NEWNow you can listen to Fox News articles!
Walk through any supermarket in America right now and you’ll see the same thing in every aisle. People look at prices as if they were reading a foreign language.
A box of cereal for $8. A bag of chips for $6. Eggs and ground beef seem like a luxury. A simple couple of bags of groceries easily exceed $150. Washington politicians argue about inflation, supply chains and corporate profits. But there is an obvious solution that no one seems to talk about anymore.
What if Americans were mandated to grow their own food again?
BROOKE ROLLINS: YOUR THANKSGIVING DINNER COSTS LESS AND THAT’S A REASON TO GIVE THANKS
That’s not a radical idea. That’s actually how this country worked for most of its history.
Today, many middle and high school students graduate without knowing the most basic food skills, including how to plant a tomato, grow lettuce, compost soil, or understand how long it really takes for food to grow.
We teach calculus, Shakespeare and trigonometry. All valuable topics, but they will not lower grocery prices. But somehow we have decided that food literacy and survival, meaning that the ability to grow and understand food is simply neglected.
In an era of rising food prices that will not recede no matter who is in the White House, that is a big mistake for America.
A single tomato plant can produce 20 to 30 pounds of tomatoes in one season. Don’t you like tomatoes? Too much. A modest backyard garden can generate hundreds of dollars worth of vegetables each year, including tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers, lettuce, herbs and squash. Today there are systems that can be used in apartments and townhouses that do not have land to grow lettuce, herbs, and more.
Multiply that across millions of American households and suddenly you start to reduce the pressure on the food system itself. But the real benefit goes far beyond cheaper tomatoes.
Teaching children to grow food teaches them something that our current education system struggles to offer when explaining real-world economics. When a student plants seeds, tends to the soil, waters the plants, and waits weeks for harvest, he or she learns lessons that no textbook can replicate.
SEC BROOKE ROLLINS: TRUMP BRINGS WHOLE MILK BACK TO SCHOOLS, UNDERING OBAMA’S WAR ON REAL FOOD
They learn to live off the land.
They learn that effort equals reward.
They learn that food has value because producing it takes time and work.
They also learn something else that is increasingly rare in modern America. That’s where the food really comes from.
Ask a group of kids where carrots come from and you’ll hear answers like “Publix” or “the grocery store.”
That disconnect from agriculture would have baffled previous generations of Americans.
RICK PERRY: WHERE’S THE MEAT? TRUMP KNOWS THIS AND IS TRYING TO MAKE IT AFFORDABLE
During World War II, the Americans created what became known as Victory Gardens. More than 20 million households planted gardens in backyards, vacant lots and community spaces. At one point, those gardens produced about 40 percent of the vegetables consumed in the United States. Let’s let that sink in for a moment.
Almost half of the country’s vegetables came from ordinary citizens who grew the food themselves.
It wasn’t just patriotic. It was practical.
Today we are much more dependent on complex supply chains that span continents. Fertilizer prices, transportation costs, labor shortages and global conflicts impact grocery stores.
But a tomato plant in your backyard doesn’t care about global shipping routes.
That’s why every middle and high school in America should include a simple but powerful program: food literacy and school gardens.
Does not require acres of farmland. Many schools already have unused green spaces. Raised beds, small gardens, and seasonal planting programs could teach students:
• How soil works • How seeds grow • Seasonal food cycles • Composting and sustainability • Water conservation • Preserving staple foods
The harvest could even return to school cafeterias or local food banks.
And this is where the idea becomes even more powerful.
Americans wouldn’t just save money. They would become healthier instead of becoming addicted to processed foods.
Fresh vegetables grown in gardens are often richer in nutrients than products that travel thousands of miles through a national distribution chain. When families have easy access to fresh tomatoes, lettuce, cucumbers, and herbs, they naturally eat more whole foods and fewer ultra-processed foods.
And that matters because The health crisis in the United States It is increasingly linked to diet.
According to the CDC, about 6 in 10 Americans live with at least one chronic disease such as heart disease, diabetes or obesity. Many of these conditions are strongly influenced by diet and lifestyle.
Healthcare costs related to chronic diseases now run into trillions of dollars annually.
Think about this connective tissue. If more Americans eat fresh foods and fewer processed foods, long-term medical costs go down.
Gardening also encourages something else the country desperately needs: physical activity. Digging soil, planting beds, watering plants, and maintaining a garden get people outside and moving instead of sitting inside. Hell, I made a ton as a kid raking leaves and now all people want to do is blow them.
In other words, growing food improves both sides of the family budget:
PRESIDENT TRUMP IS TAKING IMPORTANT STRATEGIC STEPS TO PROTECT AMERICAN CONSUMERS
Reduce grocery bills. Lower medical bills. This is a powerful two-pronged solution for American households. The biggest benefit might be something less measurable.
Restores a feeling of independence.
Americans are used to solving problems with bigger government programs, more subsidies, or more regulations. Sometimes the solution is simpler.
Give people knowledge and tools.
A generation that knows how to grow food is a generation that is less vulnerable to price shocks, supply shocks and inflation. You may not be able to grow everything you eat. But even producing a portion of food creates resilience.
CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP
And maybe, just maybe, it will teach the next generation something deeper about self-reliance, responsibility, and the value of hard work.
Because the cheapest vegetables you’ll ever buy… are the ones you grow yourself.
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM TED JENKIN
