Posted on 06/11/2008 4:39:52 AM PDT by Renfield
WASHINGTON - Larry Matlack, President of the American Agriculture Movement (AAM), has raised concerns over the issue of U.S. grain reserves after it was announced that the sale of 18.37 million bushels of wheat from USDA’s Commodity Credit Corporation (CCC) Bill Emerson Humanitarian Trust.
“According to the May 1, 2008 CCC inventory report there are only 24.1 million bushels of wheat in inventory, so after this sale there will be only 2.7 million bushels of wheat left the entire CCC inventory,” warned Matlack. “Our concern is not that we are using the remainder of our strategic grain reserves for humanitarian relief. AAM fully supports the action and all humanitarian food relief. Our concern is that the U.S. has nothing else in our emergency food pantry. There is no cheese, no butter, no dry milk powder, no grains or anything else left in reserve. The only thing left in the entire CCC inventory will be 2.7 million bushels of wheat which is about enough wheat to make ½ of a loaf of bread for each of the 300 million people in America.”
The CCC is a federal government-owned and operated entity that was created to stabilize, support, and protect farm income and prices. CCC is also supposed to maintain balanced and adequate supplies of agricultural commodities and aids in their orderly distribution.
“This lack of emergency preparedness is the fault of the 1996 farm bill which eliminated the government’s grain reserves as well as the Farmer Owned Reserve (FOR),” explained Matlack. “We had hoped to reinstate the FOR and a Strategic Energy Grain Reserve in the new farm bill, but the politics of food defeated our efforts. As farmers it is our calling and purpose in life to feed our families, our communities, our nation and a good part of the world, but we need better planning and coordination if we are to meet that purpose. AAM pledges to continue our work for better farm policy which includes an FOR and a Strategic Energy Grain Reserve.”
AAM’s support for the FOR program, which allows the grain to be stored on farms, is a key component to a safe grain reserve in that the supplies will be decentralized in the event of some unforeseen calamity which might befall the large grain storage terminals.
A Strategic Energy Grain Reserve is as crucial for the nation’s domestic energy needs as the Strategic Petroleum Reserve. AAM also supports full funding for the replenishment and expansion of Bill Emerson Humanitarian Trust.
ping
Disturbing, if accurate...
(This could very well be mis/disinformation from the pro-Farm-Bill Lobby.. Watching for confirmation from a more neutral source...)
US Grain Reserves info; ping.
http://www.fsa.usda.gov/Internet/FSA_File/wid2a.pdf
Commodity Credit Corporation Crop Inventory as of May 1, 2008.
LLS
If anything happens between now and September full harvest. . .Good grief!
Overall with the exception of Japan, our allies are net food exporters. Our enemies and the supposed allies like the Saudis on the other hand are for the most part net food importers. Global inflation of food prices because of increased fuel cost and a shifting of grains to bio fuel may not be all bad given that the percentage of our incomes we spend on food vs. the rest of the world is minuscule. This is going to hurt our enemies a lot more than our friend, and balances out the trade equations with “Food for Oil”
My 2 cents.
With huge chunks of the Corn Belt under water and the corn planting season ending in about ten days, we will soon be paying much more for groceries. It is time to quit shipping grain exports, as many countries have been doing the past three months.
Farmer Dean, what is your take on this news?
My remark was in reference to the Strategic Reserve claims made in the article - which, in my reading, was intimating that the current Farm Bill Boondoggle is needed to ‘correct’ the ‘problem’....
Given the apparent bias of the author, I’m suspending judgement on that aspect of the discussion....
(For the record, I’m a proud member of the doom ‘n gloom camp — and I’ve been predicting skyrocketing food prices - and, worst-case, food riots in American urban areas - for a while, now.. ;~))
The moment you restrict where a farmer can sell his crop, you are basically enacting a price control. The price may stay low, but you damage the supply - or force ever-larger farming subsidies.
“According to the May 1, 2008 CCC inventory report there are only 24.1 million bushels of wheat in inventory, so after this sale there will be only 2.7 million bushels of wheat left the entire CCC inventory,” warned Matlack.
24.1 - 18.37 = 2.7 say what?
