Free Republic

NEW YORK (AFP) - Wracked by drought, Iran has turned to the United States for wheat for the first time in 27 years, marking a setback for Tehran's search for agricultural self-sufficiency. According to a recent US Department of Agriculture report, Iran has bought about 1.18 million tonnes of US hard wheat since the beginning of the 2008-2009 crop season in June. The number, which has been growing steadily all summer, already represents nearly 5.0 percent of US annual exports forecast by the USDA.

Imagine the Eucharist, the body and blood of Jesus, with some genes derived from bacteria that repel certain common pests? No? You obviously are not alone. Fr Sean McDonagh says that if gluten-free hosts are verboten, then you can count on genetically modified wheat being off limits as well.Genetically-modified (GM) wheat may not be be suitable under canon law to be used to make hosts for the Catholic sacrament of the Eucharist, it's been claimed. Fr Sean McDonagh, a Columban priest and well-known commentator on environmental issues, questions whether the Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith which oversees Catholic...

Poor Harvest Spurs Tehran's Rare Move; Limited Options August 21, 2008 Iran this summer resumed buying U.S. wheat after a 27-year hiatus, a sign of the limited options for importers seeking large quantities of high-quality grain. Since the 2008-09 marketing year began on June 1, Iran has bought more than one million tons of hard red winter wheat directly from the U.S., which is "a very large amount," said Bill Nelson, analyst for Wachovia Securities. The purchases mean at least 3% to 4% of domestic wheat exports for the marketing year will go to a country the U.S. hasn't done...

The AP is reporting that due to current grain prices, the Afghans are abandoning Opium, in favour of Wheat. See more at link.

Oldest wheat found in Çatalhöyük The oldest known wheat was grown in Çatalhöyük, a Neolithic settlement in southern Anatolia, experts have found. A series of DNA analyses conducted on ancient wheat samples have led scientists to conclude that the oldest known wheat was grown in Çatalhöyük, a Neolithic settlement in southern Anatolia. Professor Mahinur Akkaya from the Middle East Technical University's (ODTÜ) department of chemistry says the world's oldest wheat found so far comes from Çatalhöyük, this according to a series of DNA analyses made on 8,500-year-old wheat samples. "Our discovery is of great importance as it gives us significant...

Afghan farmers hope to capitalise on soaring food costs by growing wheat instead of poppy crops, with the fall in heroin prices further fuelling the switch. The price of a tonne of wheat in Afghanistan has almost trebled this year, causing acute food shortages. A changeover of crops has begun in key agricultural regions, said Tekeste Tekie, country representative for the UN's Food and Agriculture Organisation. He said a significant increase in wheat crops is expected from next year's harvest. "The high price of commodities has encouraged farmers to switch from poppy cultivation to wheat. In fact, we are already...

(IsraelNN.com) Arabs burned Jewish-owned wheat fields in the Samaria town of Yitzhar Friday. The regular vandalism has led residents to ponder soliciting assistance from humanitarian groups. The most recent fire was set Friday, minutes before the onset of Shabbat. A volunteer fire brigade made up of Yitzhar residents succeeded in extinguishing the fire, but were then attacked by Arabs rioting and throwing stones at them. A contingent of IDF soldiers arrived on the scene and used non-lethal riot-control methods to restore order, but residents say their complaints usually result in no response whatsoever from security forces. The fields, which were...

In the western third of the state, meanwhile, timely rains -- on top of the cushion of moisture left behind when more than 30 inches of snow fell in late 2006 -- made for ideal growing conditions. Essentially, the tables were turned last year. In the northwest crop-reporting district, for example, average yields last year amounted to 43 bushels per acre. This year, the forecast is calling for average yields of 38 bushels. That's would still be considered an excellent crop, but it's only 83 percent of last year's bin-buster. The central crop-reporting district, which includes Ellis County, is expected...

