Beer Prices Come To A Head; Ethanol Blamed (DOH! Cost of barley rising as more corn is grown)

WGAL News 8 ^ | 7/6/07 | WGAL

[Renfield]

This story doesn't wash with me. Most malting barley is grown in areas that are too cold or too dry, or where the growing season is too short (Montana, Idaho, Saskatchewan, the Palouse of Washington and Oregon) for corn production. The two crops don't compete for space on farms.

[Kevmo]

Well, that puts a dent in my plans. I’ll bring you up to speed later.

[mallardx]

That was one of the finest posts EVER! Well done!

[NormsRevenge]

We used to grow corn and barley , wheat, oats and flax too,, look like some folks in my old stomping ground still do in Minnesota ,

[The Great RJ]

In about 6 years or so watch the price of bourbon whiskey go up as supplies currently aging are used up and newly distilled product starts being used.

[curiosity]

Well, maybe this will finally wake the public up to the ethanol racket. Few things make me as angry as the way in the corn lobby has been systematically using the government as an instrument of plunder for the last 30 years.

[curiosity]

Also less high-end corn-fed steak.

That part doesn't bother me that mcuh. I prefer grass-fed beef anyway.

[Diana in Wisconsin]

Let me improve upon that just a teeny-tiny bit, Cletus:

Know Beer, No War.
No Beer, Know War!!

[Diana in Wisconsin]

Let’s just have a little re-cap here, shall we?

We’ve now got to roll our own gigs...because GOVERNMENT stuck there nose in where it didn’t belong; private business!

We’ve got to hide our cans of Crisco lest we consume a trans-fat...because GOVERNMENT stuck there nose in where it didn’t belong; private business!

We’ll have to grow our own barley & corn in the future to make Bathtub Barley Pop...because GOVERNMENT stuck there nose in where it didn’t belong; The Free Market!

We have to grow our own food because the Chi-Coms are trying to poison us. (And brush your teeth with baking soda and peppermint extract to avoid killer toothpaste, too)...because GOVERNMENT stuck there nose in where it didn’t belong; The Free Market!

The Government, via the Enviro-Wackos IS winning, Folks. Pretty soon we WILL be back to living in caves, but we’ll have to be naked because we can’t possibly KILL any living thing to make something to cover ourselves with. *Rolleyes*

But, that’ll just be we minions. The Elites will still have ALL of the perks afforded them at birth. ;)

“Wildwood Weed” by Jim Stafford

...All good things gotta come to an end,
And it’s the same with the wildwood weed.
One day this feller from Washington came by,
And he spied and turned white as a sheet.
Then they dug and they burned,
And they burned and they dug,
And they killed all our cute little weeds.
Then they drove away,
We just smiled and waved...

...Sittin’ there on that sack of seeds! :)

[Tolerance Sucks Rocks]

DYB! DYC! DYBG!

[Recovering Hermit]

There's only so much I can take.

This is a complete outrage!

[Gabz]

It’s all so much fun, ain’t it?

It wasn’t that long ago that I was being ridiculed for predicting this kind of stuff, right here on FR.

[Obie Wan]

As Thomas Paine once said, “these are the times that try men’s souls” !!!

[spinestein]

[Compared to this time last year, beer prices are up about 3 percent across the nation. One big reason, according to some brewers, is the rising cost of barley. A high demand for corn-based ethanol has many farmers devoting more fields to their corn crop and less to barley.]

So, ethanol is displacing barley in farmers fields, resulting in a shortage, causing beer prices to skyrocket by 3% in one year. Except that:

[... The brewery also blamed last year’s hot, dry weather for the shortage of barley.]

Which is the correct explanation for the shortage of barley? We don’t know because we’re only offered two opinions, unsupported by facts or evidence. But we’re supposed to conclude, after reading this article, that the production of ethanol for fuel is making the price of beer go up. In addition:

[Ethanol has also recently been blamed for higher, milk, ice cream and pizza prices.]

We have a new condition in America: Ethanol Derangement Syndrome.

IT’S ALL ETHANOL’S FAULT!

[spinestein]

Another fact to consider is that it takes a lot of fuel to transport beer ingredients from the farms to the breweries and cases of beer from the distributors to the stores. Is it possible that the large increase in the cost of diesel fuel over the last year may have been a factor in the 3% increase in the cost of beer?