Vol. 37 - Socially Responsible Spending, Directly Helping Farmers
Marie Thomasson of Modern Assets is back to discuss another way to adjust our spending habits that can directly help our local farmers, compared to buying directly from big box retailers and supermarkets. We cover:
Impacts of buying directly through Farmers Markets or Community Supported Agriculture (CSA)
Pros and Cons to buying through Farmers Markets
Why Farmers are currently struggling to stay afloat
How to find Farmers Markets or Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) near you
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TRANSCRIPT:
Naseema McElroy: [00:00:00] All right, nurses on fire. I'm really, really excited to have Marie Thomasson back with us this week, because we are going to talk about how to spend our money in a socially responsible manner. And we're going to start with an easy way to do it. So, Hey Marie, how you doing?
Marie Thomasson: [00:00:18] I am great. It's so nice to be back.
Naseema McElroy: [00:00:22] Yes. Yes. Yes. And it's crazy because we are recording this episode on election day. So we are totally using this as a distraction. I'm a good distraction. And I'm interested to see what's going to happen later on tonight, but, this is a good distraction either
Marie Thomasson: [00:00:42] way. Exactly. And yes, it's pulling me away from, from watching the news and the polls, for a little while.
So, and it's good because at least we can use this time productively today because you can stress all you want, but that doesn't make any change. Right. And so that's what this whole series is all about. Like how do we make change? And I'm glad we're like hitting the easy button today. Cause that's what I need today, right?
Naseema McElroy: [00:01:13] Yes. We all need that easy button, especially today.
Marie Thomasson: [00:01:16] Yes. Especially today. Like sometimes you've got the energy the time and the money , to, do what's difficult and today, today's the easy button. So, we're moving on to spending. So we already, we already talked about, you know, how you can save and, I'm super excited to, to talk about it because it's something that we all know and, get farmer's markets.
Right. But what I want to do today is spend a little bit more time digging into some of the background because. I think it's one of those things where you're like, you're like, yeah, it's a good idea. I get it. But like, how do you actually quantify that? how much does it really matter? Right. And so , I did my homework and, and I've got some numbers that kind of, I think, help, paint the picture for why it's so important.
So. okay. So I'm super curious. Do you shop at farmer's markets?
Naseema McElroy: [00:02:19] I try to shop at farmer's markets. I really love farmer's markets. it's just not always that easy to get to a farmer's market. However, because I've moved to the farm land of this country. I do stop shop directly at the farm, which I do most of the time.
Yeah.
Marie Thomasson: [00:02:41] So this is one of the biggest cons, right? Like this is one of the biggest drawbacks of farmer's markets is that like, it's Saturday or Sunday or Tuesday, or whenever it is for three hours and what if you're working or what if you have to take a bus to get there, you know, like there's a lot of limitations to a farmer's market and you're still gonna have to go to a grocery store.
It's kind of a luxury, right? You know, and I, I think that, that just kind of sets up the idea that this is the easy button to just, just because it's the easy button doesn't mean that it's easy. It's easy. Yeah.
Naseema McElroy: [00:03:20] It's the easiest of all the are to alternatives,
Marie Thomasson: [00:03:23] Laura and, and it's, it's the easiest of the alternatives.
And I think that something that we have to kind of think about is like, You know, it's, it's kind of a shift in how you look at your life and how you spend your time. you go to Europe, people are really used to going to different shops, like the cheese shop and the bread shop, and it's so quaint.
And probably if you went there on vacation and be like, Oh yeah, you know, I'm all about, this life, right? Like taking a Saturday, except that it's like a whole Saturday. And if you've been working your ass off all week and like, all you want to do is sit at home. and it's more expensive.
So, let's just get all the challenges out of the way. Like it's harder to get to, it's harder to schedule into a busy life. It's more expensive. You're still going to have to go to the damn store, you know?
Naseema McElroy: [00:04:14] And you know what, Marie, that's one of the things I wasn't going to say that, because I know this is supposed to be the easy way.
Yeah. But I was just like, it is really expensive to shop at the farm and at the farmer's market, as opposed to just going to the grocery store. but like everything that we've talked about in the series, she kind of get what you pay for. Right. Especially if you are trying to be mindful of. What's your spending on like what that's going into, but also like what you're ingesting.
