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It's not obvious that dollar-value is a good proxy for food quantity. How much of that is explained by crop choice? Large farms grow grains, which are relativel
by GeneralMayhem 12y ago
It's not obvious that dollar-value is a good proxy for food quantity. How much of that is explained by crop choice? Large farms grow grains, which are relatively cheap; fruits and specialty items require more individual care and by-hand harvesting, so they should correlate with smaller farms, and they sell for much more $/calorie.
- dwiel 12y agoThat is a good point, but 100x more expensive seems like it can't entirely be accounted for by more specialty crops. Most small farms in my area do most of their sales growing typical vegetables: tomatoes, peppers, lettuce, kale, cucumbers, etc. Wheat is, in bulk, $0.125/lb right now. At a farmers market, there are a few things that fetch $12.50/lb, but not too many. There are plenty which sell for $1-$2/lb. That does account for 10x of the cost difference though, thanks.
- GeneralMayhem 12y agoPicking which price to use could easily vary another 10x either way. Is the government using local farmer's markets, retail at grocery stores across the country, or the price that retailers pay farmers? What does a "bulk" price mean for grains? Corn is at about 7 cents per pound, if you buy it a metric ton at a time on the commodity market. Not saying the result you got is necessarily wrong, but I'm very skeptical of economic comparisons that don't carefully control for these sorts of things.