Posted on 03/31/2014 11:49:53 AM PDT by blam
Corn Prices Are Popping
Rob Wile
Mar. 31, 2014, 12:15 PM
Corn prices are surging after U.S. farmers said they expect to plant the lowest corn acreage since 2010.
That's because inventories in the world’s biggest grower and exporter jumped 30 percent from a year earlier.
Acreage is estimated to hit 91.691 million, down from 95.365 million a year earlier, according to a survey of more than 84,000 growers released today in Washington, Bloomberg said.
Analysts surveyed by Bloomberg estimated 93.014 million, on average.
Here's how corn reacted to the news:
(Excerpt) Read more at businessinsider.com ...
“I planted peppers and tomatos early last week. “
I actually saw a small brown patch of grass today, as some of the snow melted! The way the weather has been boinging up and down, there’s no telling’ when the last frost will be!
I buy mostly frozen veggies, picked at their peak of ripeness and quick frozen. So many “fresh” products are picked unripe, and ripen out of the sun during shipping. But during the season, I have three great farmer’s markets to hit.
Yeah. I avoid it when possible. There are actually quite a few places aroun my parts that don’t have the sticker on their pumps. Doesn’t mean the ethanol isn’t in there, but you can usually smell the sweatness of the alcohol.
Because agriculture is a military sensitive industry. You can't field an army if you can't feed them.
And if your country is dependent on foreign countries for food, you are extremely vulnerable.
It has long been my opinion that converting food into fuel is a sin. Even if we, as Americans, can afford corn prices somewhat higher, what about the rest of the world where lots of extremely poor people depend on US-grown corn for their staple foods?
We are pushing people into starvation with the false economy of converting corn into motor fuel. It does not save oil at all.
We can ramp up clothing manufacturing if foreign supply gets cut.
Agriculture takes a little time to ramp up.
Peppers are easy to grow, even here in the winter wonderland, but apparently not enough people did it, because the off-season prices are around $1 each.
> inventories... jumped 30 percent from a year earlier. Acreage is estimated to hit 91.691 million, down from 95.365 million a year earlier...
So true.
Good thing it wasn’t a lime................
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/3138035/posts
I hate to say it, but you may be right.
Many people lost because the harvest last year. It was supposed to be a major down year because of the drought. It ended up as a decent harvest.
Popped the land bubble around here also.
“I just paid $0.78 for a bell pepper the size of a lemon”
I just paid $0.88 for a lemon the size of a lemon. :-)
The very short, condensed, answer is this: Politicians don't want to face voters angry about food prices.
I have a much more detailed answer, but the last 50 years of farm programs all boil down to the previous sentence.
“Politicians don’t want to face voters angry about food prices.”
My understanding of farm “subsidies” is they increase prices. For example, the price of milk is not set by supply and demand. The government decrees it’s x which ensures and ample profit over costs. (It also removes all competition and any incentive to modernize or cut costs.)
(ahem) Did you notice who posted that?
They could restore the import tariffs, and they wouldn’t have to do as much subsidizing.
Restoring the import tariffs would bring a lot of industries back to America and fix our unemployment problem too.
They could restore the import tariffs, and they wouldn’t have to do as much subsidizing.
Restoring the import tariffs would bring a lot of industries back to America and fix our unemployment problem too.
That could be an excuse if there were any signs that we’d have an agriculture shortage without subsidies.
Thomas Jefferson didn't think that there would ever be shortages of Manufactured goods either. He thought America would just trade for them.
And then in his words "the unthinkable happened". Europe cut us off. Jefferson realized a strong manufacturing base was essential to protecting a free state.
Both Agriculture and manufacturing are necessary to protect a free state. You are only one UN mandate away from a complete cut off of either when you are dependent on foreign nations.
Thomas Jefferson didn't think that there would ever be shortages of Manufactured goods either. He thought America would just trade for them.
And then in his words "the unthinkable happened". Europe cut us off. Jefferson realized a strong manufacturing base was essential to protecting a free state.
Both Agriculture and manufacturing are necessary to protect a free state. You are only one UN mandate away from a complete cut off of either when you are dependent on foreign nations.
Quite rightly, none of the founders were in favor of federal subsidies to keep any industries going.
But of course we are now net importers of manufactured goods, but still massive exporters of agricultural products.
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