Higher Food Prices

How will rising food prices affect you and your family?

Despite food price increases, more people are going to buy organic. We're experiencing the perfect storm for higher food prices. Rising crude oil prices is one reason you're experiencing sticker shock at the grocery store these days, but it's not the sole factor. According to Corrine Alexander, PhD, an associate professor of agricultural economics at Purdue University, higher food prices are also a result of: • A stronger global demand for food as the economy recovers, and a rising middle class in developing countries that can afford to eat more meat. • Supply problems due to weather, such as freezing in Mexico, poor weather in Florida, a cyclone and flooding in Queensland, Australia, a poor wheat harvest in the former Soviet Union countries and Canada, and lower corn yields in the United States.

So these price increases must spell doom for organic, which is already perceived by many as being pricey, right? Probably not. The Organic Trade Association is about to release its forecast for 2011 and 2012, and the sales numbers continue to climb. The organic food industry was valued at $26.7 billion in 2010, and analysts expect a 10 percent increase in 2011 over 2010 numbers. In 2012, the industry is forecast to grow an additional 11 percent.

Why is this happening, even as so many of us are tightening our budgets? Eating organic just isn't considered a luxury anymore. It's a must-have in terms of preventing chronic and even life-threatening disease. As one example, last year's President's Cancer Panel brought the danger of eating chemically treated food to the forefront when it recommended eating organic foods as one of the top ways to reduce environmental risk factors for the disease.


The phenomenon of higher food prices is one of 7 key trends affecting our planet and our health.