CHARLES PRITCHARD
Staff Writer
Chaos Theory is the idea that if a butterfly flaps its wings, it could potentially set in motion a chain of events that could result in a hurricane.
While the prospect itself seems silly, the concept still holds up. This notion, applied to the prices of food, is currently being seen at The State University of New York at Fredonia.
It starts off innocently enough. Wheat, corn and grain production is down this year due to a number of factors. Papers such as The Oklahoman report how early freezes caused farms to lose half their crop, while The Southeast Farm Press reports of a symptomless fungal infection of wheat making it unusable.
This, in essence, is the butterfly flapping its wings.
Things like corn and grain are needed to feed farm animals. Farmers need to spend more money on feed to keep their cattle fed. In turn, meat prices start going up.
With the rising cost of beef, cattle theft is at an all-time high, increasing the price of beef even further.
But what does this all mean? Well, nothing much. At the moment, at least.
“We set our product specs in the summer,” Mike Proffer, Director of Dining Services for the Faculty Student Association stated. “We set our meal plan prices for the academic year, and throughout the year, as the cost of beef and other items goes down, we typically don’t raise the prices.”
Prices mainly stay static at Fredonia due to everything being set in the summer. The only places you’d ever see a price increase is either at Starbucks or Tim Hortons, and that’s because the companies owning those franchises are the ones dictating the prices.
Proffer went on to explain that despite varying levels of supply and demand and the policy, citing the Super Bowl and chicken wings, prices at Fredonia remain the same. Chicken wings become high in demand leading up to the Super Bowl and even then, the prices for chicken wings stay the same at Fredonia.
When asked about whether or not it would ever happen, Proffer said, “I’ve been in 31 years, [and] I’ve never seen a change mid-semester.”
So there you have it. The butterfly flaps its wings; cold snaps hit the bread belt of America; wet and cold seasons bring about a surge of fungus; feed gets more expensive; beef becomes more expensive; and while students may not feel this hit them yet, the Fall 2015 semester is right around the corner.
Proffer also brought up the weather conditions for California and Florida produce and vegetable distributors; this leads to a new appreciation for the amount of work that goes into bringing food to Fredonia.
“We have a number of local distributors, and we try to keep everything local, but if you want fresh pineapple, you gotta go to Costa Rica,” he said with a laugh. “Pineapples just don’t grow in New York.”
So while Proffer ensures that there is no increased price of meat, vegetables or fruit at the moment, there is a price change that students may have noticed.
Milk prices have gone down.
This isn’t as convoluted as the beef price increase, oh no.
FSA just has a new milk distributor, moving away from Byrne Dairy to new pastures.
No pun intended.
So while students may not need to think too much about the cost of food this semester on campus, 2015 might just be the year to keep an eye on the U.S. Farm Report.