Right? What's you're putting yourself into yourself. And so, yes. So I have this struggle, especially as somebody who's a personal finance coach and spending money like this on food, that I know I can get cheaper. So it's always a struggle for me. So I'm going to be admitted that, cause I was gonna say something and I was like,
Marie Thomasson: [00:05:04] no, I mean, we, you have to be real about it.
Right. otherwise, what's the point of having the conversation? Cause there's a million people out there who are like, you know, Oh, just go to a farmer's market. It's so easy, you know, it's so good. Of course we know the benefits. Like, yeah, we get it. it's, locally sourced, it's going to be stuff that's in season.
You have more variety. but you know, you also have to know how to cook. You have to know what to do with the damn veggies once you get them. and so, you know, it's not that easy. but that said, we get it. We get that there's challenges to shopping at the, you know, at the, at the farmer's market.
and, and really what I want to do is kind of maybe look at it through the lens of ope. I see a little, a little cutie. Yeah. In the background.
Naseema McElroy: [00:05:56] Yeah. I had to have her come get this dog. He was chewing my toes. Oh my God.
Marie Thomasson: [00:06:03] That's funny. But, you know, there's so much good to be said. And when we think about it through the lens of like, all right, you wanna invest your money and your according to your values and you want to be sustainable like this, is it.
So the reason why we're focusing specifically on, on the farmer's market today is because, food is about 10% of the average American's budget. Right. The less money you have, the bigger, the, you know, the portion of the pie, the more money you have, the smaller, you know, I mean, it's not like, I mean, I guess food can't get more expensive, but you can only fit so much in your mouth.
at any one serving, you know, anyone meals. So it's 10% of our budget, like, think about that. It's the third largest expense after housing and transportation. So when we think about housing, it's either your rent or you have a mortgage, like, can you really be sustainable with your, with your rent or your mortgage?
Not really, you know, like it kind of is what it is. I suppose you could boycott like the big property managers, but , good luck. And you know, if you live somewhere in the Bay area or LA any, like. Urban area. Like you're just happy you have a place of your head and that they accepted your application.
if you're a renter and , if you've got a mortgage, like you get a mortgage and sure you can get it at your credit union, but who who's to say, it's not going to get sold off to somebody else. So. You have very little save over those dollars and that's huge. Cause that's like 25%, you know, anywhere from 25 to 50% of the average American's budget, which you have zero say over.
Right. So talk about disempowering. which is, you know, why I love CDFs cause at least they, they help people get into, you know, just having a mortgage period. But and then after that comes transportation, so, , The average person buys a new car or, you know, use whatever it is. Like every 10 years, like chances are, even if you want to get an electric vehicle, you have to be able to afford it.
or maybe you bought a car four years ago, you know, it's going to be awhile. Oh,
Naseema McElroy: [00:08:12] I'm like 10 years, girl. I get a new car, like every two years. I'm sorry. I'm so special now. And I have two Teslas, so like, there's that.
Marie Thomasson: [00:08:27] No judgment here. No judgment here. The longer you own the car, the more sustainable you are in essence. I mean, unless it's like some like gas guzzler from 1984, with an eight track in it, but, you know, ideally, you know, If you want to be sustainable at this point, for me, it's better to just like, keep my good old Subaru and drive it than it is to buy a new electric vehicle just because of the electricity it takes to create that vehicle.
But you know, somebody's got to buy these, you know, these cars, you've got your place in the, in the food chain. so then we come to the third thing, which is food. And, and this is something that we have a whole lot more control over because we're buying food, you know, maybe not every day, but almost, you know, either you're, you're going and getting lunch somewhere, or, you know, it's like 20, $30 at a time where it becomes your third largest expenditure , for most people.
And it's like, you've got a lot of power there, right? Like just like saving 10%. Which, you know, if you can do it, if you, if, if you can do more, but saving 10% , is like pretty, like a conventional wisdom spending 10% and, and consider that like good for you. Right. But spending 10% of your income on food is huge.
It's over $2 trillion. Of, you know, money that Americans spend on food every year, like $2 trillion. And the really sad fact is is that like, the top 15%, and this is kind of an outdated statistic. I couldn't find anything newer, but the top 15% of food producers control, like 90% of our food output, like hello Walmart.
