Fresh Taste
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Fresh Taste is a funder collaborative formed in 2002 by a group of foundations with a shared philanthropic commitment to sustainable agriculture and food systems. Our geographic focus is on the "Chicago foodshed," roughly a 200-mile area surrounding Chicago, Illinois. Together we envision a future where all metro Chicago residents will eat mostly healthy, locally-produced fruits, vegetables, whole grains, meat, and dairy products.
03/06/2020
This article delves into how the shift in agricultural financing in rural communities from local sources to global large-scale conglomerates has taken money away from farmers and placed it in the hands of finance firms, negatively affecting the fabric of rural America.
“From the 1960s to the ’80s, about a third of each dollar American shoppers spent on groceries went back to farmers; in 2016, according to the Farm Bureau, that has fallen to less than 13 cents per dollar,” writes Nick Shaxson. “Given total US food spending of about $1.7 trillion each year, that falling share suggests that the changes in the food system could be costing US farmers at least $150 billion a year—certainly many times the $18 billion in federal farm subsidies that were paid to them in 2018. Where is all this hidden money going, and who benefits?”
Rural America Doesn’t Have to Starve to Death A predatory and extractive financial sector has hollowed out communities across the US.
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