1 In 1959 the average
American family paid $989 for a year’s supply of food. In 1972 the family paid
$1,311. That was a price increase of nearly one-third. Every family has had this
sort of experience. Everyone agrees that the cost of feeding a family has risen
sharply. But there is less agreement when reasons for the rise are being
discussed. Who is really responsible 2 Many blame the farmers who
produce the vegetables, fruit, meat, eggs, and cheese that stores offer for
sale. According to the US Department of Agriculture, the farmer’s share of the
$1,311 spent by the family in 1972 was $521. This was 31 per cent more than the
farmer had received in 1959. 3 But farmers claim that this increase
was very small compared to the increase in their cost of living. Farmers tend to
blame others for the sharp rise in food prices. They particularly blame those
who process the farm products alter the products leave the farm. These include
truck drivers, meat packers, manufacturers of packages and other food
containers, and the owners of stores where food is sold. They are among the
"middlemen" who stand between the farmer and the people who buy and eat the
food. Are middlemen the ones to blame for rising food prices 4 Of the
$1,311 family food bill in 1972, middlemen received $790, which was 33 per cent
more than they had received in 1959. It appears that the middlemen’s profit has
increased more than farmer’s. But some economists claim that the middleman’s
actual profit was very low. According to economists at the First National City
Bank, the profit for meat packers and food stores amounted to less than one per
cent. During the same period all other manufacturers were making a profit of
more than 5 per cent. By comparison with other members of the economic system
both farmers and middlemen have profited surprisingly little from the rise in
food prices. 5 Who then is actually responsible for the size of the
bill a housewife must pay before she carries the food home from the store The
economists at First National City Bank have an answer to give housewives, but
many people will not like it. These economists blame the housewife herself for
the jump in food prices. They say that food costs more now because women don’t
want to spend much time in the kitchen. Women prefer to buy food which has
already been prepared before it reaches the market. 6 Vegetables and
chicken cost more when they have been cut into pieces by someone other than the
one who buys it. A family should expect to pay more when several "TV dinners"
are taken home from the store. These are fully cooked meals, consisting of meat,
vegetables, and sometimes dessert, all arranged on a metal dish. The dish is put
into the oven and heated while the housewife is doing something else. Such a
convenience costs money. Thus, as economists point out: "Some of the basic
reasons for widening food price spreads are easily traceable to the increasing
use of convenience foods, which transfer much of the time and work of meal
preparation from the kitchen to the food processor’s plant." 7
Economists remind us that many modem housewives have jobs outside the
home. They earn money that helps to pay the family food bills. The housewife
naturally has less time and energy for cooking after a day’s work. She wants to
buy many kinds of food that can be put on her family’s table easily and quickly.
"If the housewife wants all of these," the economists say, "that is her
privilege, but she must be prepared to pay for the services of those who make
her work easier." 8 It appears that the answer to the question of
rising prices is not a simple one. Producers, consumers, and middlemen all share
the responsibility for the sharp rise in food costs. The economists have come to the conclusion that the cause of increased food prices lies in ______.