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 Rising
gas prices. Rising mortgage costs. Rising health care costs. Now rising
food prices. The rising costs of these non-discretionary items have
caused significant strain on personal and family budgets. Making the
adjustment from paying $15 for a half-tank of gas to paying $30 for a
half-tank of gas is one thing –despite our heavy frustrations, we try
hard to adjust our mileage and cut back on gasoline consumption to
soften the impact on our family budgets. However, when the price of two
bags of groceries now only buys one, it is difficult to make the same
cutbacks on food consumption, especially when young children and infants
are involved.
Rising food prices across the globe have been called the “silent
tsunami” because they have caused hunger levels in many poor countries
to reach a crisis level. Although we are certainly not at the same
crisis level, the United States has been feeling the impact of rising
food prices on an individual and economic level. There is no single
cause for the rising food prices. Rather, it is a combination of
complicated foreign and domestic situations.
First, we are seeing an increase in global food consumption. Individuals
in countries like China and India are earning higher incomes and are
eating more – and better – than before. Such a significant change in
consumption in countries with over billion-person populations means food
distribution systems will change drastically and food suppliers will
feel the impact of increased demand. According to the Congressional
Research Service, the weak U.S. dollar has also contributed to less
income for U.S. farmers who export their products globally and face more
competition against foreign currencies.
Second, rising energy costs are impacting farmers and the types of crops
that are produced. Pain at the pump is felt by farmers who use fuel to
fertilize, water, and harvest their crops. Manufacturing plants, which
must prepare and package the food for mass consumption, rely on fuel to
operate. Retailers rely on fuel to transport food products to the
grocery store. Rising gas prices over the past few years have spurred an
increased demand for commodities such as corn and other crops that are
used to produce ethanol, an alternative fuel championed as a way to
offset rising gas prices. This increased demand has caused the price of
those crops to increase significantly.
Lastly, unexpected weather patterns across the globe have caused poor
harvests, resulting in lower grain and oilseed supplies world-wide.
Because it takes time and investment to produce quality crops, the
damaging impact poor weather has on crops makes it difficult to improve
crops over the short term.
Consequently, U.S. food prices rose 4% in 2007, the largest annual jump
since 1990, and they are expected to gain 3.5 to 4.5% in 2008. While
each of us feel the impact of these rising costs on our budgets, low
income families feel the impact especially. On average, U.S. households
spend just over 12 percent of their income on food. Low income families
spent over 17 percent, so when food prices rise, low income families
feel the pinch even more because food expenditures make up a greater
part of their budgets.
It is challenging to plan for such rapid changes in prices. Hardworking
Americans are being forced to make tough decisions that affect their
bottom line, and it is deeply troubling to know that despite our
country’s tremendous abundance, families are finding it increasingly
difficult to make ends meet. This reality must be addressed and every
effort needs to be made to ensure that our nation’s food supply remains
plentiful. The American tradition is to continue to work hard,
especially when times are tough. Americans are doing that now, and they
are calling upon Congress to do the same. I am confident that it will be
the hardworking and innovative spirit that our nation was founded upon
that will move our nation in a direction toward economic health and
stability.
At the federal government level, that means carefully evaluating the way
that we are approaching potential solutions to our energy, health care,
and food issues. The recent flare up of the unintended consequences of
biofuels is a sharp reminder that there is no “silver bullet” to solving
our nation’s toughest issues, and that we need to make responsible
decisions rather than placing an overabundance of confidence in the
first seemingly viable options.
The good news is that America was founded on and has a tradition of a
strong agriculture industry. American farmers throughout history, even
in their thorough knowledge of their land and their trade, have
regularly faced hardships that challenged their strength – droughts that
made it difficult to produce crops and provide for their families,
industry shifts that reshaped sales and labor contracts, and urban
movement that impacted rural settings. Still they sustained with
unrelenting perseverance. Our farming industry is arguably one of the
most resilient industries in our nation and American farmers are among
the most efficient farmers in the world and the most adaptable to market
situations.
To provide our farmers with the tools they need during this critical
time, I supported the
Farm Bill,
a multiyear piece of legislation which significantly strengthens our
farmers and our domestic production. In a world where global consumption
is increasing and food safety is becoming a potential national security
concern, we must be making responsible decisions like this that have a
positive, long-term impact on our economy. I welcome your thoughts and
comments on this topic and I invite you to submit your ideas as to how
America should address both local and global food prices on my Solutions
Lab Web page at
http://forbes.house.gov/solutionslab.
Innovation in Health Care
Transforming our current health care system
into one of empowerment, choice, and quality is a difficult challenge.
Watch Congressman Forbes discuss health care issues impacting families
in America and ways we can be innovative in identifying solutions that
will put our nation in a place to begin to achieve specific steps
forward in our health care system. Click the video below to watch the
discussion.
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