Food production and energy: How will high gas prices affect the North Carolina food supply

The modern food production industry depends heavily on fossil fuels at all steps of the process to make food cheap, abundant and available. But prices for oil, natural gas and coal have been edging upward for the past few years. The continuous increase in energy prices has raised production costs across the industry, and businesses have begun to pass on the costs to the consumer. Some experts say that the food industry's reliance on cheap fossil fuels could eventually cripple the system. This series of articles examines the effect of higher energy prices on farming, processing, distribution, restaurants, retail and the purchasing decisions of consumers. It finds that individual farmers are the hardest hit so far and that it may be too early to say with certainly what will happen to the average consumer. Meanwhile, efforts are being made to lessen the reliance on fossil fuels by developing alternative energy sources.