Right? And so. Just when you look at these big mega corporations. And in this case, we're talking about big agriculture. Like this money is not coming back to our communities. This money is not coming back to you, right? they're all about efficiencies and scale, AKA, , like bottom dollar, you know, wages to part-time workers who don't get benefits like this doesn't help anybody.
except, you know, the people in their, in their towers at the top of the food chain, literal food chain , and it, it also doesn't benefit our planet, like big ag. So big agriculture contributes to like, it's something like 25% Of the emissions, that are, , contributing , to global warming and climate change.
this is huge. And so for every, every dollar that you don't contribute to them, Right. where do you put that money? , how do you divest from big ag? Will you invest in farmer's markets and CSA or, you know, farms hide stands. That's what you do. So I didn't actually bring it up. CSA, CSCs are growing popularity and it's kind of the, it's still expensive, but it's like the home delivery version of a farmer's market.
Right. So we can consider them more or less the same. 90 cents of every dollar that you spend goes directly to that farmer. That's amazing. When you shop , at any big grocery store, the farmers getting 15 cents on the dollar, like 15 cents on the dollar, this is why the majority of farmers can't afford to buy the food they grow, right?
Like , it's subsistence living, growing food for all of these huge. huge companies,
Naseema McElroy: [00:12:09] you know, I was just thinking about like, just driving around, because like I said, I live around amongst farms. Like how do farmers actually make a living without, a whole bunch of government assistance these days?
Like, how is it even possible?
Marie Thomasson: [00:12:22] That's the problem. It's not so it's just not. And so it's been a long history of these smaller farmers. They, you know, the only way most of them survive is that they form collectives or cooperatives. and for the most part, farm land is passed on from generation to generation.
and then slowly but surely they get gobbled up. So, you know, just to go back, there's so many layers of. this, frankly, because one, farm land is expensive and you look at historically who owns farmland. It's white people. So in, in, in rural areas, white individuals own like 90% of the land it's even worse than in like suburban and urban environments.
but even this is a lot of the population that's very unhappy, right? Because their farmland is getting bought up because they can't compete. Government subsidies go to the people that are to the, not the people, but the, the corporations that grow the most food. So government subsidies, aren't going to small farmers.
they're going to, whomever can basically take the most out of the land in the shortest amount of time possible. And that's using, you know, like genetically, you know, like Monsanto seeds and fertilizers and pesticides and whatnot. That's where government subsidies go. So if you shop at a farmer's market, it's more expensive because it's actually the price of growing food ethically.
and so I think that that's something to think about because we're going to get on, like, we're going to touch on this on the next episode too. Like, yeah, it's more expensive, but like, you do get what you pay for and, and what is the price of an ethical country or an ethical food supply chain?
Because food is, is fundamental. And the more that like, you know, Amazon just bought whole foods, right. You know, a few years ago, what happens when Amazon runs Amazon, a Monsanto run our food chain, like what happens? that's like, letting another Trump into the storage and letting them steal everything.
Then you're, then you're left without options. And so when you, if you have the luxury of the time and the resources, just think about it in terms of like, you know what, , yeah, it's more expensive, but you know, what's even more expensive, like freedom, you know, just ethics. And so. It's one way, you know, like I actually see it as like, kind of like a radical act.
Of shopping at a farmer's market, you are doing a radical act because you're actually like taking time out of your day. Like, yeah, we go to the grocery store and like, you know, we, we run in and get what we need. You have to like plan, you have to actually like make a plan and you kind of have to even think in advance about what you want to cook.
Like all this stuff. It's almost like you have to kind of have like a paradigm shift in your life. Like. You know, let's all try and be Europeans for a day or something and like spend all day cooking. I don't know. But, but, but just the act of going , to a farmer's market is really kind of revolutionary because you're, you're disrupting the status quo of.
Of our, like, kind of like busy life and lifestyle and materialism. And you're, you're voting with your dollars that way. Like you really are.
Naseema McElroy: [00:16:01] Oh my God, Marie, like, you've got me convinced. Like I was like planning my mail. Like literally after we got off of this, I was going to go to the grocery store. But now instead of making a left, I'll make a right and I'll go to the farm and I just rethought what I was going to cook for dinner around it.
So I'm being a revolutionary today.
Marie Thomasson: [00:16:21] You are, and you know, you can do a CSA, especially with like where you're at. There's, there's lots of places. Like, even if you just try and buy, I know it's more expensive, but trying to buy meat that you know, is, is like sustainable, whatnot. Like just pick, even if you just pick one thing, like one thing you're like, yeah, I can do that.
