Would you like tomatoes with that?

I was in Wendy's and I had to ask if I wanted tomatoes on my sandwich, uhh greasy goodness burger. I later learned that there is a huge shortage of tomatoes worldwide and prices have skyrocketed.

You often hear about a crop failure in some other part of the world or even at home, and the inevitable price increases that accompany said crop failures, but rarely is it so viscerally in your face as it was when I was at Wendy's.

The price of tomatoes in the supermarket are way higher then I can ever remember along with Romaine Lettuce.

Imagine what this increase in the price of staples means to someone just getting by in a third world country. The enclosure and commodification of necessities (OK, the burger I had at Wendy's is less of a necessity given the nutritional value) is the reason why people are going hungry, exasperated by rising fuel prices and crop failures.

I think we need to release some land back to the community. A commons if you will, where vegetables and fruits can be grown by the people who will work out who gets what. I mention this because if tomatoes remain as expensive as they are, I should reconnect with the Earth and plant some of my own.