system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
ELI5: Why does whole grain food cost more if it presumably requires less processing?
gpt
When you have a production line optimized for one product, it takes extra effort to make it do something else, even if it involves doing less.

In the case of whole grains, it is not just less processing.  Whole grains have different textures, tastes, and baking properties, so you have to change ingredients, mixing procedures, baking times and temperatures, and other parts of the production process.