Food Shortages Growing? An email from a reader in the Midwest causes me some concern: "Last night at the daughter's horse riding lesson the price of horse feed came between my wife & the stable owner/riding instructor. One of her friends in Kansas said that his winter wheat looked great, but there was no wheat in the wheat plant heads (kernel/seed-I don't know the correct term). He reported that the grain miller that they normally use said that they are having trouble getting any wheat to prepare. Same thing from many Kansas wheat growers; plants look great, but no wheat...

David Kotok, chairman and chief investment officer of Cumberland Advisors, said the deadly fungus, Puccinia graminis, is now spreading through some areas of the globe where "crop losses are expected to reach 100 percent.” Losses in Africa are already at 70 percent of the crop, Kotok said. "The economic losses expected from this fungus are now in the many billions and growing. Worse, there is an intensifying fear of exacerbated food shortages in poor and emerging countries of the world,” Kotok told investors in a research note. "The ramifications are serious. Food rioting continues to expand around the world. We...

With the world consuming more food than it produces and global grain stocks the lowest for 30 years, food prices are soaring from Indonesia to Indianapolis. Some experts called it the Perfect Storm and others a tsunami. The global food crisis has a common denominator with the still unfolding subprime mortgage debacle whose losses the International Monetary Fund (IMF) now estimates at $1.1 trillion: Greed. Predatory lending coupled with criminal profiteering was behind the still unfolding subprime mortgage debacle whose losses the International Monetary Fund now estimates at $1.1 trillion. It is the largest loss of wealth in modern U.S....

MUMBAI, April 23 (Reuters) - Indian corn futures ended higher on Wednesday on media reports that the deputy chairman of the Planning Commission was opposed to a ban on commodities futures trade, analysts said. Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia on Tuesday opposed suggestions to ban futures trade in commodities, the Business Standard paper reported. "Some recovery was seen ...there could be some more rise..prices had fallen quite a bit in last few days," said an analyst with Motilal Oswal Commodities Broker Private Ltd. Strong export demand also supported the gains, they said. India is likely to export 2.1...

New Delhi (PTI): India on Wednesday ruled out the need to import wheat this year, as it appears poised to surpass the 15 million tons procurement target. "I am confident of procuring 16-17 million tons of wheat this year... As of now I don't see a need for import of wheat," Agriculture and Food Minister Sharad Pawar said, inaugurating the State Agriculture Ministers' conference here. In the last 10 days, the average procurement in Punjab and Haryana was 99.6 per cent of the market arrival of wheat in these states, Pawar said, adding that Food Corporation of India has so...

Mona El-Fiqi stands in line Bread queues have become a common scene The government has started applying new measures to regulate the sale of subsidised bread, including raising flour quotas in high population governorates, separating the processes of bread production and distribution, and enforcing strict penalties on the sale of subsidised flour on the black market. But bread queues continue to grow longer and people still cannot readily find this staple food. For many years, different types of bread at various prices have been available on the market. One could buy a loaf of subsidised baladi (traditional) bread at PT5,...

A new and virulent wheat fungus, previously found in East Africa and Yemen, has moved to major wheat growing areas in Iran, reports the UN's Food and Agricultural Organization. The fungus is capable of wreaking havoc to wheat production by destroying entire fields...

Sat March 15, 2008 Farmers in fear By Jim Stafford Business Writer Prices paid to Oklahoma wheat farmers for their grain have surged to historic highs, but the prospect of $12-a-bushel wheat at harvest has yielded a surprising side effect, said farm economist Kim Anderson: Fear. The July wheat contract on the Kansas City Board of Trade closed at $12.21 Friday, down 44 cents from the previous day, but still hovering near historic levels. So, what is to fear from wheat priced at three to four times what it was just five years ago? "They are scared to death because...

Global stocks of wheat are plummeting and people are starting to worry about the price of staples like bread. But can you beat the commodity market by growing your own? Look out your back window. How's the grass? If you've got a garden at all, it might be that the grass is an unloved scrub as sparse as Elton John's hair used to be. Or it could be a lush strip of glorious verdure. Either way, the odds are you're not getting much use out of it. Wouldn't it be great if you could improve your health, help the environment...

