce.

Standard business practice. Add a 10 cent improvement to your widget and charge $2 more. Sorta like that.

Are you claiming I am wrong about the size of operations of the farms that grow most of our organic produce? Do you think most of what you see at Wal Mart or Whole Foods is coming from small, local growers? Because - to be frank - you would be wrong about that.

A little background - I spent a couple of years living/working on a small organic farm (dairy and produce), and one year as an "organic commodities broker" (we're talking multiple rail cars of organic grains (wheat and flax and soybeans) for massive production runs by the likes of Kellogg and Nature's Path and Silk/WhiteWave). The latter is what removed my rose-colored glasses about the 'organic' industry. That was quite a few years ago, and I am certain things have not gotten better in terms of the integrity of the industry as it has grown massively, despite their very, very effective greenwashing to the consumer, perpetuating these myths of small-scale, healthy-for-the-soil-and-water-and-people etc.

In any case, I'm not talking out my ass here. If we want to discuss food systems, we need to start with facts, and implying that organic food is primarily local and small is just wrong and doesn't help advance the conversation.

[KamaAina]

10. I just read on FB that here in the Bay Area, organic, free-range eggs are cheaper

than the mass-produced ones. Yet those still fly off the shelves while the good ones sit there.

[Dems to Win]

14. I support dramatically increasing the minimum wage and food stamp allotments

Everyone should be able to afford high quality food.

I think that food should be more expensive. Farm workers are doing needed, honorable labor and should be earning a living wage. We should all be paying whatever it costs to produce food in humane, planet-loving ways.

[lumberjack_jeff]

15. Canned beans may not be as good as organic fair-trade ones.

But they're a far cry better than top ramen.

[sendero]

16. They...

... can grow it. That's what I do. And yes it is a huge commitment of time and not particularly inexpensive in the short term.

Short of that there IS no answer, it costs more to produce organic food than the other and nothing is going to change that. You might as well ask "why don't the poor eat more lobster and caviar", that question has about as much inherent intelligence.