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Show BYU Study Shows Food Price Increases Lower Than Waqes During 40 Year Period ltk-spiio ri'i't'iii increases in-creases in fond coMs, pru-os for the family food items are loss today to-day than in the pre ions 4ll" ears when ono considers con-siders that wanes have risen faster than food prices. This is the observation observa-tion of Or. Ci. Akin Carpenter, professor of agricultural economies at Bri.ham ounn Uni-versity, Uni-versity, who has made careful studies ofpriees and wages since UUU). "Rased upon the industrial in-dustrial average hourly wages of 550 per hour in 1930 compared to S3. 50 an hour in li72. today's hourly wage will buy more food than the hourly wage in 1030. "For instance, in 1030 an hourly wage would buy 5-1 '2 loav es of bread compared to 10 today; or 3-1 '2 quarts of milk compared to 12 quarts today; 1-1 2 pounds of round steak compared to 2 pounds today; 1-1 2 pounds of chicken compared com-pared with 7 pounds today; to-day; 3-1 '2 cans oftoma-' oftoma-' toes compared with 10 cans today; and 1-12 pounds of turkey compared com-pared with S pounds today," to-day," Dr. Carpenter i pointed out. The reason for better food buys today stems from improved agricultural agricul-tural technology. A farmer far-mer in 1930 could produce pro-duce enough for himself and 10 other people, , whereas today a farmer can produce enough for himself and 4S other people. And all this is done on less acreage harvested. Improved technology in farming includes new varieties of seeds, improved im-proved fertilization practices, better pest control, more automation automa-tion and mechanization. . reduction of waste and . spoilage between farms and retail stores, and faster and improved . transportation systems for delivery of food items. "Housewives should also . remember that many of today's foods have a built-in maid service ser-vice which reduces preparation pre-paration and cooking time. For instance, meat pies, frozen TV dinners, frozen vegetables of all kinds, as well as ready-to-cook chicken and other meats are readily-available readily-available to housewives across the country," Dr. Carpenter said. In the old days, he pointed out. someone in the family had to clean the chicken and prepare it for the Sunday dinner. During the past 20 years, the broiler business busi-ness has improved efficiency ef-ficiency to the point wherein the modern poultryman can produce a 3-12 pound broiler in 52 days using two pounds of feed per pound of chicken. His counterpart in 1947 required 89 days to produce a bird to the same marketable weight using 3-12 pounds of feed to produce one pound of chicken. Similar Simi-lar achievements have been made in other segments seg-ments of agriculture throughout the United States, benefitting the consumer with lower prices. "It is obvious that beef prices have risen considerably con-siderably during the past few weeks nationwide. A basic reason for the increase is that the demand de-mand exceeds the current cur-rent supply oven though the supply has been increasing in-creasing from year to year. "For example, beef production in the U.S. increased steadily from 8.8 billion pounds in 1951 to 22 billions pounds in 1972. Per person consumption con-sumption of beef during the same period increased in-creased from 5ti pounds to 115 pounds annually. This merely shows that as incomes increased, people exercised their preference for buying more beef even though the prices are higher." Dr. Carpenter said. The agricultural economist econ-omist also pointed out that housewives today, buying their food items at much larger markets, spend, only StiS.tU) out of $100 for food; SS.43 for alcoholic beverages, soft drinks, candy and chewing gum; and $22.97 for non-food products such as household supplies, sup-plies, pet foods, tobacco tobac-co products, and general gen-eral merchandise. These non-food products, prod-ucts, according to Supermarket Sup-ermarket ing Magazine's T.I71 survey, accounted for a total of 30 per cent of (ho so-called "food" costs to American Ameri-can families. And out of each $100 spent for food at retail prices, approximately 50 per cent of that is for labor costs involved in handling, processing, and selling that food to the consumer. It is a well-known fact that wage rates have increased in-creased much faster than retail food prices. "Americans are still the best fed people in the world in terms of their percentage of disposable dis-posable income spent for food," Dr. Carpenter reported. re-ported. "For example, the average American consumer spends only 10 per cent of his income in-come after taxes on food items. In Fngland people spend 24 per cent for food; West Germany 31 per cent; Japan 35 per cent: Poland 43 per cent; and Soviet I'nion 40 per cent. "What this story boils down to is that agriculture agricul-ture is the key to this nation's affluence. If there is any doubt about that, look at any country whose farmers are unproductive. un-productive. Instead of having a "poverty problem.' prob-lem.' they are poor indeed." in-deed." Dr. Carpenter concluded. |