We need to spend smarter, not less, at the grocery store
With a recession on the horizon, consumers are interested in cheap prices, but cheap food comes with a different price. When grocery shopping, it’s important to consider how the products we buy affect the environment, people’s health and animals’ health.
For many years, technological advances in agriculture and the increased shelf life of products have been praised by consumers. However, this kind of food production has harmful effects and more shoppers need to start shopping environmentally consciously so we can do our part to encourage the agriculture industry to farm more sustainably and ethically.
Due to the disconnect between farms and consumers, there’s little knowledge about where our food comes from. This disconnect stems from rapid industrialization and urbanization; in 1900, 41% of the U.S. labor force was employed in agriculture; by 2005, only 2% of the labor force worked in agriculture. This rapid decrease is due to the mechanization of farming, and the capitalist belief that bigger is better.
As consumers, you might not think that your individual choice to buy pasture-raised eggs over caged eggs makes a big difference, but if hundreds or thousands of people decide to buy pastureraised eggs, which are the more environmentally conscious choice, eventually the egg companies will get the message that consumers want products that are better for our environment.
However, it’s not that simple. First, shoppers need to understand the impact of their choices.
There is no set definition of what it means to be an environmentally conscious consumer, but if you put in the effort to be mindful of how your actions influence the environment and do your best to minimize your impact, then you can be considered a conscious consumer. Nonetheless, it’s harder than it sounds because the food industry tries
to trick consumers into thinking they are shopping consciously.
Companies use marketing strategies such as nice pictures of a barn or using terms such as “natural,” “naturally raised” and “raised without antibiotics” to try to convince consumers they are making ethical choices.
For example, in 2007, Tyson Foods was sued by competing companies because Tyson began marketing their poultry as “raised without antibiotics,” though they were in fact putting ionophores (an antibiotic commonly used in cattle production) in their chicken feed, and were using the antibiotic gentamicin on its eggs a couple of days before they
hatched.
Considering that Tyson Foods produces about 20% of America’s beef, pork and chicken, we’re lucky that there were still some competing companies that wanted to sue them for false advertising, but this isn’t always the case. Therefore, it is our job as shoppers to push back and make sure we’re supporting ethical companies so that corporations such as Tyson Foods are forced to stop finding loopholes and actually change how they produce food.
When in the grocery store, there are many factors to consider when trying to shop economically consciously. For
many people, the choice between organic and nonorganic is simple because nonorganic is cheaper. But one must consider that you pay more for organic because it is pesticide-free, which is healthier for you, and you are supporting sustainable agriculture and therefore slowing down global warming. It is also important to note where the food is coming from since the transportation and storage of food before sale also has an impact on the environment. You can do this by shopping seasonally and knowing what produce is in season and when.
As individuals, it’s our role to be as environmentally conscious as possible to minimize our impact
because in the long term our actions will encourage companies to be more sustainable. Farmers have a difficult task ahead of them to produce more food for our increasing population, but we can do our part by supporting farmers and companies that work in a sustainable way. We consumers can no longer be ignorant in our shopping choices, it’s time for us to wake up and start working together to push the agriculture industry to do better.