Posted on 03/08/2008 10:42:12 PM PST by TigerLikesRooster
A Global Need for Grain That Farms Can’t Fill
By DAVID STREITFELD
LAWTON, N.D. — Whatever Dennis Miller decides to plant this year on his 2,760-acre farm, the world needs. Wheat prices have doubled in the last six months. Corn is on a tear. Barley, sunflower seeds, canola and soybeans are all up sharply.
“For once, there’s great reason to be optimistic,” Mr. Miller said.
But the prices that have renewed Mr. Miller’s faith in farming are causing pain far and wide. A tailor in Lagos, Nigeria, named Abel Ojuku said recently that he had been forced to cut back on the bread he and his family love.
“If you wanted to buy three loaves, now you buy one,” Mr. Ojuku said.
Everywhere, the cost of food is rising sharply. Whether the world is in for a long period of continued increases has become one of the most urgent issues in economics.
Many factors are contributing to the rise, but the biggest is runaway demand. In recent years, the world’s developing countries have been growing about 7 percent a year, an unusually rapid rate by historical standards.
The high growth rate means hundreds of millions of people are, for the first time, getting access to the basics of life, including a better diet. That jump in demand is helping to drive up the prices of agricultural commodities.
Farmers the world over are producing flat-out. American agricultural exports are expected to increase 23 percent this year to $101 billion, a record. The world’s grain stockpiles have fallen to the lowest levels in decades.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
Ping!
I paid $1 for a loaf of white bread earlier today. How is that possible?
So what is the total cost of E85 ?
The unintended consequences of Global Warming hysteria. Well good for the farmers. Rake in the money, it is about time.
>>So what is the total cost of E85 ?<<
About 20 million deaths a year.
I don’t even eat bread. We’re all on the low-carb diet in this family.
How’s that working out?
My father lost 4o pounds in three months. I haven’t lost anything except my sweet temperament.
Snicker ... Every time my wife complains about her weight, I offer to ‘race’ her; the first to lose ‘x’ pounds wins something. She always demands a two-week head start.
Our family’s on low carb diets too...after 3 weeks the pounds are beginning to fall off, but I’m craving bread like you wouldn’t believe...potatoes too.
Maybe that’s the fix for the acres and acres of land that KB Home, Pulte, et al still have on the books — start planting corn and wheat on it instead of writing it off.
And every couple of acres would have its own mailbox and cable connection. Where’s my consultant fee!
Could you please explain that?
The world’s population increases by 57 million a year and will continue to do so thru at least 2050. It is like adding another country the size of Italy each year. Of course demand for food is going to increase.
There’s a lot of talk about shortages of seed and fertilizer this year.The price of 19-19-19 fertilizer was 465 a ton last year.The latest quote I have for this year is 625 per ton and I may not be able to buy the amount that I need.Carryover stocks are very low,so we need a good year to reverse that trend.A couple of droughts and people are going to be in real trouble.The USDA will issue their use and carryover report March 11,so we can lok to see if stocks are further depleted.
I’m not a farmer, but I went to Home Depot last week to get some all-purpose fertilizer (like triple-16 or similar) and sulfur for my high-alkaline soil, and they were out of both. Never seen that before. They had plenty of lawn food but were low or out of everything else bulk size.
>>>>So what is the total cost of E85 ?<<
Could you please explain that?
Sure. First, I made up the figure.
But first there were already people starving in the world because they could not afford food.
Now, partly because of ethanol, the cost of grains is shooting up. So I guestimated the number of additional people who would starve to death given the cost of their food doubling.
>>Does this country have an absolute moral obligation to feed every hungry person on the planet?If the answer is yes then we are royally screwed.The food that I produce should go to Americans first,to be used for whatever purpose deemed proper.I don’t support ethanol production,but if people are upset about it-then talk to the government.<<
I do feel an obligation to help people within reason, as a Christian and an American.
But that wasn’t the question. The question was what is the cost of ethanol - and I feel sure the cost is millions of deaths - I just don’t know how many millions.
There are more people starving in this world due to corrupt governments. Africa is a rich continent in natural resources and there is no reason whatsoever that America should have to feed Africa’s people to keep them from starving, other than corrupt Africans.
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