Expensive Eggs

The price of eggs has been steadily rising, mainly due to high feed costs.

Eggs are an important staple food, and this is not the first time that a price increase has been upsetting to consumers.

The increase in egg prices is part of an overall increase in the price of food lately, brought on by everything from rising fuel costs, to greater overseas demand for products we like to enjoy cheaply at home.

Most of us can afford to pay more for food, although it may mean that we spend less on other things. We've somehow figured out how to make room in our budgets for cell phone bills and high speed internet connections. I don't want to be insensitive to the tribulations of folks who are genuinely struggling to get by, but personally I think that the low food prices we've grown accustomed to are more of a problem than the high prices we're seeing now.

During the past forty years or so, the federal government has deliberately worked to lower the price of food. Farm subsidies have encouraged mass production of a handful of crops, especially wheat, corn, and soy. Food safety regulations favor large scale meat and dairy operations, making it nearly impossible for small scale operators to compete.

As a result of these policies, we're confronting epidemics of all kinds of diseases that are directly related to the way we eat, and the food that's available in most supermarkets doesn't have much flavor.

The price of good quality, sustainably produced food has been rising at least as quickly as the price of supermarket fodder. Still, I wish we'd learn to separate our collective passion for low prices from the decisions we make about what to eat.