By Roberta Rampton Regina bureau Flash back to 1950. Mom was in the kitchen, making three square meals a day from scratch. And when she went to the grocery store, farmers got more than 40 percent of the money she spent on food. Now, fast-forward to 1997. Mom puts in a 40-hour week at the office.
Families eat on the run.
In this fast-paced, wired world, convenience is key. This radical social change is the main reason why farmers today get just over 20 percent of the money people spend on food, said Dave Schweikhardt, agricultural economist at Michigan State University. Consumers are paying other people to prepare their food for them. And ever-increasing labor costs are the main reason for the widening spread between farm prices and retail prices. By and large, they're buying prepared food, convenience food.