Food Costs in a Pandemic

Food costs in a pandemic shouldn’t be on anyone’s list of worries, yet here we are. One in eight Canadians needed to access food from a community source last year. As if being in a world wide Pandemic isn’t bad enough. Unemployment rates at highs , local economies at lows. Here we are, paying more for everything. From rent to utilities and from gas to food. Gas prices even looking to reach $2/liter in Canada within the end of 2022. With many analysts seeing no end of these increases in sight. Even food costs in Canada are conservatively looking at a 5-7% increase just for 2022.

Food insecurities have been on the rise for the past decade. Regardless of advancements in science, farming and horticulture very little if any progress has been made. I’ve pondered this question and I’ve come to this realization. We have been waiting for science or big business to just make it happen, when we as towns and cities, neighbors and families need to be doing it together. For ourselves and for each other, we can reduce food insecurities locally. Once we eliminate our local requirements our reach will stretch farther and farther outside our own little circles. We would reduce the carbon footprint required to grow, package, and ship that product, because we have the capability to grow it and preserve it ourselves.

Reducing Carbon Footprint

Reducing the carbon footprint required to transport unnecessary foods across the globe’s benefits don’t end there. With the reduced requirements of the collective , old growth forests like the amazon and British Columbia’s Old growth forests could be preserved and actually protected. Feed each other AND save the planet, what a wild conceopt!! We as citizens, now more than ever, need to grow our local communities. We can eliminate food insecurity right at home and donate excess to provide for our neighboring towns, cities.

Simple Acts

Food costs in this pandemic are a manageable expense. Simple acts like having a garden and preserving some food would have a dramatic effect on our world. Even if we all only started with a small garden growing the foods you like like peppers and tomatoes. A fruit tree in each yard providing your whole city apples and plums to enjoy. This seemingly self serving act of planting a fruit tree for your own benefit could, if spread across towns and cities provide nutritious, basically free food available for everyone. All of these social benefits while also reducing the damage caused to our planet. We as a collective society need to be making the differences we wish to see in our world.