March 5, 2008 Forget biofuels — we need to concentrate on our daily bread Steve Hawkes Britain's biggest food producer has called on the Government to free more farmland for growing wheat in an effort to combat spiralling raw material prices. Premier Foods said that further price rises on Hovis, its leading bread brand, and other everyday products were almost inevitable as food companies struggle with unprecedented cost pressures. The warning came yesterday as Premier reported a £73.5 million pre-tax loss for 2007 and almost halved its shareholder dividend. It also revealed a deal with banks that would raise its...

Pizza makers must weigh rising costs of wheat with competition 2 days ago DETROIT - First, it was cheese. And many pizza makers across America absorbed sharply rising prices of the staple ingredient as long as they could before passing along some of the expense. Now, they're dealing with the surging price of wheat used to make pizza crust. Players big, small and in between in the US$30 billion-plus industry are feeling the heat as they figure out how to deal with the double-barrel price spikes of the gooey and grainy commodities without sacrificing their quality, competitive edge or customer...

The man who turns wheat into gold Resources guru Christopher Wyke tips coffee as a hot prospect for investors David Budworth SURGING demand from China, a craze for biofuels and difficult weather conditions have made agricultural commodities one of the hottest investments of the past year. Everything from wheat to soyabeans is at or near record highs with gains of up to 100%, but the question is, can the boom last? One man who ought to know is Christopher Wyke, one of Schroders’ commodities team, the investment brains behind its Alternative Solutions Agricultural Commodities fund. While many of its rivals...

US Wheat Review: MGE March Surges To Record $25/Bushel 37 hours, 29 minutes ago CHICAGO (Dow Jones)--Supply fears sparked a jaw-dropping rally in U.S. wheat futures Monday, with Minneapolis Grain Exchange March wheat climbing nearly 25% on the day, trader said. MGE March wheat hit a record high of $25 per bushel before closing up $4.75 at $24. Supplies of high-protein spring wheat, traded at the MGE, are low and demand remains strong, traders said. Chicago Board of Trade May wheat closed limit up, 60 cents higher, at $11.75. Kansas City Board of Trade May wheat was limit up, 60...

In the wheat price surge on Monday this week, the leading wheat contract in Minneapolis, US, rose by more than the entire worth of the contract just months ago. Prices rallied by $5.75 a bushel, or by nearly 30pc, at one point from Friday’s close. Eight months ago on June 19, the lead Minneapolis wheat contract settled at over $US5.00 a bushel. Panic over commodity shortages continues to emerge as the dominant factor in the global markets, with both end user and speculative buyers of corn, soybean, cotton, rice and a host of other commodities taking note of what’s happening...

I love McDonald’s food but if you ask for your choice of bread on your order and that choice is wheat bread, no deal. Check out this short funny rap on, wheat bread. Revski

Wheat price surge raises inflation fears By Chris Flood in London Published: February 8 2008 19:44 | Last updated: February 8 2008 19:44 A fall in US inventories of wheat to a 60-year low drove prices of the grain sharply higher on Friday to a fresh record, intensifying fears of rising global food price inflation. US wheat futures – global benchmarks for the grain – have jumped by their daily trading limit each day this week. Prices for Minneapolis wheat, the US variety most suitable for making flour, rose 10.7 per cent on the week, extending its price surge since...

Ancient wheat suggests early China, Middle East trade The Xinjian mummies, discovered in 1987, may be linked to new carbon dating evidence of early East-West trade. Wheat grains nearly 5,000 years old found at a Chinese archaeological site two years ago, have revealed that western man travelled to China much earlier than previously thought. The research, published by Professor John Dodson and Professor Xiaoqiang Li, shows there are no modern wild varieties of the wheat and barley, which were found in the region in a domesticated form, and carbon dated to 2,650BC. It is now thought they originated in the...

First it was corn. Now wheat is getting the blame. Earlier this year, corn began getting pricey because it was in high demand to make ethanol. That sent prices rising for other corn-dependent products, including milk and meat. Now wheat is costing more and more because of poor harvests and greater global demand, sending grocery bills still higher. The price of wheat futures reached a record $9 a bushel on the Chicago Board of Trade on Wednesday. And the higher food prices that have resulted from the increase -- items like baguettes, rigatoni and cupcakes cost more -- come at...

