Over the past couple of years, I’ve been noticing a subtle shift in how consumers think about the food they buy. When California's Proposition 12 was passed by voters in 2018, there was a lot of hand wringing by agricultural organizations and large corporations that control egg, veal and pork production in the U.S. They contended that it was unfair for one state to interfere with interstate commerce by restricting importation of food products that were not produced by the same standards that California farmers and ranchers had to follow. Opponents also contended that consumers would rebel against Prop 12, because it would raise the price of meat and eggs beyond what consumers could afford to pay. But similar Animal welfare laws have now gained traction outside of California, and Massachusetts, Arizona, Colorado and Ohio have passed laws similar to Prop 12 addressing confinement of farm animals. Now, it seems that consumers have become comfortable with these requirements and have embraced them when it comes to buying their food.
As an example of a change in consumer’s perception of how their food should be produced is the shift from caged production of poultry that was started back in the 1950s. The idea that caging poultry was more efficient and prevented disease was promoted in agricultural publicans and ag university research, and was pretty much set in stone from the 1950s until the back to the land movement in the U.S. during the 1960s and 70s encouraged young people to move to rural areas to take up simplified lifestyles and living on the land. Over the past decade or so, egg production from cage-free hens has mushroomed, partly because of consumer demand for cage free eggs both for home use and in restaurants, partly as a response to concerns about how chickens were treated in laying houses and the perception that free range eggs tasted better. According to the USDA, cage-free hens made up 40% of the U.S. flock in March of 2024. That’s up from about 5% in 2012. As an example, of this shift, Cal-Maine Foods, the largest egg producer in the U.S., is planning to invest $40 million to expand cage-free production because cage free-range hens make up a growing share of the nation’s flocks. The company expects to build five new cage-free layer houses across locations in Florida, Georgia, Utah and Texas, to replace cage facilities. Also Cal- Maine plans to expand cage-free production in Dexter, Missouri, by re-purposing a former Tyson’ Foods plant to produce eggs.
In 1923, the song, “Yes! We Have No Bananas.” was a big hit. It related a story of a grocery man who didn’t want to disappoint his customers, when he was out of bananas. Now we hear from scientists that this story could be repeated, since the common bananas we get in the supermarket are facing extinction because of the disease Fusarium wilt, a fungal infection of bananas. The problem is that all of the bananas produced for sale in most markets have the same genetic makeup, which makes them all susceptible to the Fusarium wilt disease. But the fruit company Chiquita, has introduced a banana hybrid that may be resistant to two of the fungus that are attacking banana plants grown on most plantations.
Winston Churchill wrote, “We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give.”
