Posted on 03/08/2008 10:42:12 PM PST by TigerLikesRooster
A Global Need for Grain That Farms Cant 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, theres great reason to be optimistic, Mr. Miller said.
But the prices that have renewed Mr. Millers 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 worlds 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 worlds grain stockpiles have fallen to the lowest levels in decades.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
Gosh, and fuel is over $3 a gallon, with summer predictions running to $4 a gallon, I’m sure that will help food prices. I’m sure some jackass will be in to remind us how farm subsidies and ethanol mandates are wrecking the country.
How government makes things worse
Boston Globe | March 9, 2008 | Jeff Jacoby
Posted on 03/09/2008 9:25:00 AM PDT by Kaslin
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1982895/posts
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.
“666”
Congress could have drilled for oil in Alaska and freed up lots of farm land for food. But some in government aren’t about making life easy for citizens. Instead, by limiting our oil purchasing and forcing us to buy from some very anti-American types, while also assigning a moral value to fossil fuels means that we’re forced to use our farm lands to grow bio fuels. This maliciously forces us to pay more for twindling oil and food resources.
Revelations chapter 6, verses 6:
6
I heard what seemed to be a voice in the midst of the four living creatures. It said, “A ration of wheat costs a day’s pay, 6 and three rations of barley cost a day’s pay. But do not damage the olive oil or the wine.”
Footnote 6: 6 [6] A day’s pay: literally, “a denarius,” a Roman silver coin that constitutes a day’s wage in Matthew 20:2. Because of the famine, food was rationed and sold at an exorbitant price. A liter of flour was considered a day’s ration in the Greek historians Herodotus and Diogenes Laertius. Barley: food of the poor (John 6:9, 13; cf 2 Kings 7:1, 16, 18); it was also used to feed animals; cf 1 Kings 5:8. Do not damage: the olive and the vine are to be used more sparingly in time of famine.
Hey, that makes three “6’s” in a row, chapter, verse, footnote. Scary, huh?
...makes me want to get right with the Lord so I don't get left.
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