Posted on 09/19/2011 4:12:08 PM PDT by newzjunkey
… Beef, veal, pork, eggs and such dairy products as butter, milk and cheese have seen the biggest increases in the past year, said Richard Volpe, an economist with the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
The price of groceries rose 5.4 percent from July 2010 to this July, according to the USDA's latest report. ...
Now the rising cost of energy, the weaker dollar and growing global food demand are driving the price.
Beef and veal prices are expected to increase as much as 8 percent this year, with pork projected to go up as much as 7.5 percent. Beef prices are expected to climb another 4.5 percent to 5 percent next year as well, Volpe said.
"There are a couple of really good reasons for that. For one — and this is a story that pertains to a lot of foods — the U.S. dollar is very weak. That means the purchasing power of people abroad is stronger. There is strong demand for our protein-heavy foods, such as meat and dairy," Volpe said.
Exports decrease the domestic supply. Cattle and hog supplies are near historic lows after an increase in feed costs led to a large-scale sell-off of beef and hogs in the United States in 2008, Volpe said.
Droughts and floods also have led to increases in the price of wheat, corn and soybeans, all used for animal feed. Higher fuel prices affect everything, but especially dairy products. ...
(Excerpt) Read more at sun-sentinel.com ...
In the last 3-4 mnths milk has gone up $1........from $2.49 to $3.49. That’s a heckuva lot more than what they are citing.
They sound wonderful!
Do you make grape jelly out of them?
Would they grow this far north, or is it too cold in Maine?
P.S.
Thanks for writing back!
;0)
I freeze blocks of cheese. Why shred beforehand?
I personally don’t do anything other than eat them off the vine. I suspect people make about anything of them one could do with regular grapes.
I think they do not grow well in cold weather but I bet someone has adapted them to colder areas.
Why I don’t know! I was told to shred it first, lol. I will just freeze the block now! I thought there was something to shredding it first.
David Pimental, a leading Cornell University agricultural expert, has calculated that powering the average U.S. automobile for one year on ethanol (blended with gasoline) derived from corn would require 11 acres of farmland, the same space needed to grow a year’s supply of food for seven people. Adding up the energy costs of corn production and its conversion into ethanol, 131,000 BTUs are needed to make one gallon of ethanol. One gallon of ethanol has an energy value of only 77,000 BTUS. Thus, 70 percent more energy is required to produce ethanol than the energy that actually is in it. Every time you make one gallon of ethanol, there is a net energy loss of 54,000 BTUs.
Mr. Pimentel concluded that “abusing our precious croplands to grow corn for an energy-inefficient process that yields low-grade automobile fuels amounts to unsustainable subsidized food burning”.
I’ve always thought that ethanol was a total loser,for the reasons you stated.I would argue that a good farmer could feed more than 7 people on 11 acres of land however.
I defer to your agricultural expertise. The closest I’ve ever come to farming is growing tomatoes, peppers and basil in pots.
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