The cost of food in 2021 is on the rise...quickly. Here's the co-op inside scoop!

It’s been a bit of a sobering month in the food world.

Although we have no problem getting access to food for everyone and although we have the lowest prices for the current market, the food world is changing FAST and it’s honestly a bit scary to us.

Last year during Covid, there was never a shortage of food.

Even though people were hoarding and retail was limited, the farmer and supplier side had a surplus because 60% of the food produced in the US was for restaurants, theme parks and cruise ships. So they were tossing food by the millions of pounds.

Thus the reason Vanessa and I stepped in was to help these suppliers/producers get their food to people directly and try to make up a small portion of the business they lost by selling direct-to-consumer.

But this year, the problem is totally different.

There is no shortage still. So that is not the worry.

The issue now is the rising costs.

In the past 4 months, the cost of chicken has risen by 80%. That is extremely alarming because the average annual inflation rate is just over 3%. That means that prices double every 20 years.

In 4 months, it has almost doubled on chicken.

Beef rose 30% in one week after increasing by over 60% in total the past 4 months (this past week) and bacon/pork is almost double in price from the beginning of the year.

US food producers are spooked and freaked out.

Here are the main reasons that fresh meat commodities are rising right now

Fresh meats are a commodity like gasoline and fluctuate similarly - that’s always been the case:

1. Exports of animal feed and other farm fresh commodity goods began being exported to China. This puts a strain on American farmers. Their access to American grown feed diminished greatly, 70% of the cost of raising chicken is in the cost of food.

2. Rising cost of fuel - from heating/farm operations to transport.

3. Labor. There is a labor crisis happening in the US. All of our foods only come from UT, then NW and then the US. But all is American labor and paid American workers.

Between the pandemic making labor less available, and the rising costs of wages, the greater impact of this point is yet to be felt, we’ve felt it a little. But a lot more is coming.

I say all of this because the rising costs are trickling down to consumers, and to our co-op. We will see some immediate rising pricing, but NOT at the same rate as shared above.

Why?

Because we get really creative and we work very closely with our producers that we are seeing rising prices by about half the rate the market is doing.

Retail is 3 months behind wholesale, but we've already seen quite an impact in the stores already.

In the end, the food world is going through some crazy things.

But also in the end, we will still be here and still be the best source, even if in the immediate, there are changing prices.

In the end, we will still be one of the best sources for food because of our community group buying model.

The impact to our community will be less overall, but there is still an impact.

We can and will be a consistent source of food and at consistently lower prices than market for the long-term. We have a method and a model that is quite unique.

It allows for us to pay the farmers and producers what they are asking, without short-changing our food supply. We just get creative on the parts in-between producer to consumer - the parts where retail and the middle-men dominate.

But instead, our system is a short chain supply, no middle-men, no retail markup and shorter transport, all to eliminate as much expense as possible to make it the most cost efficient solution for you.

We want you to be informed and take the inside of the food world journey with us.

Vanessa and I have collectively been in this field for a very long time that we know the tricks to make food costs less of a burden, but we can’t stop everything from happening.

This process also involves you being an active part of the co-op.

Our model DOES depend on group, bulk buying and by group...we mean thousands of families. The more, the merrier the results.

This is a group project and a group effort! THANK YOU for being an integral part each month!!