How $8-a-Dozen Eggs Threaten Real Food Reforms

[marmar]

from The Atlantic:



At 9:30 on a recent Sunday morning, the organic egg guy at my Brooklyn farmers' market was already sold out. "Come early next week," the attractively scruffy salesman said with a smile. "They're eight dollars a dozen."

Come again?

I agree with the message trumpeted by food-reform advocates that good food does and should cost more. But eight dollars is more than five times the price of a dozen conventional eggs and more than double that of organic eggs at the supermarket. The sky-high prices threaten to exclude from the farmers' market anyone who isn't a hedge fund manager.

Let's be clear this isn't some rant about elitist farmers' markets. It's a warning that the "good-food-costs-more" argument is being taken to an extreme that puts at risk the goal of a mass food-reform movement, which is to make good food available to the greatest number of people possible. .............(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.theatlantic.com/life/archive/2011/08/how-8-a-dozen-eggs-threaten-real-food-reforms/243276/

[SoCalDem]

1. Supply & demand will solve this problem

If people are willing to pay $8 a dozen for eggs, that farmer will continue to sell them at that price, but when the eggs start piling up and rotting, he may decide that his price is too high..

If his business plan dictates that he sell them at that high price, he will go out of business, for lack of willing customers.

If he can still make "a" profit ( although smaller than he'd like) by reducing the price, he'll keep the hens..If not, he'll try something else.:)

[jmowreader]

5. It's not that the price is high, it's that YOU are

What people don't realize is, items like $8 eggs fall into the category of "affordable luxuries." Obviously there is something that makes these eggs worth $8 per dozen (I have NO idea what it could be, but a reason must exist) so people will choose to drink water rather than soda or only have one $5 muffin rather than two and invest the savings into these eggs.

There's a hot dog stand in Spokane that highly offends me--some people say it's the logo, but I maintain it's the $7.95 per dog price tag. But lots of OTHER people think these dogs are just great, superb and worth the $7.95.

My bet is, when word got out someone's selling $8 eggs demand for $8 eggs got real high, and stayed there.

[SoCalDem]

6. not a bit high here.. As long as people will pay, they will charge $8

ahhh.capitalism..:rofl:

are shoes "worth" $1500.00?..but as long as enough people are willing to pay that, they will continue to exist:)

[WhiteTara]

2. Lucky me. My organic 1-3 day old eggs

are only $2.75! Yellow yolks and firm whites, yum.

[SpiralHawk]

8. That's much more typical. This Atlantic article is a chain-jerker catapult load from Big Ag

Big Ag is on the warparth - overt and occult -- against small-scale clean organic farms and food.

The very existence of clean, healthy, human-scale farms makes the Industrial Ag Factory Farms look like the unholy crapjoints they are.

[ixion]

3. Organic eggs in the supermarket (e.g. 'Eggland') are productions

very similar to their industrial counter parts.

Did you know that the USDA requires only one-and-a-half square feet per chicken for cage free eggs? The reason locally produced eggs are more expensive is that they're better eggs. I agree that $8 is a bit steep, but the organic eggs are the health food store are 6.99, so....

[notadmblnd]

4. I paid 3 dollars a dozen for free range chicken eggs today.

there was a sign in the front yard of someone's house, a box with a note that said they were using the honor system and chickens all over the yard. I put 6 dollars in the box. I thought they were high compared to grocery store, but considering they were fresh and the chickens actually do get to see the light of day, I gladly paid.

[Tesha]

7. Organic eggs from our local CSA are $4/dozen.

Organic eggs from free-range chickens that we've personally met!

Tesha

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Community-supported_agriculture

http://www.localharvest.org/csa/

[piratefish08]

9. i bought local organic eggs in VT this weekend $3.89/dz

there was a poster size photo of the farmer, his farm and where he was located.

i fucking love VT. for the eggs, Bernie Sanders and about a thousand other reasons........

[Synicus Maximus]

10. If someone is getting $8 a dozen, soon someone will be selling the

same thing for $7.75 or $7.50 until the cost of production matches the cost of the production plus a profit. If the cost doesn't go down the the eggs are worth $8a dozen.