This website connects farms to consumers for direct-to-consumer raw milk sales, at 15-20 bucks per gallon for cow milk on the west coast, so we’re generally used to prioritizing food as a greater chunk of our income than most. Direct-to-consumer vat-pasteurized milk can cost the same amount, or more. This is the real cost of milk without food subsidies directed toward food processors.
We pay a lot for food, but when the massive, consolidated industrial food producers raise prices, just to increase their profits, enabled by the fact that they’ve bought out all the competition, this is a different situation and actively prosecuted.
Inflation of the dollar alone does not explain the cost of food at grocery stores. Corporate price gouging and corporate price fixing are real and this meddling is a big motivator of why farms switch to direct-to-consumer raw milk production, while many dairy producers already consume raw milk at home.
Here are some links related to large-scale food producers and distributers squeezing consumers to inflate their profits.
Price gouging and price fixing
December 2021: Tyson, Pilgrim’s, Others Get Nod for $181 Million Antitrust Deal
Jan 2023: Farm Action Calls for FTC to Investigate Record-High Egg Prices
April 2023: JBS to pay $25 mln in latest beef price-fixing settlement in US court
December 2023: US egg producers forced to pay $53m in price-fixing case
June 2024: StarKist reaches settlement with buyers over tuna price-fixing claims
August 2024: Kroger Executive Admits Company Gouged Prices Above Inflation
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