Who was the buyer for the 18 million bushels and why was it approved then?
The Mormons have the right idea; build your own food reserve.
Meanwhile, along the Red River area of Oklahoma and Texas the grain storage/shipping facilities are full or filling with the currently being harvested 2008 wheat crop...one source news is never good.
Carolyn
Any starving FReeper can come by and get a bag or two of frozen corn left over from last year. Screw food inflation. I give away at least half of what I grow.
I have lost 1/3 of my planted tomatoes the last two weeks to hail storms. Have one more hailstorm in the forecast for tonight. Still have about 50 tomato plants in reserve, to replace any more loss. Will we still have hail when the globe gets really warm?
A lot of that hard red winter wheat is grown for export, and I suspect the wheat in the grain elevators now is already sold to overseas consumers, just waiting to be shipped.
Yes I know most is exported but your article said we only had a loaf or so of bread apeice in the reserve and I wanted to point out that the farmer owned stocks are being replenished as you all quake...going to work bringing in hay for the beef and milk cows now.
With the USDA carryover predicted at 6 percent before the bad weather,grain shortages could be a real problem.Our wheat in Ohio looks great overall,corn and beans are fair to poor mostly right now.Too much rain and late plantings(people are still trying to finish planting their beans) are takinf a toll .
This isn’t the slightest bit disturbing. This guy is whining about the lack of government held reserves. In the US, grain is privately owned. The CCC involves itself in owning grain only to the extent it seeks to change what would otherwise be the open market price.
Wheat harvest has already started in the south. There will be wheat available. If they need more for humanitarian reasons they can buy it on the open market.
Bingo.
My garden is pretty small, but I have 13 fruit trees and more deer than I can eat. I don’t anticipate starving either.
What I do anticipate is a lot of folks complaining about rising food costs.
If this gets more people to raise gardens, it may not be an entirely bad thing. Most Americans eat diets that are less healthy than they ought to be—not nearly enough green vegetables, too much refined sugar and starch.
When I get home from work today, I’ll munch on some fresh greens, and then plant another row of cantaloupes. :<)
The flooding in the midwestern states where corn, wheat, soybeans are raised may just be that event of which you speak.
I haven’t been so worried about the planting but the harvesting of the spring and winter wheat.
I know around here it looks to be a tough year. It isn’t like there are many that aren’t tough but everyday there is another farmer who is replanting. It was cold, dry and windy until a few weeks ago, now it is hot, dry and windy.
Being raised during the nuclear scare by an Air Force father, I have always tried to keep a 30 day supply of food on hand but I know a lot of people who shop everyday.
A 30-day stash might help, but wouldn’t matter if this goes over the cliff. One bad year would do it.
I would imagine the wheat will go to those who offer the highest price, foreign or domestic.
I “farm” about 2100 sq. ft., but, if I didn’t starve, I would get very tired of the diet if I had to survive on what I grow.
Maybe a few deer would help, but they all would have to be made into jerky for me to be able to eat them. I have a good fence, so deer do not invade my garden. I could, I suppose, live on rabbits, possums, and an occasional skunk? for meat. Could also harvest a lot of birds. Fried grasshoppers and earthworms? Pass.
Most of my veggies are perishable, so we only eat most of them in season (strawberries, asparagus, melons, lettuce, spinach, beets, tomatoes, peppers, corn, cucumbers, beans, carrots, onions, radishes), though I do freeze corn and peppers, can beans, asparagus and tomatoes, and store potatoes and onions.
I would probably be ahead to sell my produce fresh, and use the money to go to the grocery store for most of my food. Might also be ahead to quit gardening and get a job, but then I would have more grass to mow and water, and that sounds like less fun.
I always figure I could grow something in 30 days and it isn’t likely that EVERYTHING would be in short supply.
Just knowing what is going on in 3 states, I would say that dairy would be available because it seems every farmer is growing feed for dairies. We probably have 5Xs the alfalfa in this county than we’ve ever had. We’re getting away from vegetables because Florida, western Arizona, south Texas, California and Mexico have that market saturated.
In 30 days here at the right time of the year, some of the seeds might sprout.
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