Over the last year, food prices have steadily inched upward, and it looks like that climb could get steeper. It’s visible even if you’re not coupon-clipping: A wonderful bakery I stopped at yesterday had raised prices because its organic flour suddenly became so much more expensive.
A couple of stories this weekend broke down the trend. As oil prices rise, there’s more demand for corn for ethanol and soybeans for biofuel. Since corn and soybeans are in animal feed, that sends up the cost of meat and dairy products. But there’s an important additional factor: The Chinese soybean crop this year was lousy, as the Chicago Tribune reported, so when buyers from China targeted soybeans the last few weeks, prices rapidly reached their highest levels in more than 30 years.
The net effect is that eggs are up 45 percent over last year at this time, and an official at the USDA says that price will likely be the new baseline; dairy products are up 15 percent. In addition, the world’s stockpile of wheat is the tightest since 1975-76, according to a Purdue agriculture economist. That’s partly due to “a shortfall in Australian wheat production,” according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
Of course, many observers in the last few years have said that food in America is too cheap. But this isn’t just an American trend. The Tribune noted that the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization said that “in September food prices around the globe were up about 37 percent from the same month a year ago. Basic foods such as bread, pasta, meat and milk are seeing the biggest jumps, it said.”
We soon won’t be able to eat but we can drive? There’s plenty of oil and they’re finding that ethanol pollutes more than gas. We also pay farmers not to grow food. The hardest hit will be 3rd world countries. The government shouldn’t be in the food business. With all the food that’s being imported in the US maybe it’s time for more of us to produce our own. At least we’ll have a better idea of the quality. Look into how they want to turn India into a huge source of agriculture. In arsonic soil. Ethanol is just another wacko idea.
Ethanol is in the development stages, currently takes as much energy to produce as it provides. With advances, it will become more efficient to produce. Also they have now found that it can be produced from non-food sources. Yes there is still plenty of oil, but we are in the stranglehold of large oil companies. All these things continue to have adverse effect on ALL products and services we need, food, clothing, shelter, and ttransportation. As for food being “too cheap”, what does that mean???? We should be paying more for food, for what reason??
The first thing that occurs to me when I hear of food being “too cheap” is that the price you pay at the register does not include the externalities.
Meaning: Whatever I pay for a liter of corn oil or a loaf of white bread doesn’t address the pesticide runoff into the water supply (someone else’s problem), the massive and deranged agricultural subsidies that helped produce it, increasing obesity from processed foods, etc.
The last link here addresses that sort of thing.
Another thing that needs to be addressed is the idea that for many Animals, Corn and Soy are completely un-natural.
I am talking about things like:
– Cows eating corn instead of grass
– Chickens eating Soybeans instead of Insects
The list goes on. We already know that the amount of Omega 3 Fatty Acids, Conjugated Linoleic Acid, Vitamin E and many other things are much higher in Grass-Fed, Grass-Finished Cows (and Sheep). We are now starting to learn a lot more about Humans consuming Soy products that are not fermented. And, the effect that Soy has on things like Chickens, Pigs, Ducks, Lambs, and Turkeys.
We are living in interesting times (as always).
Ian Lewis