The real cost of a loaf of bread

When we work, we add value to each others lives.  The collection of raw materials takes a lot of work, but turning those raw materials into usable products also takes work.  These value added processes are important as it is difficult to use the raw materials in their raw form.  Our capacity to build tools, machines and fancy gourmet dishes is impressive.  But when people buy and then sell stuff, no value is added to the process and transporting the raw materials all over the world consumes a tremendous amount of energy.  I am going to suggest that people like bankers, stock brokers and traders add no value to the goods and services that we consume each day yet the take their pound of flesh.  

So how much does it actually 'cost' to make a loaf of bread?  Lets see where this takes us.

Farmer grows wheat each year among other food.  His input costs are fairly high as he has to cover fuel, seeds, land, equipment, chemicals, etc.  Organic farmers bypass the chemicals but then have to deal with seed cleaning and other tasks to make up for the organic label.  As of today non-organic wheat is selling for $4.50USD per bushel (60 lbs).  

According to nationalfestivalofbreads.com you can make 90 - one pound loaves of bread with that single bushel of wheat.  Bread in the US is $2.55USD per loaf.  There are a few ingredients added in the process of making bread.  I've estimated that those ingredients cost about $10 for the 90 loaves.   That means people buy 90 loaves of bread for $229.50USD which was made from $14.50USD of raw materials using millions of dollars worth of machinery, infrastructure and labour.  They have found a way to pump out loaves of bread to bring the per unit cost to $2.55USD per loaf, assuming there is no price fixing like what Loblaw admitted to doing.

So lets follow the process.  Farmer sells his wheat to the mill.  Somebody transports it for them.  Mill then grinds the wheat up into flower.  Mill then sells flower to the baker.  Somebody transports it for them.  Baker adds the other ingredients to make bread and he bakes it.  Baker then sells his bread to the grocery store.  Somebody transports it for them.  The store then sells bread to the consumer who then transports it home.  Granted that there are lots of stores that fulfill multiple steps in this distribution chain, but the process is basically the same.  We also cannot forget the storage facilities, warehouses and other logistical processes required to make this all work.  Each time somebody touches that bushel of grain, the price goes up.  

As a result, $14.50 worth of raw materials has now been inflated to $229.50 of finished products, an increase of 15.83 times the original price.  Because of the farmers costs, he only made $0.38 on the bushel of wheat.  That still does not take into consideration the environmental costs of all that fuel moving stuff around all over the place.  

Can I do it cheaper and far more economically?  Absolutely! How?  By cutting out the middle man, the vast majority of the transportation and shipping costs, the expensive machinery and doing it all myself.  Granted that it is probably cheaper, time wise, for me to work a job making $30 to $50 per hour as I could then purchase that loaf of bread for 3 - 6 minutes of work.  However, that is not the point.  The point is to reduce the ecological, environmental and transportation costs of how the industrial system makes bread.  

We pick up a bushel of wheat for about $20.00.  That way the farmer makes way more money!  We purchased our own mill so that we can mill the wheat into flour, depending on what we are making.   This mill has been fantastic and it is well over 10 years old and milling strong!  A new one today costs about $300.00

Then we purchased a sieve (40) so that we could take out the wheat germ to make lighter bread or bran muffins.  If you get a 60 then you can make pastry with that fine sifting.

In the end, we get two loaves of bread.  No middle men.  No transportation.  I estimate that it costs us about $0.35 a loaf when we take the wheat, other ingredients, wood or propane into consideration for baking.  We don't count our labour because it is donated.  Our labour is love, sacred and priceless, especially when we are doing it for ourselves, our health and well being.  Nobody can put a price on that.  

This process also guarantees that we are not consuming chemicals and other byproducts used by the industrial food system.  The industrial food system may be extremely efficient at pumping out millions of widgets each day.  But the costs and energy to do that far exceed what the environment can manage.  If we want to address the environmental concerns, it is time we take back the responsibility that we have so willingly turned over to the agricultural industrial complex.  Time to take back our food!