WASHINGTON: Forget the import of jet fighters and uranium for the moment. It’s India’s purchase of wheat in the international market that is attracting world attention — besides domestic controversy. A massive purchase of nearly 800,000 tonnes of wheat by India at record prices earlier this week has added to what agricultural experts are calling the great wheat panic of 2007. Wheat prices had already reached record levels ahead of the Indian move, thanks to falling or stagnating production in many countries — blamed on poor weather and crop diversion — and growing population. Now, prices are going through the...

Wheat prices climbed for a fifth consecutive session Thursday, and the most heavily traded contract hit a new all-time high on the Chicago Board of Trade as traders continue to price in robust worldwide demand and shrinking supply. The U.S. Department of Agriculture said Thursday that wheat supplies available for export plummeted in July and said "stocks could be driven down to unprecedented low levels." Rain, frost and drought in different parts of the European Union ravaged wheat crops this year, leaving the EU with less to export and boosting its import requirements. Poor weather also ruined crops in the...

I think this says it all. This is snipped from an article relating to the worker shortage in wheat fields. It should say: Americans refuse to be slave labor!"Work starts once the morning dew has dried and continues for 16 hours until night moisture makes the wheat too wet. A harvester must be able to work continually while making quick repairs to keep a $300,000 combine in motion.For that, a worker bunks with crewmates in a mobile trailer for free while seeing the U.S. heartland on net pay of about $1,800 per month. The high-quality, low-cost labor ``keeps costs down...

Hi, folks! Getting some contradictory information, and I know you guys can straighten me out. KS particularly and OK somewhat also, have been very wet all year. That's fine until it's time to harvest wheat. I'm hearing tales that the crop is so wet that it's starting to sprout from the head. Questions -- Is this true? Is the ground really that wet? It has looked for a couple of days after Friday that KS and OK are no precip with a nice breeze, but...who trusts weatherguessers, eh? If anyone would care to offer a local weather report, esp. regarding...

ccording to Marshall, if the new strain were to reach regions at risk, it could create epidemics more severe than farmers have encountered in decades and destroy harvests in wheat-producing areas worldwide.

ChemNutra Announces Nationwide Wheat Gluten Recall Contact: Devon Blaine/Lisa Baker 310-360-1499 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE --Las Vegas, NV -- April 3, 2007 -- ChemNutra Inc., of Las Vegas, Nevada, yesterday recalled all wheat gluten it had imported from one of its three Chinese wheat gluten suppliers – Xuzhou Anying Biologic Technology Development Co. Ltd. The wheat gluten ChemNutra recalled was all shipped from China in 25 kg. paper bags, and distributed to customers in the same unopened bags. The bags were all labeled "Wheat Gluten Batch No.: _______ Net Weight: 25 kg Gross Weight: 25.1 kg Made in China". The batch...

The baker who beat McDonald's From Richard Owen in Rome AFTER a five-year battle, the fast-food giant McDonald’s has retreated from a southern Italian town, defeated by the sheer wholesomeness of a local baker’s bread. The closure of McDonald’s in Altamura, Apulia, was hailed yesterday as a victory for European cuisine against globalised fast food. Luigi Digesù, the baker, said that he had not set out to force McDonald’s to close down in any “bellicose spirit”. He had merely offered the 65,000 residents tasty filled panini — bread rolls — which they overwhelmingly preferred to hamburgers and chicken nuggets. “It...

Turning on a gene found in wheat could boost levels of protein, iron and zinc, scientists have discovered. The gene occurs naturally in wheat, but has largely been silenced during the evolution of domestic varieties. Researchers found evidence that turning it back on could raise levels of the nutrients in wheat grains. Writing in the journal Science, they suggest that new varieties with a fully functioning gene can be created through cross-breeding with wild wheat... The researchers identified a gene called GPC-B1, GPC standing for Grain Protein Content... The UC Davis team is already making such varieties, not by genetic...

