Lithuanian farmers will soon complain much louder: What our food costs - the real price of a cookie

Lithuanian farmers complain that it is too dry or too wet, that the EU demands nature protection, but gives too little money for it. Realistically arranging food quality, production and delivery will cost much more than you think. 

“The food system must become sustainable. That means making hidden costs visible. What they are made of - and why companies should consider them out of self-interest. 

 

Climate change, extinction of species, over- and undernourishment, inequality - these are just the most well-known human problems for which the world food system is partly responsible. Its hidden cost to man and nature is $ 19.8 trillion annually, more than twice the total financial value of food consumption in the world. 

 

The Scientific Advisory Board of the United Nations Nutrition Summit, which came to an end on Friday, estimates this to be the case. A large part of the greenhouse gases emitted can be traced back to the food supply. In order to achieve the 17 sustainability goals, UN Secretary General António Guterres believes it is essential to reorganize the food system over the next ten years. Scientists see potential in this to come significantly closer to all 17 goals. The World Economic Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD) therefore calls on business leaders to take a more holistic view of their business. In their decisions, they should consider the “true value of food” (TVoF).

 

The hidden costs and benefits - economists speak of externalities - do not adequately reflect the final price of food. These include effects on the environment, health and social conditions. 

 

For example, a biscuit (see graphic) costs 0.55 dollars for the end customer in the supermarket. This includes production costs of 33 cents. If you take the hidden costs into account, however, according to the council, there are 56 cents on top - the total costs increase to 89 cents. The hidden costs are made up of environmental pollution, health costs and socio-economic costs, which result primarily from poor working conditions.

In the example, the latter are mainly worn by workers on cocoa plantations in Ivory Coast. In addition, there may be other socio-economic costs that arise if the biscuits are not eaten, but end up as waste. Health care costs are borne by social security and taxpayers. They arise here from consumers who are becoming overweight and from the polluted air effects that production and delivery contribute to. The environmental impact - for this example, CO2 emissions and water consumption have been taken into account - affects society as a whole.

Quick calls for boycotts

In this example, the hidden costs make up 63 percent of the total costs. According to the Council, the hidden costs of a portion of oatmeal with apple and peach pieces, on the other hand, only make up 35 percent of the total costs. The end customer price for this example is also 55 cents. However, only 19 cents of hidden costs are added to production costs of 36 cents: 12 cents in socio-economic costs, 3 cents at the expense of the environment, 4 cents in the health sector. The fact that the hidden costs of the examples mentioned differ so greatly is mainly due to three factors: The crops grown for the ingredients need different amounts of water, the nutritional value of the muesli is more beneficial for health, and the working conditions in the production process are significantly better because of that all ingredients come from Europe.

The World Economic Council sees global regulations that reduce the hidden costs of nutrition as making the most sense. Nevertheless, he calls on companies to orientate themselves towards it now. One reason for this is that more and more consumers are asking for sustainably produced food, according to the organization. In addition, investments in the food tech industry and new regulations, such as CO2 levies or sugar taxes, are changing the competitive environment. In addition, negative reports about products and companies are spread quickly, and boycotts are called for more frequently than before.

In order to align the business with the “True Value of Food”, the Council refers to materials from the “Donut of Social and Planetary Boundaries Framework” of the Capitals Coalition, the Value Balancing Alliance and the Natural Capital Toolkit. It is important to be at the forefront of the movement with strong partners instead of just reacting to changes."

 

The most important feature of a Lithuanian employer is his chutzpah , which is greater than that of a pig

 "Ignas: There is a lack of drivers? Read the feedback in the Belarusian forums - Lithuanian employers do not consider drivers to be people. They promise, do not pay, force them to work overtime. Many are moving to work in Poland because LT's reputation has already been damaged."

Lietuvos darbdavio svarbiausias bruožas - akiplėšiškumas, didesnis, negu kiaulės

"Ignas: Trūksta vairuotojų? Paskaitykit atsiliepimus Baltarusijos forumuose - Lietuvos darbdaviai vairuotojus žmonėmis nelaiko. Žada, nemoka, verčia viršvalandžius dirbti. Nemažai traukia į Lenkiją dirbti, nes LT reputacija jau sugadinta."

Electricity and gas prices

 

    "The price of electricity for the least consuming population (up to 1,000 kWh per year) could increase by about 20% from next year, for gas-producing people by 50% and for consumers who heat their homes with gas by about 80%, according to the State Energy Regulatory Council ( VERT). 

    Larger electricity consumers (consuming 1,000-5,000 kWh per year) - mostly apartment residents, have to choose an independent supplier by mid-December this year when liberalizing the retail electricity market. Depending on the supplier and plan chosen, electricity prices for them could increase by 20-50% from January.

