Surplus U.S. Food Supplies Dry Up ("Worldwide, food prices have risen 45% in the past nine months")

[Hissyspit]

http://www.usatoday.com/money/industries/food/2008-05-01-usda-food-supply_N.htm

Surplus U.S. food supplies dry up

Updated 1d 1h ago

By Sue Kirchhoff, USA TODAY
WASHINGTON — As the farm economy collapsed in the 1980s, the U.S. Department of Agriculture was saddled with mountains of surplus cheese, corn and other foods that it socked away in warehouses and even caves.
As recently as 2003, the USDA had to buy so much powdered milk to support dairy prices that beleaguered officials shipped some to U.S. ranchers for cattle feed. While the previous surpluses were costly and sharply criticized, much of the food found its way to the poor, here and abroad. Today, says USDA Undersecretary Mark Keenum, "Our cupboard is bare."

U.S. government food surpluses have evaporated because, with record high prices, farmers are selling their crops on the open market, not handing them over to the government through traditional price-support programs that make up for deficiencies in market price. Worldwide, food prices have risen 45% in the past nine months, posing a crisis for millions, says the United Nations' Food and Agriculture Organization.

Because of the current economics of food, and changes in federal farm subsidy programs designed to make farmers rely more on the markets, large U.S. reserves may be gone for a long time. The upshot: USDA has almost no extra food to supplement the billions in cash payments it spends to combat hunger at home and in developing nations.

A coalition of religious and farm groups, in an open letter to Congress this week, warned that low supplies increase the risk of hunger and higher prices, calling for creation of a strategic grain reserve."As a matter or national security, our government should recognize and act on its responsibility to provide a stable market for food in an era of unprecedented risk," says the letter from the National Family Farm Coalition and various groups.

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[Earth_First]

1. "Worldwide, food prices have risen 45% in the past nine months"

Let's just repeat that one more time for clarity's sake:

"Worldwide, food prices have risen 45% in the past nine months"

[bananas]

2. We have a strategic petroleum reserve, a strategic grain reserve makes sense.

[scarletwoman]

3. Wow! The hits just keep coming! The Ruling Class's long binge of looting has pretty much emptied

out our whole damn country.

Well done, capitalist pigs!

sw

[aquart]

4. They stole whatever wasn't nailed down. Then came back for the nails.

We really do need an inventory to see if there is anything left. They're busily selling our roads to foreign countries right now, I believe?

[scarletwoman]

7. So when are we actually going to start actually fighting back instead of letting ourselves be mugged

repeatedly?

Things are only going to keep getting worse.

sw

[madrchsod]

5. the plan is working

first it was the housing market and now it is commodities... it`s another con job by the speculators

[NMDemDist2]

6. we have no grain reserves??? WTF??

didn't they learn anything from Joseph and the coat of many colors story??

:banghead:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_(Hebrew_Bible)

[kestrel91316]

9. They've only read a little bit of Leviticus, and a little more of Revelation.

[kestrel91316]

8. Somehow I wound up with 25 lb of yellow cornmeal. I'll be ok.

I LIKE cornmeal mush. This weekend's version: Cornmeal mush with raisins and pecans. I'll slice it up and panfry it in butter and sprinkle it with powdered sugar for breakfasts this week.

Use it up, wear it out, make do, or do without. This qualifies as "make do".

[awnobles]

10. How much is due to rising fuel prices?

It takes a lot of diesel to run a farm and transport the food. It seems like the oil companies' enrichment costs us in a lot of ways. It really is the same old evil greed that is literally starving the poorest of people. The corporate CEO's need their millions per year in pay. Reaganomics still sucks.