TIKRIT, Iraq, May 29, 2006 – Operation Barnstormer, part of the Iraqi Agriculture Ministry's program to protect key staple crops from insect damage, wrapped up yesterday with a final day of aerial spraying in the northern Iraqi province of Dahuk, Task Force Band of Brothers officials reported. Flying low to the ground, an airplane sprays pesticide on wheat crops in the northern Iraqi province of Dahuk. The spraying was part of the Ministry of Agriculture's Operation Barnstormer. U.S. Army photo   The operation began May 16 and covered most of the major agricultural areas in the Iraqi provinces of Karbala,...

Week of April 15, 2006; Vol. 169, No. 15 , p. 237 Early farmers took time to tame wheat Bruce Bower Domesticated varieties of wheat emerged gradually in the prehistoric Near East over a roughly 3,000-year span, a new investigation suggests. CULTIVATED FINDS. Microscopic analysis of wheat grains such as these from a 6,500-year-old Syrian site revealed clues to plant domestication in prehistoric times. Willcox/CNRS Ken-ichi Tanno of the Research Institute for Humanity and Nature in Kyoto, Japan, and George Willcox of the National Center for Scientific Research in Berrias, France, examined 804 wheat-ear remnants recovered at four ancient villages...

Here is a pictoral of how to make Whole Wheat Waffles, posted on my blog this morning. Jenny Hatch

Zimbabwe has only two weeks of wheat supply left, while citizens are faced with soaring bread prices, Zimbabwe's main milling organisation has said. The cost of bread has risen by 30%, pushing Zimbabwe's inflation rate to more than 600%. Zimbabwe has been in economic decline since President Robert Mugabe began seizing white-owned farms in 2000. The government is reported to have put its security forces on alert in case the discontent leads to protests. David Govere, deputy chairman of the Millers Association, told AFP news agency the scarcity of wheat has meant a reduction in supplies to bakeries. It's a...

Zimbabwe 'has two weeks' wheat' The price of bread rose by 30% in one week Zimbabwe has only two weeks of wheat supply left, while citizens are faced with soaring bread prices, Zimbabwe's main milling organisation has said.The cost of bread has risen by 30%, pushing Zimbabwe's inflation rate to more than 600%. Zimbabwe has been in economic decline since President Robert Mugabe began seizing white-owned farms in 2000. The government is reported to have put its security forces on alert in the rising discontent leads to protests. David Govere, deputy chairman of the Millers Association, told AFP news agency...

CHICAGO -- When a neighbor told Garmit Kaur that McDonald's had listed wheat -- a taboo for her two children with food allergies -- as an ingredient in its french fries, she flat-out didn't believe it. "I was shocked when I checked the Web site this morning," said the mother from Elmhurst, Ill. "I thought, that cannot be right because I'm very careful ... and it wasn't there a couple months ago." But there was no mistake. At the end of a long list -- including partially hydrogenated soybean oil and dextrose -- was the single offending line: "Contains wheat...

A Nebraska trade group led by Gov. Dave Heineman struck gold in Cuba on Tuesday, penning what may be the largest deal of its kind since U.S. states resumed some trading with the communist country five years ago. Cuban officials agreed to buy $17 million in Nebraska agriculture products, including corn, wheat, soybeans and beef, over the next 18 months. "This is truly a historic day for Nebraska agriculture," Heineman said via telephone from Cuba. He was the fifth governor to visit Cuba since a 40-year-old trade embargo against the country was loosened in 2000 to allow for the trade...

SYDNEY (Reuters) - Australian farmers have been dancing in the rain as downpours delivered the first soaking falls in over four years to large parts of drought-ridden eastern Australia. ADVERTISEMENT The rainfall would be enough to allow many farmers to plant their winter crops after months of waiting, New South Wales Primary Industries Minister Ian Macdonald said on Saturday.Australia, the world's second-largest wheat exporter after the United States, is a major supplier to Asia and the Middle East."Farmers are out dancing in the rain," farmer Chris Groves told Reuters by telephone from his prime wheat-growing area at Cowra, 250 kilometers...

