Artisan Bakery founder and Bread Bakers Guild of America president Craig Ponsford at work.
Ryan Lely/Sonoma valley sun
Analysts are predicting that the worst food inflation since 1990 could double this year, according to a May 5 article in the San Francisco Chronicle that cited drought and bio-fuels production as building a “silent tsunami” of the highest food prices in 30 years. Here in Sonoma, local bakers, markets and every one involved in buying or selling food all are affected.
Craig Ponsford, founder of Artisan Bakery of Sonoma, when asked its effect on his business, moaned and uttered a long, one-syllable expletive. “It’s fairly concerning,” he said. “The most disturbing thing is that we get no notice, so it’s not like I can turn around and recap that money tomorrow.” His prices rise, level and then rise again, going up another 20 percent just this past week. “I was feeling stressed out paying $24.76 for a 50-lb. bag of wheat – until I talked to someone in New York who was paying $40!” He said his customers won’t feel the effect for the moment, and hopes to avoid another price hike.
Ponsford is president of the Bread Bakers Guild of America, and in that role, he sees widespread concern. “It’s one of the most challenging times ever for bakers,” he said. “In the 16 years I’ve been in business, I’ve never seen anything like it. The one thing anybody talks about is, ‘What are you paying for flour?’”
Mark Gore, manager of Sonoma Market, said the markets, too, are feeling the pressure, and blames mostly the gas and trucking prices that make everything more expensive. “The bread is the most. It probably started happening about a month ago,” he said. “It’s like anything else – if it’s going to cost more for people to deliver on groceries, it trickles down the line. It’s not a huge jump; it’s just pennies on the dollar. Sometimes we don’t increase things because we just don’t want to.”
Even the school district, which has been hit with staggering budget cuts already, is starting to feel the pinch. Justin Frese, Assistant Superintendent of the Sonoma Valley Unified School District, said he was expecting all foods for school lunches to go up 10 percent. He’s already seeing the rise in bread, dairy, and other products. “Probably every year since we’ve had a food service program,” he said, “food prices have gone up. We haven’t made a decision about whether we’re going to increase fees next year. Really, we just try to find efficiencies. Quite honestly, I don’t feel that food service department is very much different from any other area in our school district. Prices go up, our funding does not, and we try to make it work.”
So far, those who depend on the kindness of strangers are managing to get by. Jennifer Yankovich, Executive Director of the Sonoma Valley Chamber of Commerce and boardmember of Friends In Sonoma Helping (FISH), said, “We haven’t yet felt the effect.” FISH gets on-going donations from local markets, and “so far, so good,” she said. The contributions are mostly beans and rice and are either donated through the market or through the food bank. “We go every two weeks, and so far the availability’s still OK. We’re watching it very closely.”
While the Sonoma community will manage, many in the world community is already suffering. Lester Brown, president of Earth Policy Institute, wrote in January, “The world is facing the most severe food price inflation in history as grain and soybean prices climb to all-time highs… As a result, prices of food products made directly from these commodities such as bread, pasta, and tortillas, and those made indirectly, such as pork, poultry, beef, milk, and eggs, are everywhere on the rise.”
