There must be more to business and farming than the bottom line? If we pursue profit above all else where will this lead us? I often feel a little discouraged and depressed with the state of the world, the cruelty and destruction we as human being are inflicting on our planet seems endless and unrelenting, it can at times feel overwhelming.
Factory farms, chemical destruction of biodiversity, plastic pollution, the unravelling of our food system and indeed our humanity, clearing the last of the earths forests to grow more food to feed yet more cows, all ultimately in the name of profit and chasing the cheapest product or ingredient. Is this all there is?
In one way there is no denying we all are complicit but how are we to act any differently? We operate within a loaded system supporting a model that is breaking us and our planet. The supermarkets and food companies and large retailers, chase the same goal: make money and keep investors or shareholders happy.
But as the native Americans used to say: “When all the trees have been cut down, the last fish caught, and the last stream poisoned, you will realise that you cannot eat money”
I’m not naïve enough though to think that profit is not important, having been on the hard edge of not being able to pay the bills over the years. We have struggled to reach profitability for many years and producing and selling food as a small retailer couples all the hard points of both industries and we are up against the fierce competition of the global retailer supermarket chains. But here is the thing: Our food choices matter a great deal! I wanted to take the time today to thank you for choosing to support us.
We know you can walk into a supermarket and generally buy produce cheaper than we can sell it at, in fact sometimes you can but this same produce cheaper than we can produce it at. It is funny though, what we consider is acceptable spending. Just today as a reward for completing her first junior cert exam, I bought my daughter her requested almond milk cappuccino, costing a shocking €5.40! Is this the norm now?
But carrots at less than a €1 are considered too expensive, it seems we may have mixed up our priorities here or have I missed something along the way? The convenient road of picking up a cheap plastic clad product from a supermarket is so easy and so habitual but YOU choose to take the more difficult road, the road less travelled even.
Spending a bit more and taking a delivery at a set time each week, we know this is a big commitment. I don’t know if you know, if you fully realise the difference you are making. You have given us the green light to buck the trend, to grow without chemicals, to invest in biodiversity, to focus on products and crops that mitigate climate change and produce and support other farmers than share common values are organic in practice and in spirit.
This is surely the better path? A path that focuses on caring for nature, and ourselves, and not putting profit before all else? To me it seems that this change is all that is needed to fix the world, maybe that is naive? It will take work on your part, the path of least resistance is not always the best way, in fact it is usually only when we put in some effort that we receive the very best rewards.
So, thank you for your time, money, patience and determination to help create a food system that protects our beautiful land and is ultimately a long-term investment in our own future health.
Thank you
Kenneth