Experts are warning that food prices in America’s retail grocery stores could rise sharply in the coming years. Chris Hurt, agricultural economist with Purdue University, expects sharp rises in the cost of food over the next decade. The average consumer spends between 8 and 10 percent of their income on food. Without exception, experts are warning this could jump as high as 20 percent in the next few years.

What’s causing this? Several things:

• Farm Subsidies. Before 1933, when farm subsidies were implemented, twenty-five percent of the American population lived on farms. Today, less than one percent remains. Money that was supposed to keep small farms viable, instead led to their demise . And that’s how the CAFO was born, through the unholy union of government regulation and corporate greed. As small farms disappear, so does competition.
• Worldwide Water Shortages. The planet’s water is being depleted faster than it can be replenished. Demand for fresh water has tripled in the last 20 years and is expected to keep climbing. The soaring demand has led to higher prices for water, and less water for irrigation of vital crops. Around the globe, many countries are facing starvation because of the lack of water brought on by drought and demand.
• “Green” Policies. These policies, which are more like religious edicts from politically correct zealots, are causing more problems than they solve. With the push on to solve global warming (which has conveniently been changed to climate change because there’s no such thing as global warming) the proponents of ethanol, solar and wind alternatives have seen to it that land that should be used to grow food is being used to grow GMO corn for ethanol or being cleared for wind and solar array “farms.”
• Transportation. Even those of us who farm in a sustainable manner and manage to eek out a living at it know that what we are getting paid versus what the consumer is paying has everything to do with transportation. It’s expensive to transport fresh food across an entire country. Unless we learn how to eat locally and regionally, the price of food will continue to climb.

You can prepare by buying bulk, in-season produce and preserving it yourself. Now, some of my readers will most certainly chime in here with cries of “grow it yourself!” Which is fine and good if you have experience growing all of your own food. Most of us don’t. If you have to buy, buy bulk.

Preserving food isn’t hard. If you can boil water, you can preserve your own food. If you’ve never done it before, I recommend The Beginner’s Guide to Preserving Food at Home. You can also find food preservation tips in back issues of Countryside and on our Website.  The experts agree: the price of food, water, and oil are about to go through the proverbial roof. Taking steps now to ensure your budget doesn’t take a direct hit is the most prudent thing you can do.

Tags: food shortages, how to can food, how to preserve food