Healthy soil and sustainable growing

[Liz <liz@allslash.org>]

At 02:12 PM 10/20/2008, you wrote:
> http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/business/1310ap_sticky_prices.html
>
> Grocery bill still high? Blame 'sticky' prices

One way to fight sticky prices, of course, is to buy as much as 
possible outside the system that sets the prices. Every person who 
buys their food from small farmers and market gardeners is one less 
person supporting the producers and contributing to the statistics 
about food purchases. Granted, you can't get completely outside the 
system, because the people you're buying from may be purchasing feed, 
seed, fertilizers, etc. But at least you won't be contributing to the 
statistics about grocery sales. Are there enough of us doing this to 
make a real difference? Probably not yet, not in comparison with the 
number of people still buying in grocery stores. But statistics 
depend not just on the numbers of the moment, but also on how things 
change over time. As more and more people plant their own, or buy 
from local farmers markets or neighbors or nearby farms, it will show 
up in the data, and prices will fall to reflect the competition. In 
the meantime, regardless of what others are paying in the 
supermarkets, you've saved money and bettered your family's health.

Liz in SW VA
http://life-as-a-spectator-sport.com