I wanted to take the time to address both Chuck’s and Philip’s prompts, because as with all systems, everything is related.
In working with the Vermont Agency of Agriculture I have come to recognize the role consumer education plays in aiding how the consumer understands the health benefits and costs associated with locally produced food products. Many food hubs and Farm-to-School programs seek to educate younger consumers, hoping to change habits young and in an environment where the education may carry over into the household. Such education is essential to teaching students and the public the health, environmental and social benefits of leafy greens, squash, carrots and humanely raised meats. These benefits include increased vitamin and mineral consumption, increased fiber intake, reduced antibiotic and hormone consumption, however it also includes reduced run-off waste, reduced worker endangerment, and a higher quality of living for animals. Though, more frequently overlooked are the economic benefits garnered by the local farmers who are able to sell in these newly expanded local markets.
Through consumer education, the public is able to learn why a product costs so much, be it more labor for spinach cultivated on a smaller farm without mechanical harvesting or more expensive feed for organically raised livestock. Consumers expect low prices because they have been taught by food companies, through marketing, that food should be cheap. We are only two to three generations removed from smaller scale agriculture, when food prices were higher and we spent a greater portion of our income on food. Through reeducation efforts, the consumer can again learn to appreciate the cost of good food.
Assuming the consumer accepts this price difference, the farmers cultivating these crops can begin to make more money. Small-scale farmers and farm workers, particularly migrant workers, are among the most overworked and under-paid individuals in the state. By increasing their incomes through increased farm profits we can begin to tackle the problem of food access. Raising the incomes of local producers and farm workers will allow them to purchase the healthy food they produce, at least in some degree.
Granted this idea assumes the consumer is willing to pay for a more expensive product, that farmers will choose to increase worker wages with increased income, and farm workers with increased wages will purchase healthy food, but it is important to have an idea of where we would like to shift our food system, and this is one possibility.