5 ms·

A great bit of journalism here, hopefully it reaches a lot of eyes. I think that the fines levied on restaurants that are knowingly deceiving their customers s

by alva 11y ago

A great bit of journalism here, hopefully it reaches a lot of eyes. I think that the fines levied on restaurants that are knowingly deceiving their customers should be much higher. The articles states $300 is the fine for first-time offenders, this is hardly much of a deterrence considering the premiums placed on 'locally sourced' dishes. If you want to get a good feel of how much proper locally grown food is, pop in to a butchers. It costs £15/$21 for a single t-bone, but man is it worth it. I think we are too used to eating sub-standard meats/fish as we want to consume it more often.

beachstartup 11y ago
yes, it is worth it, and ... the cost of a high quality steak reflects how often you should probably be eating steak. i.e. not very often.
- mod 11y ago
  I don't agree that the cost of food reflects how often we should eat it. See: seafood, rare spices, berries, nuts.
  - deleted 11y ago
    [deleted]
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- uremog 11y ago
  Not to be mean, but I don't recall hearing that in economics.
  - deleted 11y ago
    [deleted]
  - beachstartup 11y ago
    you're not being mean, you just mistook my sarcastic observation of human behavior at the meat counter with some kind of economic theory. you're real popular at parties, i bet.
uremog 11y ago
Lol $300 is a speeding ticket in some places. Pretty useless even as a first time punishment.
forgetsusername 11y ago
>It costs £15/$21 for a single t-bone, but man is it worth it. I've had plenty of local meat, and I'm in a rural setting known for its farming. I'm skeptical. I'd love to see this actually tested, because I think this is an alternate view of the article; the "hipster" crowd is so keen on getting locally sourced food because it just tastes oh-so-much better (and they're more than happy to tell you). Half the time they're not even eating locally sourced food. The global food supply chain is pretty amazing. Why do we assume that Joe Schmoe farmer down the road is automatically "better" at food production? Outside of the fact that some produce can lose nutrition in transport, I'd bet 90% of people couldn't tell the difference between garden fresh or grown-in-China...or that if they identified a difference they'd necessarily choose the former as a preference. Taste (in the literal sense) is a funny thing.
- bronson 11y ago
  You're asking why Joe Schmoe's cows from a local field taste better than those of a factory feedlot standing shoulder-to-shoulder in their own muck?
  - forgetsusername 11y ago
    >You're asking why Joe Schmoe's cows from a local field taste better than those of a factory feedlot standing shoulder-to-shoulder in their own muck? I'm not really asking. Where do you live, might I ask? I'm looking out my window at Joe Schmoe's local field with the cows standing shoulder to shoulder in their own muck. Do you think all "non-local" meat is from a factory feedlot? That's a strawman. Do you have any evidence, or just like the idea of Joe Schmoe's meat tasting better?
- deleted 11y ago
  [deleted]
- iam-TJ 11y ago
  'global food supply chain' is off-shoring; think of it in the same way as the mis-use of H1B visas and transferring I.T. work to low-wage economies, leaving 'local' I.T. workers out of a job. Much of the unstated benefit of locally produced food is in a shorter time between harvest and plate (fresher), less handling (bruising), less transportation (ecological), less packaging (resources + cost), shorter supply chain (less middlemen; farmer/producer should receive higher % of retail price), generally more pride and care involved (better quality) plus of course supporting the 'local' economy by keeping the money circulating locally and local smaller family farms in business. For animals it should mean quicker time-to-kill (less stress) due to less travel and coral-ling at abattoirs, and, depending on the butcher, better cuts of meat (less mechanical cutting) due to following the grain. In the U.K. the biggest immediate benefit is the farmer receiving a greater slice of the retail price, which is essential in some sectors (such as dairy) where many farmers receive less than the cost of production, and certainly not enough to protect against poor years. Combined with low investment returns pushing capital into land 'investment' which is driving land price growth to ridiculous levels; subsequently driving rents for farmers who don't own their own land to bankruptcy levels (we recently sold 10 acres @ £10,000/acre which was bought for around £2,500/acre 15 years ago [0], but the gross yield hasn't moved from around £400/acre). Even amongst farmer land-owners many are selling off small parcels in order to cover shortfalls in farming income or to invest in new facilities and equipment. The big farming agri-businesses (10,000+ acres) are about the only ones that have the production scale to make profits and invest in land. Born-n-bred and still living on a 1,000 acre farm, but hacking code. [0] http://pdf.savills.com/documents/Savills-ALMS-Feb-2014.pdf http://pdf.savills.com/documents/Savills-ALMS-Feb-2014.pdf

by alva 11y ago

beachstartup 11y ago

yes, it is worth it, and ... the cost of a high quality steak reflects how often you should probably be eating steak. i.e. not very often.

