It's a balancing act for Israelis to stay afloat.
In the last few weeks the price of food has gone way up.
The grocery bill is said to be 16% higher now.
And then came the cucumber shortage, pushing the retail price for them up by 150%.
Oi, and we are a nation that eats salad even for breakfast!
Some say a few recent cool nights affected growth and caused the shortage.
Others blame it on not enough foreign workers.
The secretary general of the Vegetable Growers Association said that due to the shortage of a steady supply of farm laborers to harvest the crop, and the reluctance of the government to increase the number of visas granted to foreign agricultural workers, farmers have cut back on their planting of cucumbers, a labor-intensive crop, by 30%.
.
(Photos are from last spring's AgriTech exhibition in Tel Aviv.)
.
UPDATE: The day after this post I went to Machane Yehuda shuk (market) and bought a kilo of cucumbers for 4.50 shekels. That's only $1.20. The price was a bit above normal but still affordable.
Supermarkets would charge a lot more, I imagine.
.
I'm so sorry. The weird thing is we were having a cucumber shortage in Hawaii too. In our case maybe it's because it's nearing on the "winter" season.
ReplyDeleteVery informative post, Dina.
ReplyDeleteIn Italy, for example, the fuel price is sky-high: almost 2 Euro / litre!
Hmmmm, I think it's going to be worldwide with a general bad harvest.
ReplyDeleteThe other day I filled the tank completely for a staggering 80€. It came as a shock.
I am so much excited after reading your blog. Your blog is very much innovative and much helpful.
ReplyDeleteWhen I was there I loved cucumbers at breakfast!
ReplyDeleteProduce prices are outrageous across the board this year. I didn't even do any canning, with the prices there wasn't any big appeal...
ReplyDeleteThe photos made me laugh though, mainly at the thought of the horror that would be on my kids' faces if I told them they had to eat a vegetable that large LOL.
Here, the VAT on restaurants, cafes, bars, etc. is now 23%! Can you believe it? Thousands will be closing doors soon and thousands of people will be unemployed to make the rate even higher, wich is now 16%!
ReplyDeleteÆæ, this small cucumbers, my favorite?
ReplyDeleteWell, I guess the price is higher in Norway, besides, I have to travel 2 mils to buy them.
Aside from them, I think fruit and vegetables are cheap in Norway now, The government think people in Norway have become too fat.. as healthy food should be cheaper.
Friends, thanks for these comments. Some make me cry and some make me smile.
ReplyDelete