High food prices

In the grocery store today the produce department manager said, “How are you today, Sir?” I replied I was just fine, “And how are you?” The manager replied he, too, was just fine.

Actually, my response was a bit less than accurate, but not by much. I had just bought two Granny Smith Apples at $1.99 a pound and three bananas at 69 cents a pound. Fiji and Gala Apples also were $1.99 a pound and another kind of apple $1.69 a pound. Large Valencia oranges were 69 cents each, small Valencia were 59 cents each.

Considering what I paid for two apples and three bananas, I was not altogether “Just fine.” I would guess the produce manager was just as not fine as I was, since his store has to pay increasingly increasing prices for fruits and vegetables.

After taking the manager’s “Just fine” at face value, I said, “We need to invade countries that have land.” The produce manager gave a confused laugh. “We what?” I said, “Forget oil. We need to invade places that have lots of food.”

It was a ridiculous statement, but not overly so. The United States produce far more food than citizens can eat. The United States export millions and millions of tons of food.

But that production is not evident in high food prices. Make more, charge less once was a statement of big success.

Then there are imported foods. I don’t mean foods like caviar or other things for wealthy menus.

In U.S. food stores you will find lettuce, bell peppers and other vegetables grown in Mexico, Honduras, Guatemala and other countries.

Today I even saw canned strawberries produced in China.

How is it that a company in California can buy and ship canned strawberries from China at less cost than buying and packing strawberries grown in its own state, one of the largest agricultural states in the USA?

When a country begins importing large amounts of food, citizens are in trouble.