The True Cost of Cheap Food The globalisation of the food market
has made food cheap, but who is benefiting? Cheap food causes
hunger. On its face, the statement makes no sense. If food is
cheaper it’s more affordable and more people should be able to
get an adequate diet. That is true for people who buy food, such
as those living in cities. But it is quite obviously not true if
you’re the one growing the food. You’re getting less for your
crops, less for your work, less for your family to live on. That
is as true for Vermont dairy farmers as it is for rice farmers
in the Philippines. Dairy farmers today are getting prices for
their milk that are well below their costs of production. They
are putting less food on their own tables. And they are going
out of business at an alarming rate. When the economic dust
settles, this will leave us with fewer family farmers producing
the dairy products most of us depend on. This is the central
contradiction of cheap food. Low agricultural prices cause
hunger in the short