ATWOOD, Kan. - A hundred and forty years after the Homestead Act helped populate the American West, small towns in Kansas are turning to it again, to draw new residents and new economic development. Three hours east of Denver, Atwood, Kansas is losing ground. Census figures from 2000 showed 1,279 people living there, about a hundred fewer than in 1994. So, back in November, city leaders decided to offer home-sized lots for free to anyone willing to build. "I'm getting interest from every state of the union and Mexico," said Arlene Bliss, director of economic development for Rawlins County, KS....

UN probes Wheat Pool Payments of $23.15M made in oil-for-food scandal congressional hearing told Steven Edwards CanWest News Service Saturday, April 30, 2005 UNITED NATIONS -- The Saskatchewan Wheat Pool has emerged as one of the companies involved in Iraq oil-for-food deals now under investigation by a U.S. congressional committee probing the United Nations aid program, which Saddam Hussein manipulated to skim off billions of dollars for himself. The focus on the company comes as the UN announced Friday it had discovered a staff-rule violation by Canadian businessperson and international diplomat Maurice Strong, whose long record at the world body...

Well, it didn't last long. With the innaguration less than a month behind us, Washington is back to its pork barrel ways. But what might surprise you is who is attacking the President. Ray LaHood, (R-Ill) is none to happy that Bush has decided to scale back farm subsidies and close loopholes that would allow large scale farms to make claims above which are allowed. I am not a farmer, nor have I ever been one, so I don't know the difficulties of making a buck growing crops. But what I do know is that the American people are subsidizing...

Well, it didn't last long. With the innaguration less than a month behind us, Washington is back to its pork barrel ways. But what might surprise you is who is attacking the President. Ray LaHood, (R-Ill) is none to happy that Bush has decided to scale back farm subsidies and close loopholes that would allow large scale farms to make claims above which are allowed. I am not a farmer, nor have I ever been one, so I don't know the difficulties of making a buck growing crops. But what I do know is that the American people are subsidizing...

European traders said... Iraq's Grain Board had purchased about 300,000 tonnes of US hard red winter wheat in a tender. If confirmed, it would be one of the single largest sales of wheat to Iraq in recent years... In the 1980s and 1990s the US was a major supplier of wheat to Iraq, but since then Australia has stepped in as the primary supplier of wheat bought by Baghdad. The US Department of Agriculture estimates that Iraq will buy around 2.6 million tonnes of wheat this year. Another US source puts the figure at around 3 million tonnes.

ROCHELLE, Ill. (Reuters) - Golden mountains are rising out of the fertile farmlands of the U.S. Midwest, a changing landscape formed by huge piles of corn from the most bountiful harvest in U.S. history. As farmers run out of space to store crops at home, they are bringing corn to country elevators, which are now bursting at the seams with grain. The excess is piling up on the ground in farm communities across the Midwest as this year's harvest surpasses available storage space by about 10 percent. American farmers are expected to harvest 11.7 billion bushels of corn and more...

Home Bread and Wine    FR. WILLIAM SAUNDERS I recently saw a story on the news about a little girl in New Jersey whose first Holy Communion was invalidated by the bishop. Apparently she is allergic to wheat, and a priest gave her Communion with a host made of rice. Why can’t she receive a rice host instead of a wheat host since she is allergic? What can be done? Remember the Catechism of the Catholic Church’s definition of a sacrament: A sacrament is an outward sign instituted by Christ to give grace. Our Lord instituted the sacraments, and...

On September 19, 1997, the New York Times announced the discovery of a group of earthen mounds in northeastern Louisiana. The site, known as Watson Brake, includes 11 mounds 26 feet high linked by low ridges into an oval 916 feet long. What is remarkable about this massive complex is that it was built around 3400 B.C., more than 3,000 years before the development of farming communities in eastern North America, by hunter-gatherers, at least partly mobile, who visited the site each spring and summer to fish, hunt, and collect freshwater mussels... Social complexity cannot exist unless I it...