Food and Consumer Trends for the Coming Year

This year's crop failures, the growing cry for bio-fuel, consumers' concerns about how their food is grown and unpredictable weather worldwide have resulted in a stressed agricultural base that hasn't been seen since the time of the Dust Bowl. Once again, the general population of developed and developing nations, used to cheap, readily available food, will experience a spike in prices and reduced availability of foods that they consider staples. This will result in several things.

The first will be hoarding of staple goods such as wheat, rice and other grains by those who can afford to do so. Staples like flour and pasta and rice will become a commodity that will be hard to keep in stores, which will place stress on low to middle income earners.

The second will be a return to personal food growth and preparation. Individuals and families will take up gardening, in their back yards, homes and on their terraces. Every person who can do even a bit of gardening will take it up in order to offset the cost of food in stores. Community gardens will spring up, giving people without land of their own a way to grow their own food.

The third will be that prepared foods will be seen as less desirable because of the high cost to the consumer. Grocery stores will find that whole foods, like fruits and vegetables will sell faster, as will unprocessed meats, which offer consumers more choices of how to prepare their food. Some consumers will skip the grocery store experience almost altogether by purchasing, where they can, directly from producers for their fruits, vegetables and meats.

With the increased cost of food at the grocery store, consumers will look to find ways to make food production at home easier. Products which help consumers prepare their food from scratch will go through an upturn, as will products which help consumers preserve their foods. Sales of blenders, mixers, pressure cookers, smokers, dehydrators, canning supplies, freezers and the like will mushroom.

People will have a greater interest in taking cooking lessons, in order to make the most from their purchases and their gardens. They will purchase cookbooks and gardening books to help them become more self-sufficient. Families will stay home to make meals together.

Restaurants will start to feel the pinch while consumers, who cannot afford the sudden inflation-driven prices, will stay home to prepare foods which they have grown. Family restaurants will all but disappear. The restaurants that will remain will be those that sell inexpensive, cheaply produced products such as hamburgers, or the exclusive restaurants that the affluent can afford.

In short, the present food crisis will result in higher food prices at the store, a boost for small appliance and gardening sales, a pinch for the restaurant industry and a greater focus on the part of the individual to become self-sufficient.