The Economy of Sustainable Food, Part 1

In Providence, Rhode Island, where I live, sustainable food is abundant. We are lucky to have a Farmer's Market available every day of the week from the late Spring to late Fall; In the winter we have one Farmer's Market every week. Additionally, we have a number of established Community Supported Agriculture Farm Shares available from a wealth of independent farms. Of course we also understand this is not typical of most cities and we are grateful to have a number of hard-working community organizers to make this a reality for our us.

Because these programs aren't always available, there can be a lot of assumptions made about Farmer's Markets and CSA shares being very expensive. Of course economics factor in many of our choices about where and how we obtain our food. I have argued that buying into a CSA share is one of the most economically sound and sustainable food choices one could make.

The argument often centers around the somewhat misguided opinion that major grocery stores are able to offer less expensive food by purchasing in bulk and passing the savings on to us. Without factoring the entire costs of things, this may seem true; and on occasion it is true, especially for items with naturally long shelf lives. Grocery stores are in business to make profits; while there's nothing wrong with making a profit, it's a fact to be aware of when shopping, as your profits dwindle to feed others' profits.

As I flipped through our weekly fliers for Shaws and Stop n Shop, our two major grocery outlets, I thought to do a little bit of simple math.

Items that are packaged are the largest culprits of wallet depreciation:

• Ready to Use Cut Onions, diced or sliced, 10oz plastic lidded container, $1.50. This is equal to $2.40/lb. Loose onions are normally between 65 and $1.25 /lb.


• Eat Smart Cut Vegetables, 12oz, plastic bag, $2.00. This is equal to $2.66/lb. (Photo shows broccoli, cauliflower and carrots; when purchased loose and individually, they are $1.59/lb, 2.79 [1.5-1.75lbs) and $1.99/lb, respectively.)


• All Natural Mushrooms, 8oz (Blue Styrofoam package w/plastic wrap) $1.99. This is equal to $3.98/lb. Loose mushrooms are normally $2.99 /lb. Not the worst offender in the group, but certainly considerable, especially when you consider you can't buy 1/4lb of mushrooms (the shelf life on a mushroom is rightfully short. I prefer to buy them in small quantities and eat all that I have in one dish to avoid spoilage and waste).


• Nature's Promise Organic Salad, 7oz clamshell container: $3.49.This is equal to $8/lb. Heads of Lettuce and Spinach are usually $2 /head (approximately 3/4 pound).


• Wild Harvest Organic Fresh Herbs, 3/4oz, in a plastic snap case, $1.99. This is equal to $42.45/lb.

Of course, I'm not opposed to paying good money for good food; that is not the question. The question is why are the same qualities of food, once packaged, sold at enormous increases? This isn't about spending money so much as it is receiving the same quality for more money and then having to deal with the packaging waste.

Sustainable food is within our grasp. We just have to reach for it. Continue to part 2.