I’m giving the opening keynote at the Maine Grain Alliance’s 2025 Kneading Conference, which culimiantes in the Maine Artisan Bread Fair on July 26. My talk is at 8:30 a.m. at the Strand Cinema in Skowhegan, Maine. I’m really looking forward to this one.
by Marion Nestle
Mar
29
2018
How much of the food dollar do farmers get?
USDA has just issued a revision to its food dollar series—its graphic explanation of how the U.S. food dollar gets spent.
This tells us that 15.8 cents out of every food dollar goes to the producer; the rest goes for marketing.
Oddly, the USDA does not provide an updated illustration of the marketing components from its previous version in 2006:
What this tells us is that 80% of the cost of food is accounted for by marketing.
Don’t farmers deserve more?