Posted on 09/25/2011 11:37:09 AM PDT by lowbridge
High energy prices and bad weather -- including blistering hot temperatures, flooding in some places and drought in others -- hurt this year’s agricultural output. But farmers agree that a major problem is the soaring price of corn, which is used directly in products like cereal, and indirectly as livestock feed.
Corn is nearly twice as expensive now as it was last summer -- even though US farmers planted the second-largest crop since World War II.
Why? Well, 40 percent of the crop goes to produce 12.6 billion gallons of ethanol to meet the government’s renewable fuel standards. In other words, much crop land is being used to produce ethanol, not to produce food.
(Excerpt) Read more at nypost.com ...
We are going retro.
Before the combustion engine, a good deal of cropland went to grow feed for horses, mules, oxesn etc ... for transportation and work.
This article is full of errors. It suggests that 40 per cent of the corn crop is diverted into fuel, rather than food.
The truth is very little corn is eaten directly, virtually all the corn is grown as cattle feed. Ethanol production merely turns the starch into fuel. The resulting mash is fed to cattle, same as before!
I bet she was one of those who complained about subsidies, and, paying farmers “not” to grow corn. Well if so, she got her wish. Corn was $2 a bushel in the 50s, 60s, 70s, 80s, 90s and ... Well you get the idea.
We are forced to burn corn in our cars.
MPG drop at least 10%.
Corn grower Lobby is smiling.
Yes we are stupid.
All mine burned up in 110 temps. Watering didn’t help. Lost the whole garden right when it started to produce so didn’t get anything for the freezer and barely anything at the first of the summer for the table.
I think part of that is the cost of corn, and part of that is because more and more consumers are demanding sucrose as more and more studies show the adverse effects of HFCS. The big trick now it to use 2/3 Sucrose and 1/3 Fructose, which is even worse than the HFCS.
I cut out all HFCS possible (Which is virtually eliminated, now), and have been pleased with the healh improvement I have had in the last 6-12 month period (It took a little while to phase out, but has been about 6 months, unless I have eaten some minute amount when at a friends, etc.).
Canned tuna used to be 7 1/2 oz and it’s down to 5 1/2 oz. The largest Folgers coffee at our store is about 9 oz smaller but a dollar more than it was at the beginning of summer. All packaging is getting smaller yet higher priced. Just this last week, our local grocery and walmart raised their prices. Walmart doubled their price of off brand canned vegetables. I don’t know about the national brands since I can’t afford them. Milk prices have shot up too. Also, the local water authority announced due to the drought they are limiting the water to rice farmers for their second crop this year so watch for rice to go up in a few months. Pumpkin is going to be high this year because of the flooding.
Notice the number of products proclaiming 'No High Fructose Corn Syrup!', as well...
I noticed too that pecan sandies are now 15% smaller, but doubled in price, locally. Also I live in a large dairy/cattle region and the price of beef is set to skyrocket. The buying time is NOW as farmers are culling their herds and the price has lowered. Besides corn, cattle also eat hay (the price of hay has doubled in this region due to flooding earlier in the year), in fact all the cattle I have seen in this area (there are several farms nearby), eat hay. My parents live on the other side of the country and my dad mentioned that due to flooding, the farmers there weren’t able to plant their crops until very late also, and that they expect cattle in that market to become very costly too.
Just a heads up.
There is a major pushback on that additive. Thank goodness.
Agreed.
Corn Lobby has “corn’ed” us all.
Meanwhile, SSA/ ILWU is protesting a new grain terminal in WA state that is preparing to ship grain to China, and at the same time SSA is fighting to build another grain terminal in WA to ship more grain to China.
Boondoggle!
I’m in Texas and everyone has already or is on the brink of selling off their cattle. However, grocery beef prices have not come down. The reason, crazy as is seems, it’s being shipped to China. Yes, no matter what the price of beef is today, it’s only going to skyrocket over the next few months to two years. It’s going to take time for the rains to come, then for the feed to be planted and harvested, and then for the new calves to grow to market size. The supply and demand will be great getting herds started again and ranchers will be paying out the wahzoo just to buy new stock. Let’s face it, it’s all gone down the toilet. Today will be looked upon as the good ol’ days.
I sure do miss Price Chopper since moving to the swamps of Delaware.
That mantra about ‘burning food’ just won’t go away. We use little field corn as food [maybe 10%]and the price of corn has darn little to do with the price of corn products that do use #2 Dent. A $4 box of corn flakes uses about 5 cents worth of corn. We export almost as much as we use for ethanol and we feed the cake from ethanol manufacture to livestock as you said.
Imagine the uproar if people caught on to the fact that many rural folks use corn as an actual fuel to heat their houses. It’s messier than wood, in my opinion, but the feed system, if set up right, saves you from running out to carry logs in.
The first I remember of this type of inflation was in the early 1970’s with Nixon’s “Wage and Price Freeze”.
Quickly, a freeze in Florida caused a spike in oranges and orange byproducts. Others followed suit, including .... gasoline prices by OPEC.
Now, there is no Law of Supply and Demand. It’s skyrocketing prices, at all cost.
Corn was $7.50 last summer, now it's $6.
Was there any need to read further?
Then there's this "Corn is nearly twice as expensive now as it was last summer -
Corn was $7.50 last summer, now it's $6.
Was there any need to read further?
Boondoggle? How about INSANITY?
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