mod 11y ago
I don't agree that the cost of food reflects how often we should eat it. See: seafood, rare spices, berries, nuts.
- deleted 11y ago
  [deleted]
- deleted 11y ago
  [deleted]
uremog 11y ago
Not to be mean, but I don't recall hearing that in economics.
- deleted 11y ago
  [deleted]
- beachstartup 11y ago
  you're not being mean, you just mistook my sarcastic observation of human behavior at the meat counter with some kind of economic theory. you're real popular at parties, i bet.

uremog 11y ago

Lol $300 is a speeding ticket in some places. Pretty useless even as a first time punishment.

forgetsusername 11y ago

>It costs £15/$21 for a single t-bone, but man is it worth it. I've had plenty of local meat, and I'm in a rural setting known for its farming. I'm skeptical. I'd love to see this actually tested, because I think this is an alternate view of the article; the "hipster" crowd is so keen on getting locally sourced food because it just tastes oh-so-much better (and they're more than happy to tell you). Half the time they're not even eating locally sourced food. The global food supply chain is pretty amazing. Why do we assume that Joe Schmoe farmer down the road is automatically "better" at food production? Outside of the fact that some produce can lose nutrition in transport, I'd bet 90% of people couldn't tell the difference between garden fresh or grown-in-China...or that if they identified a difference they'd necessarily choose the former as a preference. Taste (in the literal sense) is a funny thing.

bronson 11y ago
You're asking why Joe Schmoe's cows from a local field taste better than those of a factory feedlot standing shoulder-to-shoulder in their own muck?
- forgetsusername 11y ago
  >You're asking why Joe Schmoe's cows from a local field taste better than those of a factory feedlot standing shoulder-to-shoulder in their own muck? I'm not really asking. Where do you live, might I ask? I'm looking out my window at Joe Schmoe's local field with the cows standing shoulder to shoulder in their own muck. Do you think all "non-local" meat is from a factory feedlot? That's a strawman. Do you have any evidence, or just like the idea of Joe Schmoe's meat tasting better?
deleted 11y ago
[deleted]
iam-TJ 11y ago
'global food supply chain' is off-shoring; think of it in the same way as the mis-use of H1B visas and transferring I.T. work to low-wage economies, leaving 'local' I.T. workers out of a job. Much of the unstated benefit of locally produced food is in a shorter time between harvest and plate (fresher), less handling (bruising), less transportation (ecological), less packaging (resources + cost), shorter supply chain (less middlemen; farmer/producer should receive higher % of retail price), generally more pride and care involved (better quality) plus of course supporting the 'local' economy by keeping the money circulating locally and local smaller family farms in business. For animals it should mean quicker time-to-kill (less stress) due to less travel and coral-ling at abattoirs, and, depending on the butcher, better cuts of meat (less mechanical cutting) due to following the grain. In the U.K. the biggest immediate benefit is the farmer receiving a greater slice of the retail price, which is essential in some sectors (such as dairy) where many farmers receive less than the cost of production, and certainly not enough to protect against poor years. Combined with low investment returns pushing capital into land 'investment' which is driving land price growth to ridiculous levels; subsequently driving rents for farmers who don't own their own land to bankruptcy levels (we recently sold 10 acres @ £10,000/acre which was bought for around £2,500/acre 15 years ago [0], but the gross yield hasn't moved from around £400/acre). Even amongst farmer land-owners many are selling off small parcels in order to cover shortfalls in farming income or to invest in new facilities and equipment. The big farming agri-businesses (10,000+ acres) are about the only ones that have the production scale to make profits and invest in land. Born-n-bred and still living on a 1,000 acre farm, but hacking code. [0] http://pdf.savills.com/documents/Savills-ALMS-Feb-2014.pdf http://pdf.savills.com/documents/Savills-ALMS-Feb-2014.pdf