    Consumers consuming up to 1,000 kWh per year will have to choose it by mid-December next year. "

-And what about that ship called “Independence”? Did they promise us to cut prices?

-Did you wonder why is it called "Independence"? They are independent from us. They depend on the owners offshore who care about higher profits.

 

Elektros ir dujų kaina

"Elektros kaina mažiausiai jos suvartojantiems gyventojams (iki 1.000 kWh per metus) nuo kitų metų gali didėti apie 20%, dujos maistą gamintiems žmonėms – 50%, o vartotojams, kurie šildosi dujomis namus, – apie 80%, skaičiuoja Valstybinė energetikos reguliavimo taryba (VERT).

Didesni elektros vartotojai (per metus suvartojantys 1.000–5.000 kWh) – daugiausia daugiabučių gyventojai, liberalizuojant mažmeninę elektros rinką, šiemet iki gruodžio vidurio turi pasirinkti nepriklausomą tiekėją. Jiems elektra, priklausomai nuo pasirinkto tiekėjo ir plano, nuo sausio gali brangti 20–50%.

Vartotojai, sunaudojantys iki 1.000 kWh per metus, jį turės pasirinkti iki kitų metų gruodžio vidurio."

O kaip tas laivelis, kuris vadinasi "Nepriklausomybė"? Jis žadėjo mums pamažinti kainas? 

O Tu pagalvojai, kodėl jis vadinasi "Nepriklausomybė"? Jis nuo mūsų nepriklauso. Jis priklauso nuo savininkų ofšoruose, kuriems rūpi didesnis pelnas.

Didžiųjų technologijų ir socialinės žiniasklaidos atsiradimas kelia daugybę sunkių, galbūt, neišsprendžiamų, problemų Vakarų visuomenei

 "Mūsų interneto begemotai iš tikrųjų yra didžiulės žiniasklaidos bendrovės, kurios apsimeta neutraliomis platformomis ir džiaugiasi pajamomis, kurios kažkada palaikė senąją žiniasklaidos ekosistemą, tuo pačiu atsisakydamos įprastų redakcinės atsakomybės formų. Jų pagrindiniai produktai yra decentralizuoto įtarumo agentai, generuojantys informacijos perteklių ir maitinantys tiek populistų paranoją, tiek centristinę isteriją. Tuo tarpu jų lyderiai vadovauja tarptautinėms pseudovyriausybėms, naudodamiesi tradicinėmis politinėmis galiomis-kultūrine cenzūra, politiniu ištrėmimu, didelių prekybos vietų struktūrizavimu-be aiškių politinės atsakomybės linijų.

Išsiaiškinti, kaip įveikti šiuos iššūkius, yra kartų politinis projektas, ir yra gana didelė tikimybė, kad „Facebook“ chanatas ir Ramiausia Amazonės Respublika nugalės tik realių respublikų pastangas suvaržyti „Facebook“ chanato ir Ramiausios Amazonės Respublikos galią.

Pagrindinė socialinės žiniasklaidos problema yra ne tik jos internetiškumas, bet ir mastas. Kaip Chrisas Hayesas sako naujausiame „The New Yorker“ rašinyje, šiuolaikinis internetas universalizuoja „psichologinę šlovės patirtį“ ir imasi „visų žmonių santykių mechanizmų ir priverčia juos veikti“, siekiant daugiau. Tačiau tai nutinka daug giliau tokiame tinkle, kaip „Instagram“, kuriame yra daugybė milijonų vartotojų, nei tai būtų pranešimų lentoje ar pokalbių kambaryje dėl tam tikros nišos tapatybės ar interesų “.

The rise of big tech and social media presents a series of difficult, perhaps intractable problems for Western societies

 
"Our internet behemoths are effectively immense media companies pretending to be neutral platforms, feasting on the revenue that once sustained the old media ecosystem while disclaiming normal forms of editorial responsibility. Their key products are agents of decentralized suspicion, generating information overload and feeding both populist paranoia and centrist hysteria. Meanwhile, their leaders run transnational pseudo-governments, exerting traditional political powers — cultural censorship, political banishment, the structuring of vast marketplaces — without clear lines of political accountability.

Figuring out how to cope with these challenges is a generational political project, and there’s a reasonably strong possibility that the Khanate of Facebook and the Most Serene Republic of Amazon will defeat the efforts of merely real-world republics to restrain their power.

A key problem with social media isn’t just its online-ness but its scale. As Chris Hayes puts it in a recent essay for The New Yorker, the contemporary internet universalizes “the psychological experience of fame” and takes “all of the mechanisms for human relations and puts them to work” seeking more of it. But that happens in a much more profound way on a network like Instagram, with all its teeming millions of users, than it would in a message board or chat room for some specific niche identity or interest."