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SCFB
Celebrates Affordable Food On February 6, South Carolina Farm Bureau Federation (SCFB) members will call attention to the great deal Americans get for their food dollars. America has the most affordable, safest, and most abundant food supply in the world. The day is known as “Food Check-Out Day.” As a means of giving back to the community and calling attention to the low cost of food in the US, SC Farm Bureau members will be donating money and food products to each of the three Ronald McDonald Houses in South Carolina on Feb. 6. These facilities provide a “home-away-from-home” to families of seriously ill children receiving treatment at nearby hospitals. Members have also provided ag-fact bookmarks to local grocery stores asking them to hand them out to shoppers on Feb. 6. Between Jan. 1 and Feb. 6, the average American will have earned enough disposable income to pay for his or her food supply for the entire year. According to the latest statistics compiled by USDA’s Economic Research Service, Americans currently spend, on average, just 10 percent of their disposable personal income for food. In comparison to “Food Check-Out Day”, the day the average American had earned enough money to pay for his or her federal, state, and local taxes, “Tax Freedom Day”, was April 27 last year, according to the Tax Foundation. SCFB President David Winkles said, “It’s amazing that people can pay for their yearly food supply nearly three months earlier than it would take them to satisfy their tax burden. But not only are Americans able to enjoy reasonably priced food, they can be assured that their food is safe and plentiful.” The concept of the “Food Check-Out Day” celebration was born by the SCFB Women’s Committee. The idea caught on and it is now recognized nationally by the American Farm Bureau Federation (AFBF). SCFB Women’s Committee Chair and member of the AFBF Women’s Committee Frances Price of Lexington County, SC, said, “This is our way to help Americans come to understand that the high-quality, affordable food they enjoy is a product of our successful food production and distribution system, as well as America’s farmers retaining access to effective and affordable crop protection tools.” Price will join other AFBF Women’s Committee members for the national “Food Check-Out Day” celebration on Feb. 6 in New Orleans. “While this luxury speaks well of our nation’s increasing standard of living,” Winkles said, “it also comes at high price to farmers. Food remains reasonably priced to the consumer but farmers continue to get less and less in return from food sales. Farm commodity prices are at historic lows, there have been longer-lasting weather related disasters in recent years, worldwide competition is tougher than ever, and food production costs continue to rise. Farmers are fighting an uphill battle just to stay in business.” Farmers receive only 19 cents out of every dollar spent on food (purchased at home and away from home). The rest goes to costs beyond the farm gate: wages and materials for production, processing, marketing, transportation and distribution. That’s down considerably from the 31 cents farmers received from every food dollar spent in 1980. A small portion of the food dollar funds the 2002 US farm program. It costs each American just 4.4 cents per meal (a little more than one-half of one percent of the total US budget) to support agriculture. One benefit from these payments includes a high quality, stable and economical food supply that takes less of the consumers’ dollar than any place else in the world. Another benefit is the funding of better environmental practices producing better soil, water and air qualities. Also, money received by farmers is reinvested in their communities, which would be unstable without local agricultural industries. Winkles said, “As you go through the checkout line to purchase food on February 6 (and during the rest of the year) think about the farmer who produced that food and say a word of thanks for the work of that farmer and his family to generate the bounty you enjoy. Make sure to say thanks not only for the food he produces, but also for the safe refuge he provides for wildlife, for the contribution he makes to help Americans become less dependent on foreign sources of fuel, for protecting the environment, and for using technology to produce larger amounts of food on fewer acres.”
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