[Red.Apple]

Being from the Northeast, and even having cousins from California saying that grocery food is much more expensive in Florida than CA and N.E.

Why is that? Florida have sub-/tropical weather and should be growing almost everything year-round. Northeast have cold winters, so nothing grows there half of the year - yet grocery food is still cheaper than FL.

I went to every major and local grocery store, including costco and everywhere it's expensive!

[mango23]

Originally Posted by Red.Apple

Being from the Northeast, and even having cousins from California saying that grocery food is much more expensive in Florida than CA and N.E.

Why is that? Florida have sub-/tropical weather and should be growing almost everything year-round. Northeast have cold winters, so nothing grows there half of the year - yet grocery food is still cheaper than FL.

I went to every major and local grocery store, including costco and everywhere it's expensive!

Your question made me take a look. I was surprised to find that there were 48,000 farms in Florida. Then when I looked at the numbers a little closer only 1 in 10 has an annual sales of $100,000 or more. That means 9 out of 10 don't even make enough money to take care of a family. In other words, farming is not something very many people would pick as a business at least in Florida.

This leaves it to the large industrial farms to really feed this country, many not even in the US. Since Florida, other then citrus, trucks it in, I guess it cost more. South Florida is like living on an island we are so far from the rest of the country. Maybe there are other factors but this is what jumps out first. Honestly, I am shocked to learn 90% of Florida farmers are pretty much starving.

[ferret111]

Originally Posted by mango23

Honestly, I am shocked to learn 90% of Florida farmers are pretty much starving.

I think that's pretty common all over the country, though. The giant farm conglomerates have long since replaced the family farm.

[kyle19125]

It has more to do with the fact that Florida residents are just now figuring out the Buy Local concept. Floridians have been slow to embrace farmers markets as evidenced by the supposed versions in existence now which consist primarily of sketchy people selling boxes of stickered produce they picked up at the wholesale distribution center, along with an assortment of non-food items. Which leads one to wonder, how can one call it a farmers market if there aren't any farmers...and more importantly why hasn't anyone noticed???Of note to FL residents, if a "farmer" at a farmers market is selling tomatoes for instance that all look identical and all have a sticker attached (Mexican most likely), they're not local. Real farmers cannot compete at area "farmers markets" with the sketchy resellers who underprice farmers because they're not dealing with any overhead. Most other states have managed to figure out the farmers market concept and I hope sooner than later Florida will as well. Bottom line if, if they don't grow it or make it, they're not allowed in. Simple concept. Going back to the original question as to why items are more expensive here...lack of competition. Publix is very nearly a monopoly within the traditional grocery store category and as mentioned farmers markets here are a joke so no competition there. The big box stores with grocery offerings have to truck everything in from afar so that adds to the cost to sell. Little wonder it costs whatever they want to charge and the quality sucks. Furthermore farmers here have little to turn to in terms of places to sell so they go with what they can. An example, a large organic berry producer in North Central Florida sold it's entire harvest to Walmart because they had no one else to sell it to, which is kind of like a winery having to sell it's best production in years to Winn Dixie. It's like why bother trying...

[Crane's Rooster]

Although we may have alot of farm land here I don't believe we grow much here except for citrus. Much of our produce is brought in from other areas such as California and the mid Atlantic states. Due less rail and port traffic here I think it costs a little more to transplant produce from North Carolina here than it does to places in the northeast. This is just my guesstimate.

[beachmouse]

Oddly, when we moved from Tennessee to here, our grocery bill dropped significantly.

[gypsychic]

Originally Posted by beachmouse

Oddly, when we moved from Tennessee to here, our grocery bill dropped significantly.

When we used to have a second home in Asheville, NC, I thought groceries there were shockingly high. I don't think they are high at all here. I got plenty of local growers to buy from, too.

[annerk]

A lot of our food products come in from other countries through ports on the west coast and northeast. Someone's got to pay to truck it all down here.

That said I don't think that overall our prices are all that out of line with the rest of the country. Some things are more expensive, others are less expensive, it all works out in the end.

[Sunny-Days-in-Florida]

Overall we find most of the items we purchased in the first month here to be a little lower in price then it was in Ohio.

Fruit is much lower, pop is 2.00 cheaper, milk .50 to .75 cheaper, meat is cheaper for sure. The only thing I see that might be slightly higher is cleaning supplies and things like that.

Food overall is cheaper for me here then it was in Ohio.

[kshe95girl]

We grow most of our own produce, fruit, herbs, we have poultry for eggs and goats for cheese, and buy most of our meat from a local organic rancher.
We totally support the "eat local" movement, and are glad that there are quite a few local farmers.
I'm always amazed at how much cheaper things are in MO every time I go home, the eat local movement is alive and well there, there is even an organic wheat farmer in the county I am from, I buy flour from him and ship it back to FL, as it is not available in any of the Whole Foods in FL.