Column: Noelle Young On Food Costs & More
[Opinion column written by Noelle Young]
As I walk through the neighborhoods of Constituency 14, the concerns I hear most often resonate deeply: the rising cost of food, the struggle to feed children, and the challenges seniors face to access nutritious options. These aren’t complaints; they are lived realities for too many Bermudians. My family included.
Which is why I was deeply disappointed by our Government’s recent press conference about improving the cost of living. While it was filled with details of past efforts, it was absent of bold, forward-thinking plans to address rising food costs. While some proposed initiatives like the Integrated Agriculture Strategy are a step in the right direction, we need more than vague promises for a better tomorrow. We need results, quick processing, and tangible outcomes.
With an estimated national budget of 1.2 billion dollars in 2025, reallocating just 5% toward lowering food costs and improving access could transform lives, stabilize finances, and reduce dependency on volatile global supply chains. This isn’t about spending more money, it is about spending it wisely. By innovating, and following the United Nations and Commonwealth of Nations recommendations – Bermudian households could be spared thousands of dollars each year on food costs.
The 22-minute live video replay of Noelle Young’s press conference held on January 16
Below is a brief example of my list of suggestions that could be achieved collectively with less than 5% of the national budget:
- Subsidize Essential Nutrition for Mothers and Babies: Provide subsidized affordable prenatal and postnatal vitamins as well as baby formula, in collaboration with health care professionals as an investment in our future. Formula and breast milk are essential food for infants and toddlers.
- Nutritional Supplement Subsidy for Seniors: Provide subsidies or discounts in collaboration with health care professionals for essential nutritional supplements tailored to seniors, such as Ensure, Glucerna, Boost, and nutritional food bars.
- Child Food Security Benefit: Provide monthly payments to families with children to support the healthy development and well-being of children.
- Revise Food Donation Liability Laws: Empower businesses to donate surplus food without penalty of liability, reducing waste and feeding more Bermudians. Support the creation of a pipeline for businesses and restaurants to donate left over food in a timely manner directly to organizations that currently assist people in our community such as Meals on Wheels for seniors and the Salvation Army.
- Invest Heavily in Local Farmers and Fishermen
- Invest in Innovative Food Production Technologies & Initiate Government Managed Urban Farming
- Create and Support Community Gardens
- Create Three Collaborative Contingency Funds to protect the public from sudden spikes in costs: Food Cost Stabilisation Fund; Fishermen’s Contingency Fund; and Farmers Resilience Fund
- Collaborate with the UK to Establish New Trade Agreements & Strengthen Existing Agreements
- Improve Ties with the UK and Commonwealth of Nations
Imagine a Bermuda where seniors no longer have to choose between paying for groceries and keeping the lights on. Where mothers do not need to choose between fresh berries or bread for their children’s lunches. This is achievable, but it requires courage, vision, and immediate action.
Throughout my life I have seen how food security is tied to health, dignity, and opportunity. Rising import costs, shipping delays, and increasing food waste disproportionately impact seniors, children, and vulnerable subsets like our differently abled friends and family members. The food crisis is not just an economic issue; it is a human rights issue; it’s a question of dignity, fairness, and humanity. Yet in 2025, far too many Bermudians will continue to be denied this fundamental right because of systemic barriers.
As Bermuda’s Government endorsed Youth Delegate to the 2024 World Food Forum of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, I played an active role in shaping global food systems policy for a better future for all. My specific focus was on championing small island nations.
As a candidate for the 2025 election, I am committed to advocating for every family in Constituency 14 and across Bermuda to have access to affordable, nutritious food.
To the voters of Constituency 14, I ask for your endorsement and your vote. The future starts with us. Together, we can build a food-secure future for our country. Because at the end of the day, food is what we all have in common.
Contact me at 799-4411 or submit a digital canvassing form for Constituency 14. The form is available in both English and Portuguese.
- Noelle Young is a candidate for Constituency 14, Devonshire North West
No one can control the cost of food. Markets decide and seeing what is happening in the US will decrease supplies and increase costs for any foodstuffs grown there, ignoring the additional effects from any tariffs.
Increase home produced? More expensive than imported.
Any “government” that says they can reduce costs is spreading false hope.
Dear Noelle Young, the PLP Government has managed to reduce retail price inflation in Bermuda to less than that of the U.S., U.K. and Canada. Bermuda must be the economic envy of the world!