Farmer’s Share of the Food Dollar
Mountrail County Farmers Union held a noon lunch for $1 for any community member wanting to come out. The $1 fee for lunch represent the amount producers receive, which is estimated to be only twenty cents of every food dollar. The other eight cents is made up of marketing, processing, wholesaling, distribution and retailing costs.
The event was organized to make the public aware of how little of the food dollar spent actually goes to the producer in rural america. In a press release from the ND Farmers Union President, Robert Carlson, he stated that “High energy costs, inflation, world markets and stock inventories are driving today’s food costs, not the prices farmers receive for their crops and livestock.