Commentary: Food purchases provide the best bargains for consumers

By Jamie Johansson

When it seems like the cost of living is rising these days, you can take comfort in knowing that food continues to be one of the best bargains going. The productivity of farmers and ranchers has helped make California, the nation's top farm state, a great place to live.

California agriculture is characterized by high-yielding, high-value cash crops that use advanced levels of technology, capital and management. One California farmer supplies enough food, fiber and flowers for 135 people.

Because farmers are productive and efficient, it takes about 36 days for most Californians to earn enough income to pay for their entire year's food supply. To celebrate food affordability, Farm Bureau has set Feb. 5, 2004, as Food Check-Out Day.

Food Check-Out Day was created to help celebrate the bounty of the food, fiber, flowers and forest products coming from America's farms and ranches. The event takes on added significance in the Golden State because California farmers and ranchers are some of the most productive and innovative in the world.

According to the U.S. Agriculture Department, American families and individuals currently spend, on average, just 10 percent of their disposable personal income for food. The percentage of disposable income spent for food has declined during the past 35 years. In 1970, Food Check-Out Day would have been 15 days later.

Farmers touch the lives of consumers every day of the year: at the grocery store, when you dine at your favorite restaurant, when you drive your car and even in the clothing section of department stores.

In return for this productivity, farmers and ranchers receive just 19 cents out of every dollar spent on food at home and away from home. In 1980, they received 31 cents of every food dollar.

According to the California Department of Food and Agriculture, California agriculture is a $27.5 billion business that produces 250 crop and livestock commodities. This abundance also generates an estimated $100 billion in related economic activity. More than one million California workers are employed in a job that is related to agriculture.

The department also reports that California has some of the most agriculturally productive counties in the nation. Of the top 10 agricultural producing counties nationwide, eight are located in California.

It is important to note that this productivity and efficiency are largely the result of family farmers. More than 97 percent of California farms are family farms or partnerships.

In observance of Food Check-Out Day, members of our state Young Farmers and Ranchers group on Thursday will be making a special donation of grocery items to the children and their families at the Ronald McDonald House in Sacramento.

There's much to celebrate when it comes to our quality of life in California. On Feb. 5, take a moment to think how farmers and ranchers make your life better during Food Check-Out Day.

(Jamie Johansson is state chairman of the California Farm Bureau Federation's Young Farmers and Ranchers. He is an olive grower and processor in Oroville.)