Healthy foods are often more expensive. Here’s why

Eating a healthier or at least a more balanced diet is not always as easy as it sounds, with food prices leading to large disparities between rich and poor communities in many countries.

One piece of British research in 2023, the Food Foundation’s Broken Plate report released in June, found that healthy food is usually twice as expensive as less healthy food, on a per calorie basis.

Campaigners say high prices have reduced the ability of many households to buy healthy or healthier food, pushing consumers towards less healthy, ultra-processed options.

With this price breakdown, it’s worth focusing on nutrient-rich fresh fruit and vegetables, especially those that are key to any balanced diet.

Countries in the developed world are increasingly dependent on international imports, as more consumers demand year-round access to tropical or out-of-season fruit and vegetables. This has led to a more and more complex global supply chain.

The US is one of the largest importers of fresh fruit and vegetables in the world, and it is also a large exporter. But while US it. Production in volume has remained stable over the years, its imports have increased by 129% for fruit, and by 155% for vegetables, in the last 20 years.

According to a recent study by the UK’s University of Warwick, fixed costs in the supply chain alone have led to American consumers paying 40% more for fruit and vegetables over a 10-year period.

“The data very clearly say, there is the fixed high price for fresh fruit and vegetables, which is not there for other products,” Thijs Van Rens, one of the authors of the Warwick study told CNBC. “The market is inefficient in setting the right prices.”

In contrast, Van Rens argues, ultra-processed food items that are not as perishable as fresh produce are becoming cheaper. “Junk food is cheap because you can keep it forever. You can buy it in bulk, you can produce it in bulk, you can deliver it when it’s cheap to get rid of it,” he said.

“There is a very close connection between the cost of food and how healthy it is for you.”

Indeed, the amount of vegetables bought by British families has fallen to its lowest level in 50 years, the Food Foundation study found.

Rebecca Toby, a senior business and investment manager at the Food Foundation, said there is a big gap in policy in terms of how lawmakers make it easier for people to access healthier foods. “Choice is severely constrained when it comes to what people can buy,” she told CNBC.

The agricultural workforce is in decline in most countries around the world, especially in Europe and the US, according to the International Labor Organization (ILO).

Farming and agriculture is no longer a desirable career route for many people with its unsociable and long hours, the physical intensity of the work, which is often in remote, rural locations for little pay.

As the domestic labor force shrinks and ages, developed nations traditionally rely on non-domestic and seasonal workers. Thus, any shortage of workers affects the stability of the food supply chain overall.

A survey by the UK’s National Farmers’ Union (NFU) found that fruit and vegetables worth 22 million ($28 million) were wasted in the first half of 2022 alone, directly because of workforce shortages.

The union said 38,000 seasonal worker visas were available in 2022 while the industry needed 70,000 workers.

The British government hopes that automation can reduce the demand for migrant workers. Countries with aging populations like Japan are already investing in autonomous farming technologies.

But automation means more investment in equipment for developers that could result in new cost increases for the manufacturer.

American farms are affected by a similar scarcity of labor, demonstrated by a steep increase in the number of agricultural worker visas (H-2A) that American farmers have requested over the past 20 years.

Some 371,000 temporary agricultural labor positions have been certified in the US. it. In 2022, a sevenfold increase from 48,000 in 2005.

Further complicating supply chains for fruit and vegetables is the weather. China, India, Brazil, Turkey and Mexico are among the world’s largest fruit exporters. And every one of these countries has suffered from extreme weather events in the past five years.

In 2023, Mexico saw such high temperatures that the government is now carrying out cloud seeding to artificially increase rainfall. China has seen both debilitating floods and extreme heat in the same season, wiping out its crops and disrupting the food supply.

A new analysis from the Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit found that climate change, combined with the impact of energy costs, have increased household bills by an average of 605 ($770) in the UK.