cereal, bread, etc. costs going UP now - climate change

[donsu]

http://bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aTrp83Ld88ds&refer=home


Wheat Surges to Record as U.S. Supply May Drop to 60-Year Low



Wheat rose to a record for a third day on the Chicago Board of Trade as the U.S. forecast its lowest inventories in 60 years.

U.S. stockpiles will drop to 272 million bushels at the end of May, 6.8 percent less than expected a month ago and down 40 percent from the prior year, the Department of Agriculture said in a report today. Inventories will be the lowest since 1948 when farmers grew less and shipped more wheat overseas to help rebuilding countries after World War II, economists said.

Higher costs for commodities including wheat and fuel eroded fourth-quarter profit reported this week by Kellogg Co., the largest U.S. cereal-maker. Sara Lee Corp. Chief Executive Officer Brenda C. Barnes said Feb. 6 the company raised bread prices ``to keep pace with historically high wheat costs.'' Wheat has more than doubled in the past year.

``We have a limited supply, and we got confirmation of that this morning,'' said Jamey Kohake, a broker at Paragon Investments in Silver Lake, Kansas. ``We had the early frost last year and drought pretty much worldwide, and we kept demand at a rapid pace, so our stocks started to dwindle.''
-snip-
---------------------------

oy

[tabasco]

1. Looks like everybody is following the Exxon model for success.

Lower supply and jack up prices for world record profits!

Blame it on Mother Nature - BRILLIANT!

[Fire Walk With Me]

18. Enron, Silverado, the list goes on...

[Pavulon]

2. Diesel Fuel

is burned by the equipment in all aspects of planting, growing, processing, and transportation to market.

The cost of diesel has risen and drives up the cost of all goods.

[donsu]

4. true

nt

[Rosemary2205]

14. Not only that but more wheat is being used for ethanol.

The world will only grow so much. using it for fuel make less available for food - meaning a price hike.

[Warpy]

15. Climate change is also having an effect

Part of the west experiencing drought is in wheat growing country in the upper midwest. The alternative to reliable rain is keeping the crops going by tapping into a disappearing aquifer, something that also takes a lot of extra energy. Farmers have planted less in order to harvest a good crop when and where they can--in irrigated fields.

Expect to have the price of all food skyrocket over the next couple of years. The more processed it is, the higher it will escalate.

[supernova]

3. Picked a good time to give up wheat

and wheat-based products.

[Zywiec]

8. What's wrong with wheat and wheat based products? n/t

[supernova]

10. Food sensitivity

I don't digest it well. And I prefer living a nonGI-upset life. ;-)

[Zywiec]

12. Ok, thanks. I learned something new.

I thought wheat was one of the good things.

[NMDemDist2]

5. my inlaws are wheat farmers

it's looking like a good crop so far, keep your fingers crossed.......

[sam sarrha]

7. i used to drive a Universal Hill Side Farvester, wheat, oats, barley, i really liked the job, but it

only paid minimum wage, worked hour before dawn till an hour after sunset.. no overtime pay... better than this i guess

http://blog.aflcio.org/2008/02/08/border-crossings-start-in-the-boardroom

[Nay]

6. "We have a limited supply" of wheat -- oh, pardon me, does that

mean that all the trash uses wheat is put to (junk chips, cookies, cake mixes, sugared cereals, ad nauseam) will be halted forthwith so we, as citizens in danger of food shortages, can be supplied with wholesome food/flour from this smaller harvest?

I didn't think so. Can't have the multinational food corps not rake in their usual billions.

[donsu]

13. yes, what would the grocery stores do without an entire food isle

for snack foods and half an isle for cookies.

believe it, store didn't have snack food isles. when potato chips came on the market they were presented on a stand at the end of an isle. now the many kinds of potato chips dazzle the mind.

[RC]

9. No one has mentioned CORN or ethanol yet!

Grow more corn, grow less of all other crops.
Making ethanol from corn is very inefficient, energy and water intensive.

[donsu]

11. it just dawned on me that as I posted this thread I was eating

wheat checks with coconut milk from Thailand.

it took nature to produce the wheat and coconuts

and it took oil to bring it to my kitchen

and it is the oil that is killing nature

we need a healthy mode of transportation

[Warpy]

16. That sounds really good!

I never considered coconut milk on cold cereal. I usually eat it out of hand as a snack, usually Oatios or frosted shredded wheat.

I can't get near dairy. If I ever get constipated, a nice dish of ice cream does the trick.

On edit: I was in Costco on Friday, stocking up on dried fruit and prescription meds and other necessities. The guy behind me looked at my dried mango and grumbled that it was cheaper in Costco than it was back home where they produced it, in Manila. This is weird and wrong.

[noamnety]

17. "we need a healthy mode of transportation"

or greater emphasis on eating locally grown food.