I totally agree with you. It drives me absolutely insane about the cost of chicken around here ---- the processing plant is closer to my house than the supermarket.
But that is the problem - shipping costs. Tyson and Perdue ship the chicken processed here down to the warehouse of the local supermarket chain in North Carolina and then it is shipped back up here.
Produce is not a problem, except in the winter, what I don't grown myself I buy it directly from the farmers (or they just give it to me).......but it seems that meat (of all types) is outrageously expensive every where.
Exactly. Where I live there is an oil refinery just 60 miles north. But our gas is more expensive than cities much further away in the state. And food costs are the same. Lot's of farms near me and near enough. But produce is so high. I drive 150 miles south to my other sister's and the prices are less. My other sister gets what I consider bargain basement prices, in a major city, the 'market' at work I guess, all that competition. For really good stuff with good selection. It's just a lot more challenging. And I know quite a few people who consider fresh produce canned corn, and lean protein to be sausages (big hunting area).
You can buy a black angus calf for about $200. A year in your yard, and another $200 for processing, and you have a year's worth of beef.