Posted on 04/21/2008 9:58:35 AM PDT by Sig Sauer P220
Many parts of America, long considered the breadbasket of the world, are now confronting a once unthinkable phenomenon: food rationing.
(Excerpt) Read more at nysun.com ...
Soylent green would solve everything.
Looks like the typical panic buying induced by media scare tactics. We’ve seen it before with gas and stocking excess supplies was prevelant in the Y2K panic.
America better think about feeding itself rather than Asia.
When am I gonna learn. “Journalists” = credibility gap.
We also hear that there will be a shortage of toilet paper..so buy up. Keep some with you when you travel.
1 bushel of wheat/rice/corn for 1 barrel of oil.
I`m stock piling mothballs and electrical tape, heard a rumor there`s gonna be a run on that stuff.
This sounds like a complete BS story. A single chain of stores is limiting purchases of bulk rice and a few other staples because their prices are cheaper than other suppliers.
This is a pricing problem, not a supply problem. Costco’s prices drive people to buy from them instead of other suppliers, which creates momentary shortages until they replenish their supplies at higher prices.
"Limit 10 boxes with coupon and $50.00 purchase" or "Limit one bag per family".
Having grown up on a farm....I am amused by the title of this thread. The US and Canada have the capability to feed our entire nations, Mexico, all of Central America, and most of South America. There is virtually no shortage of food in America.
It is an interesting game being played out. First...fuel prices have gone through the roof...for both the American farmer and the American trucker. So they want their money for the increased cost of fuel. Add in the fact that the food distribution folks have learned from the California electrical community how to play the “brown-out-game” and jump the prices up by 10 percent in a month. Now we’ve got a tidy little confrontation going.
The media is incompetent on understanding any of this food production cycle and the relationships of fuel and middle-men to the American farm. They still think a huge jump in bio-fuels occurred in the past year....which is totally false. Bio-fuels are still barely making any dent in the fuel production in America.
In Asia, several rice exporting countries have raised their prices for exports and internal consumption to levels that frighten and make life difficult for common people. The local belief is that it is linked to America's and China's desire for ethanol. For whatever reason, exporters are cashing in and there are real shortages.
Perception becomes reality, once a hoarding mentality sets in, though. I strongly suspect any supply problem with rice in the US is limited to areas with large Asian and Indian immigrant populations, though. They hear about the problems back home, are large consumers of rice, and fear that it's going to happen here. I believe the implication of a "just in time" supply chain is that restocks in the pipeline are based upon historical inventory turns, which don't rapidly accomodate sudden spikes in demand, and there is little to no inventory on hand, so shelves can go bare for a period of time.
duck tape horder... :o)
What’s the gubmit have to do with this? Retailers limit purchases of items all the time when there’s a rush for for the same thing. Whether it’s because of a sale or a local freak out, “X per customer” isn’t a terribly unusual concept and comes from the store not the gubmit. There’s really no reason for folks to hoard, haven’t seen any shortages of anything.
Let’s just keep burning our food for gas at taxpayer expense.
George Tirebiter
Sector R
Me too. I actually had someone on this forum hysterically tell me that my family should stop selling at high prices for ethanol and just sell for food. I, of course, explained the years of low prices on the farm and the fact the Free Enterprise system actually allowed us to get the best price possible.
I went to my nearest Costco in Stockton CA a couple weeks ago and noted many Asians hauling out big bags of rice. Seems to be a normal thing, not a hoarding experience. Could it be the just-in-time delivery model used by businesses now days does cause shortage on the shelf often on the West Coast. I always know it will eventually show up. I do love shopping in the Midwest where the shelves always seem fuller with more choices, except of course for fresh fruit and vegetables. California rules in that category.
I think doctors use them to make peoples stomachs smaller so they eat less.
Let’s officially tie the price of food exports to the price of oil imports. I agree, a bushel for a barrel. Let OPEC set the price.
Hmmm... Good point!
I’m worried about the long term effects.
So I’m laying in a supply of fine single-malt Scots Whisky now (grin)
“So I’m laying in a supply of fine single-malt Scots Whisky now (grin)”
THAT should be the ONLY alternative use for grain.
;^)
In los angeles 60% of the water supply is spent on lawns but nobody plants a garden so much for reason.
ok, i’m right in the middle of the mid-west and i haven’t seen any food shortages at all! i don’t like the prices, but then again, when do we ever?
>>>>I actually had someone on this forum hysterically tell me that my family should stop selling at high prices for ethanol and just sell for food.
As if you control what they do with it once the broker takes it off your hands?
I’ll never forget your suggestion for what to stock up the most when the Y2K scare/scam was going on.
What was that?
Ammo, stock up on ammo and everyone else stocks up anything you will actually need if it really goes bad.
I guess I’ve serendipitously followed his advice, then. ;-)
There's virtually no doubt left about it at this point: ethanol and biofuels will go down in history as one of the worst policy decisions of the last few decades.
We better be ready to do both, which surely excludes producing ethanol.
You can "staple" your stomach so you get "full" faster.......
...
“We also hear that there will be a shortage of toilet paper..so buy up.”
I just checked, I have about a 60 week supply of toilet paper that I bought when it was at a price cheaper than I had seen for my brand in about 7 years.
On the other hand thinking that I was low on tomato sauce I just bought 72 cans at 5 for a dollar only to find that when I went to rotate the new cans in to my stock, that I had overlooked 48 cans that were out of view, cool.
I’m still using canned tuna from the last time that I saw it at 3 cans for a dollar about 4 years ago.
Shortages are apparently a big problem there.
Yeah!!
BLOAT!!
I like the term. If there is easy money in it, someone is going to do it. To make appearances worse, I understand the crop was good.
You, too?
Mr. mm rags on me about how much stuff we have, but I'll tell you, when you can get if for next to nothing, why not?
I remember the toilet paper shortage back in the 70’s. People heard rumor of it and stocked up, thus CREATING the shortage.
Exactly!
Wonder how much the U.S. sends in food aid to Opec nations.
Perhaps we could start another “oil for food” program.
Surely they have a difficult time growing anything in that sandbox. Perhaps the oil will flow more freely if we start keeping our food to ourselves.
I hope to have a backyard garden this summer. Produce prices at the local grocery store have gone through the roof.
sounds to me like a bunch of foreigners are buying alot of rice in california and new england.
so what?
Japan’s hunger becomes a dire warning for other nations
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