Is Organic Food REALLY expensive ?

Extracted from http://www.otacnet.com.au/
What is the true price of our cheap food?
* Is organic food too expensive - should it be cheaper?Or, in reality, is conventional industrial food too cheap?
* Are cheap foods the only way to go in a hungry world?
* What does food truly cost to produce, distribute and sell?
* Do we as a culture insist on cheaper food? Is this possible to turn around?
It is hard to find any information on what the real price of food is today. What it costs to produce and distribute varies enormously, and may not be accurately reflected in the price the consumer pays.
When economists calculate the financial exchange from when the farmer produces the food until it is on the consumer's table, have they considered the hidden costs of poor quality farming, distribution and retail practices?
What kind of long-term consequences do practices that are not organic and sustainable really have on the health and future of humankind and our planet?
It is clear that good organic food could cost more to grow and produce, but have we already been selling ourselves short?
Is it not more important to educate people about the organic growing processes, rather than apologizing for the premium price and slowly lessening and killing life on our planet.
WHAT IS THE TRUE PRICE WE ARE PAYING FOR OUR FOOD, WHEN YOU CONSIDER THE COSTS OF:
* Environmental degradation and pollution
* Unsustainable overuse of natural resources
* Sweat shop, manufacturing, farmers' wages and long term poverty
* Health risks, new diseases, antibiotic resistance, fertility etc
* Food miles, and ecological foodprints
* Junk food profit margins, who benefits?
* Ethical considerations
* Loss of food nutritional quality & taste
* Animal welfare
* Economics; Profit margins versus long term sustainability
* Destruction of communities, rural decline
* Loss of cultural diversity and sustainability
* Loss of sustainable business and healthy communities
* Market economies globalization, WTO, unemployment, free trade
* Loss of diversity
* Loss of quality of life
The costs of these inevitably are passed on the community and therefore the consumer.

GET BETTER VALUE FOR YOUR MONEY
Government no longer talks of constituents it talks of consumers.
It is the consumers who drive change. They (you) can influence governments and change the world with their (you) spending.
Every time they (you) purchase they (you) are sending a message to farmers, growers, manufacturers, processors, retailers (& politicians).
You can send the right messages to government by supporting:
* Local food programs
* Food artisans & Slow Foods
* Food programs for the poor
* School kitchens, gardens and cooking
* Food activisim, GMO's Greenpeace
* Stewardship of the land
* Food commissions, groups and alliances
* Paying more for food not less
* Web debates and discussion
* Product knowledge, reading labels

"...independent producers of food- such as the people who present us with the meat poultry, eggs and butter- provide the lowest profit margin in the industry. People who put out the junk food...have an incredible return on invested capital because they are putting out low cost items and making a very high profit"
- Robert Atkins, MD (quoted in "Nourishing Traditions" Author Sally Fallon)
"To make organic & non-organic the same price, organic food would have to contain additives rather than real ingredients and to go through processes such as re-constitution to reduce the food values and cost of ingredients. People want to eat healthy food, not adulterated food. We need to nurture the principles and production of organic food rather than starve them out of business by imposing upon them unrealistic expectations on price."
- Lizzie Vann, Organix Brands (UK baby food manufacturer since 1992) Living Earth, Jan -Mar 2001