Naseema McElroy: [00:16:41] What solutions do you have for me? Because that's one of the things that has been kind of challenging for me, like I've done, like ButcherBox, which, you know, has more sustainable meat, but other than that, like locally, I haven't really found a solution for that.
Marie Thomasson: [00:16:56] And this is one of the problems, right?
Like you actually have to search it out. And so this, this is, this is the single biggest problem. That we have to combat like big business and big corporations you have to search. And the problem is, is that right now, unless you're like driving by and you see the stand, you have to get online to find those people and those products and those services and the values and morals that you want to, use your money or spent how you're going to spend your money.
And. Like in a world where SEO dominates, it's really hard. It is really hard. So, you know, the short answer is, I don't know, you know, because it's hard enough just in LA to find somewhere, you know, like find a co-op much less than somewhere else. There is no national registry of, people who are trying to disrupt the status quo in, in big ag.
There is registries, there's actually national registries of farmer farmer's markets, and that's probably like. Where to start. So even if you can't go to a farmer's market every single week, what you can do is go and talk to the people that, you know, like if it's meat or fish or whatnot, talk to them, get their business cards.
They have it. They do have like other, like delivery services and other options. so if you can just even make a one-time investment to go, you know, maybe it won't work with veggies. but maybe it would work with meat or something, you know, like stuff you can put in your freezer. And that's probably going to be the easiest way to, to actually source kind of like local, local goods.
Naseema McElroy: [00:18:44] Sorry, I'm looking online, I'm looking at, local harvest.com and they actually have all the local CSA. and they also have meats and other kinds of groceries and produce. So I'm definitely gonna hit this up and they also have a list of all the things markets. Yeah.
Marie Thomasson: [00:19:05] Oh, perfect. There we go. Yeah, that's amazing.
So if you were so I'm so curious because I mean, I get it. Like, even me, I can't go to the farmer's market every week, you know, I just don't have time every Sunday to go, stroll around for four hours and like sand in these like, like freakishly long lines now. Cause everybody's six feet apart.
Right. But I try to make it a habit to go. Like I really make it, it's one of my goals to go at least once a month. and you think about it and it's like, you can go even just once a month and in the U S we're spending $2 trillion on food, like that's going to add up to billions of dollars. That people could take out of big ag, like just by shopping at a farmer's market.
You're saying it's like a big F-you to Monsanto. Like if that's not reason enough, I don't know what it is.
Naseema McElroy: [00:20:06] Yeah. That's a pretty good reason to me. Yeah. And if people don't know who, what Monsanto is is Google it and you'll be in shock and they can troll a lot of our food supply. A lot of genetically modified foods.
It's why we have a lot of the health issues we have with our foods. the way that the food is grown in America has totally changed over the past couple of years to make it so that it's not healthy for us. it's why you can get all kinds of food all season, all year round. That's not supposed to be in the market, but it's not necessarily good for you.
and it's why we have so many people, food allergies now is why a lot of things, like if you go to a different country, food tastes different. and so just do your research and just understand, like, we started off by saying you get what you pay for. So, like I said, I struggled with this myself.
I cannot say that I'm perfect with this, but I definitely, have this balancing act like this struggle in my head where I'm like, should I pay more for things that I know is healthy or should I go and, get what's affordable, understanding the underlying consequences. And so if this is something that you.
Been struggling with like me, you're not alone. So
Marie Thomasson: [00:21:20] yeah, it's hard, especially when you're trying to be frugal, right. Like, you know, spend money wisely and whatnot. And, you know, it is a, it is a challenge and it seems like a luxury. everything seems like a luxury until suddenly you have no options.
And actually, so, you know, Monsanto. just to give a little more like historical perspective on it, even basically. So they, they provide seeds to companies that are genetically modified and we all kind of know that, but what's interesting about these seeds is that they won't germinate. Like you can't harvest the seeds from crops when you're in reuse them.
And so what Monsanto did way back in the day? I don't remember if this was like in the seventies or eighties when they got started, basically destroying our agriculture and society, but they were providing these seeds for free. To poor farmers in like Africa and rural America and all sorts of places.
And they're like, here, we'll provide this for free. And so the farmers thought that was great until the time came, when they harvest their crops, they sell it. That's fine. But then the next year you have to buy the same seeds all over again. And so it's like, instead of being able to actually harvest your own seeds and sew them again, it's, it's like a debtor's prison, right?
