Posted on 02/10/2011 4:38:34 PM PST by FromLori
Warnings of higher food prices headed for American supermarkets and restaurants were swallowed easily across much of farm country Wednesday.
The big gulp came when the U.S. Department of Agriculture reported that global demand had pushed U.S. corn supplies to their lowest point in 15 years.
The price of corn, which has doubled over the past six months, affects most food products in supermarkets. It's used to feed the cattle, hogs and chickens that fill the meat aisles.
It is the main ingredient in Cap'n Crunch and Doritos. Turned into syrup, it sweetens most soft drinks and many foods.
Corn also is part of the agricultural blend that fuels the economies of Nebraska, Iowa and other farming states. Iowa is the nation's top corn-producing state; Nebraska is third.
Shoppers could see higher grocery bills as early as three months from now, though most of the impact won't be felt for another six months, said Scott Irwin, an agricultural economics professor at the University of Illinois.
Chicken prices are among the first to rise because the bird's life span is so short that higher feed costs get factored in quickly, he said. Price hikes for hogs take about a year and cattle two years. Prices on packaged foods take six or seven months to rise.
(Excerpt) Read more at omaha.com ...
This can’t be right. Bernanke says there’s no inflation.
Brand name beer has gone up a lot in the last year.
Walgreens has intro’d some dirt cheap private label brands. I may have to try them out.
Prepare for higher prices on EVERYTHING.
Some of us have money in the bank. It won’t be long before money in the bank is dog sh1t.
What should we buy now, while we still can?
I’m afraid of gold, already high. Am I wrong?
Yes isn’t that great banana’s ben’s policies cause inflation and he doesn’t count food/energy the things we need most to live. He is a scumbag.
You can still get a 30 yr mortgage below 5% fixed.
Pull all the equity you can out of your home and pay it back with Baraqqi/Bernanke minibucks.
Turned into ethanol, it is burned as "fuel", as required by the government.
Our currency will soon be as worthless as Monopoly money.
It is not just corn products. All food products are set to increase, but don’t worry. Old Ben says it isn’t inflation.
Just got back from the grocery store. Saw a 3.5 lb package of chicken breasts priced at over $15.00!!! And it wasn’t even labeled “organic”.
I need to get my house built so I can start raising my own.
Get ready? Just got back from the grocery store, and almost everything we buy on a regular basis had gone up in price.
I was going to type the same thing...it’s already here!
I noticed that apple juice went up from $1.97 to $2.28 almost overnight for a 96 oz container. I already water it down to half strength to stretch it.
Feeding four kids like we do (including one soon-to-be teenager and a bottomless pit of an 8 y.o. boy) is going to get more challenging on our budget.
I just bought a home with close to zero down so I’ve already done that. But I want to put cash into something else.
Silver? Farm equipment stocks?
It may be for the rest of the world, but not for us.
There's a global grain shortage. China's entire wheat growing region is undergoing a serious drought. It hasn't rained there in 6 months. The winter wheat crop is gone.
Our corn and other grains are selling on a world market at 2 to 4 times their normal price. That money will flow back to the United States and strengthen the value of the dollar ~ making it worth more.
That, BTW, is DEFLATION.
What you want to keep your eye on is the condition of the winter wheat crop. That's the number one item. You also need to keep your eye on different varieties in different regions. For example, you'll see postings for "hard red winter wheat" as well as "soft red wheat".
Sure, it's the same species, but each type grows best in different areas under different conditions and will ultimately be used for different things ~ pasta instead of bread for example, or animal feed versus wheat scheduled for human consumption.
It's not just "wheat". The same is applicable to China ~ which in a normal year is pret'near the world's largest single national wheat growing area ~ exceeded only by the combined United States/Canada growing area. Russia and Ukraine are big time in wheat, as is Australia ~ and until this year, Egypt! Turkey and Syria are major regions for this product.
I'm not a wheat eater and actually have skin problems around the stuff, or its cousins rye and barley, but it's not much different than corn ~ where I know a bit more.
Two grains set the base price for starch and starch byproducts in this world ~ wheat and rice. Corn rides above that ~ filling in the market where it can, but in the Americas it actually substitutes for wheat and rice.
To a considerable degree corn is used for animal food and industrial products. Still, hundreds of millions of Western Hemispheric people depend on corn as their "daily bread".
The world rice crop was bad for the previous two years. Now wheat is in short supply. There are real limits to how well corn can substitute for rice and wheat ~ since most people don't eat it considering it only the basest of food fit for animals.
I'm afraid there'll be some serious famine in China this year.
We will be raising ducks for food and fun. More people need to use their backyards for chickens and ducks and vegetable gardens, just as my parents and grandparents did.
But first, we have to get rid of this infernal cold weather.
BS! hogs can have 8-9 pigs every 6 months. The average gestation period of a cow is around 283 or 285 days. Traders are always "factoring-in" grain price increases. Chickens and hogs go through quick price swings due to the fact they can multiply so fast and short time from birth/hatch to slaughter. Cattle are longer, but much of the cattle produced is not dependent on grain for feed, there is a lot of grass feed beef.
The link on cattle is much of the winter pasture for cattle is wheat that is grazed. Some is grazed-out, but a lot is grazed and then the cattle are pulled to allow harvest of the wheat (with reduced yield).
>This isn’t inflation ~ for the United States.
It may be for the rest of the world, but not for us.
LOL! Food prices are going up as we speak & fuel has gone well past 3 bucks.
Okay, okay, pricings are not “inflation.”
Real inflation is an increase in monetary supply, especially in M1, but it is commonly accepted by the non financially educated world that increases in price are what is called “inflation.”
Whatever you call it, prices for food are a rising and rising quickly. - the result will not be good.
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