Discerning, educated consumers are becoming more and more focused on sourcing local, nutritionally dense, minimally processed and safe food.
Our country’s dirty (not so little) secret regarding pesticide and other dangerous chemical usage on our food stream is no longer a secret. Consumers and the media are now fully aware of the connection between some of these dangers in our food production systems and the declining health of our population as a whole.
"Food and Health Educated Consumers" are learning fast that what we put in our mouths truly can be poison to your body or promote health, and even used as medicine, and that messaging is becoming common knowledge.
Educated consumers are looking for convenient, safer, nutritionally dense, Organic, local food from trusted sources, and we believe this trend is only going to increase.
It has also become clear how fragile the current food distribution systems is, and how food security will become a critical component as the worlds population increases and pressures are exerted on limited supply.
Water is becoming a very scarce resource in many parts of the US and the world. There is a serious depletion of biodiversity, pollinators (e.g. bees) and degradation in soil health, as well the huge negative social consequences associated with competition over scarce resources like water and energy.
Around the world, topsoil is vanishing much faster than it forms. The estimate is that we are now losing about 1 percent of our topsoil every year to erosion, most of this caused by agriculture. According to David Montgomery, a geologist at the University of Washington, it's clear that we're losing more and more topsoil every day. "The estimate is that we are now losing about 1 percent of our topsoil every year to erosion, most of this caused by agriculture." The United States is losing soil at a rate 10 times faster than the soil replenishment rate while China and India are losing soil 30 to 40 times faster. This comes at a time when viable farmland is going to be critical to feed this new growth of population.
We have to produce nutritionally dense, safe food while using as little water as possible and without degrading our soils.
Using estimates from 2005, 2007 and 2008, the researchers from The Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR), a partnership of 15 research centers around the world, found that agricultural production provides the lion’s share of greenhouse-gas emissions from the food system, releasing up to 12,000 megatons of carbon dioxide equivalent a year — up to 86% of all food-related anthropogenic greenhouse-gas emissions.
Next is fertilizer manufacture, which releases up to 575 megatons, followed by refrigeration, which emits 490 megatons. The researchers found that the whole food system released 9,800–16,900 megatons of carbon dioxide equivalent into the atmosphere in 2008, including indirect emissions from deforestation and land-use changes.
Again, we cannot produce food at the cost of our environment. All our agricultural efforts at our company are focused on producing safe, nutritionally dense food without destroying the environment.
In fact, there are many methodologies now available to actually "Capture Carbon" in the process of farming.
What will consumers look like over the next 10 to 15 years? What will they buy and how will they consume it? The answers to these questions will primarily be determined by three demographic groups – new urbanites, more mature GenXers, and millennials. Overall, consumers will be a hyper-connected group of individuals who instantly access the latest solutions and information via various digital platforms.
Overall, consumers want to feel closer to their food, while urbanization takes them farther away. They crave a sense of community and are focused on supporting their local collective.
These consumers will/are better educated and care about the environment they live in, how the food is raised and whether it is safe to eat… truly safe to eat.
They have seen the results of the farming methods listed above, “Scientists” and “Government Organizations” and “Companies” promising the safety of their “new age” food only to see those guaranties debunked as parents and friends suffer and die around them.
The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that about 80% of premature heart disease cases, strokes, and incidences of type-2 diabetes, as well as 40% of cancers, could be avoided if major risk factors for non-communicable diseases, such as unhealthy diets, were eliminated.
Some of the larger Retailers claim to support and supply local healthy, safe food, but the reality is that there are very slim pickings.
While some local organic products can be purchased at certain farmer’s markets, they however only happen for a small portion of the year. They are not consistent, and many have evolved into more of a flea market rather than a farmer’s market. Additionally, since there are fewer and fewer “real farmers” many vendors selling at farmer’s markets are buying product out of state or out of country, or via the grocery store and then simply repackaging and reselling it as a local product. Many times non-organic products are repackaged as organic.
The consumer has however wised up to this.
While there are some CSA options and subscription options available for healthier foods, the quality and reliability are inconsistent, with lack of knowledge and transparency regarding the source of product. This also normally results in the consumer getting a box of “mystery meats and mystery vegetables” that they would not normally order and end up throwing away significant portions of the purchase.
The customer wants the flexibility to order what they want, when they want it and in the quantities that suit their lifestyle. The days of buying 1/2 a cow are gone since people simply don’t have the space.
While there is renewed interest amongst some emerging “farmpreneurs" on the growing side, it is hard for these producers to develop a direct to consumer channel and make these deliveries. Most producers grow or raise specialty niche items. They farm full time, or part time with second jobs supporting their farming efforts, and then struggle to get to sell their actual products. There is just no time to actually market and sell the product they produce.
Additionally, they lack the financial means, expertise, and contacts to sell through larger local retailers. They also don't have easy access to capital, which results in limited access to new technology and automation where possible.
Many large retailers claim to offer these products and support smaller, local farmers but the reality is that they are actually stocking fewer local, safe food products, all while actually lowering their standards. Grocery stores are getting bigger and bigger, turning into mega marts that are more focused on selling packaged and processed products that have bigger margins and less spoilage.
Pricing also becomes very "murky". Many international food standards (the use of pesticides, antibiotics, or compliance with safe growing practices) are simply not as strict in other countries and even the laws in the USA have been significantly diluted as large corporations have “hijacked” and wrestled control of the organizations originally created to protect us.
Even the new "Produced in USA" labelling laws are becoming even more disingenuous.
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