Like year after year, you're paying to Monsanto. And what Monsanto has done is they gave these seeds away for free in the beginning. But then as soon as If the farmers actually like goes in, let's say, they're like, you know, screw you. I'm going to use my own seeds. Monsanto will come and do an audit of the soil.
If they find Monsanto seeds, they will Sue that farmer. These farmers have been like, just like put out of existence by big companies with, you know, like their own interests and, and you just keep squeezing them and squeezing them until they die. Like farmers have one of the highest suicide rates in the United States.
And this is why like, it is a bleak future. and because I think that it's a very, little understood industry. Like how many farmers do you know, even me, I, I grew up, you know, for, in the central Valley and you know, like you see it, it's a way of life, but you don't really get it.
I think, unless you're, you're in it.
Naseema McElroy: [00:23:46] Yeah. Yeah. Well, I don't really know farmers personally, but they're here, they're in my community, but, yeah, they're not very happy what's going on there. That's why I live in Trump country.
Marie Thomasson: [00:24:06] Oh, man. How is that? I
Naseema McElroy: [00:24:09] don't know. They just had a parade on Sunday. It was pretty intimidating.
Marie Thomasson: [00:24:14] Was that the big, thing that I read about in the news?
Naseema McElroy: [00:24:18] I'm not sure. I don't read the news, you know that, so, but it was this big rally and they were like in their cars, all these blags Trump and it was an Oakley, so I'm not sure.
Marie Thomasson: [00:24:30] Oh gosh. Yeah. So scary.
Naseema McElroy: [00:24:33] Yeah.
Marie Thomasson: [00:24:36] Really scary.
Naseema McElroy: [00:24:37] Especially for my step mom. Who's like, my dad, my mom and dad are Muslim. And so she's like fully covered all the time. And so she's always like scared that they're going to attack her because she's obviously very Muslim. Right. So, yeah. And I was with her, we were coming back from Costco and she was like, I'm afraid.
I'm like me too.
Marie Thomasson: [00:24:56] Oh, that's awful.
Naseema McElroy: [00:24:58] Yeah.
Marie Thomasson: [00:25:00] Oh my gosh. Yeah. So much for, for Liberty and, and, like freedom and the right to. Be who you are. Right. So, yeah. So anyways, I do hope you go to the farmer's market. At some point
Naseema McElroy: [00:25:15] I am actually, I am, after I get off this call, cause I'm like, what am I cooking for dinner?
I'm making Turkey burgers, sliders. And then I was going to make like a, just a regular bag salad. But now I'm making a cucumber tomato salad with the heirloom tomatoes from the farmer's market. Are the ball? Yes.
Marie Thomasson: [00:25:35] Awesome. Well, if you can find where to open.
Naseema McElroy: [00:25:38] No, no, the farm stands. There's farm stands like I live.
Marie Thomasson: [00:25:41] Oh yeah. The farm stand that's right.
Naseema McElroy: [00:25:43] Like I live there, like every, on every corner, like I can, yeah. They're not far. It's like, I go this way to go to the Europe. Actually the farm stand is closer to my house in the grocery store, but it's expensive grow. I always have my go there. I'm like, I just spent like $8 on something that has been $2 on at the store, but that's okay.
But it's hella good though, you know? And the solution is I do have boxes like on Wednesday, but you kind of don't know what you get in the boxes, but I always, like, I love to cook. So , it does really like trigger me to use my imagination to cook.
Marie Thomasson: [00:26:19] Yeah. Yeah. And it, because it's, it's actually. You know, it's grown and it's picked when it's ripe, you know, grocery stores.
I think it's like two weeks, you know, stuff has pigs, you know, there's no flavor in the tomatoes because it's picked two weeks before it gets to you. So, yeah. I don't know. I grew up walking through that. my uncle actually came from a long line of, , disenfranchised farmers who now are, like pro-Trump , and hate everyone , because his job and his livelihood was taken away from him and, he doesn't have a college education and small town and I don't, I don't know what to say about it. It's I see both sides, but I'm like, Progress change.
I don't know.
Naseema McElroy: [00:27:09] Nope. Nope.
Marie Thomasson: [00:27:12] So anyways. All right. All right. Thank you.
Naseema McElroy: [00:27:17] Bye.
Hey there I’m Naseema
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