Why is Good Food So Expensive?

Before joining Walden, I worked on a project that evaluated the performance of Massachusetts’s Healthy Incentive Program (HIP), a state-funded program that offered a dollar-for-dollar match of SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program) funds when they were used at farmers' markets, farm stands, mobile markets, or Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) programs. The goal of HIP was to create a more vibrant and equitable food system for historically underserved communities by making healthy, locally grown food more affordable and accessible.  

While the data is slightly outdated now (the evaluation measured years 2015-2018), the results still paint a vivid picture. In their planning, state officials budgeted $1.25M in incentive dollars to be redeemed over the course of the program’s three-year period. Instead, within the first 15 months, $4.7M in incentive dollars were redeemed – demand outpacing projections by 380% in less than half the time allotted. My project’s analysis of the program’s performance suggested it had touched a nerve; the need for greater access to more affordable healthy and local food (especially in historically underserved communities) was significantly larger than prior data had suggested.

Our food system and associated incentives are slanted towards cheap, fast, and less nutrient dense foods. Federal subsidies continuously support commodity crops like corn and soybeans that are then used to make sugars, starches, and oils - which end up in highly-processed and artificially-cheap junk foods. They get even cheaper when their producers externalize other costs elsewhere in society – like the cost of healthcare for millions who fall ill with diet-related diseases (which disproportionately impact underserved communities) or the cost of our food system’s contributions to water and air pollution, reduced biodiversity, or greenhouse gas emissions. When you factor in those externalities, the true cost of the US food system is actually closer to three times the sticker price. On the other side, organic and locally grown foods are often more expensive due to the cost of pursuing USDA organic certification, the reduced economies of scale for smaller farms, the higher cost of less extractive labor, and the increased labor intensity required. Cheap, fast, and unhealthy are too often the default.

In the face of the headwinds created by global and national food systems, it often falls on local communities (through for-profits and non-profits alike) to intervene on behalf of those facing food insecurity and hunger – and we want to be intentional with our support of those types of projects. Examples from our current community of partners include:  

• Agric Organics
  Entrepreneurs Hameed and Ayo Bello are originally from Nigeria, and have grown diversified vegetables, poultry, eggs and livestock for years. We worked with the Fair Food Fund to support the development of Farmstore 99 – their new storefront concept in Springfield, MA that will accept SNAP/EBT, WIC, HIP, and farmers’ market coupons.

• New Hampshire Hunger Solutions
  A non-profit focused on closing the gap between who is eligible and who is enrolled in SNAP in New Hampshire – where participation ranks 39th nationally. Their initiatives include expanding outreach, reducing administrative barriers to sign-up, and offering education on how to use SNAP and Double Up Food Bucks (NH’s version of HIP).
  
  
• Full Plates Full Potential
  A non-profit based in Maine and focused on tackling childhood food insecurity. They work with school administrations to ensure kids have the school meals (as well as afterschool and summer meal programs) they need to thrive and reach their full potential.

If you read enough research about the state of our food system and all of its ripple effects, especially for our least privileged communities, the problems can feel intractable. But there are a growing number of examples – some public, others private; some for-profit, others not-for-profit – that provide sources of hope.

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