why is no one talking about the upcoming price increases in food

[wellstone dem]

Living in an agricultural part of Minnesota, and looking at weather maps and fuel prices across the country, I predict sharply increase food prices come this harvest season. I drive hundreds of miles a week through rural Minnesota. Where there is no irrigation, I see corn crops which are incredibly brown, I think that rain now will not save them. Irrigation is more expensive, especially this year because of the energy costs. However, farmers with irrigation are hoping to make up some of the expense through increased prices due to the impact of the weather on those who don't irrigate.

I cannot overstate what these fields look like.

[Joanne98]

1. Food has been going up because of the rise in diesel prices.

I don't know about the drought. We've had tons of rain in Ohio but I think we grow mostly feeder corn.

[izzie]

5. Maine had a item about crops rotting from rain

I hate the cost going up as I live on a fixed income. Gas is already giving me trouble.

[DrRang]

20. Crops rotting because crack-down left fewer illegal immigrants to pick.

[izzie]

30. Guess high school kids will just have to go to work and do it and

some one will have to pay them.

[graywarrior]

2. I've been thinking about that same thing.

I live in rural NH where we've had just enough rain in the north country. However, food prices here are already going off the charts. I've limited myself to rice and beans these days. A lb of cherries is $3.49 and they package them in 5 lb bags.

You're right. It's gonna be bad.

[abluelady]

3. My Grocery Bills Are Already High

It is just a fact that I have accepted. I try to stretch my groceries a couple of extra days. Maybe the family will use a few pounds--it won't hurt us!

[pooja]

4. Almost anytime someone comes back from the store and is

shocked once again at the price of something, the grocery complaint grows longer than the list of items you could afford to buy. I really don't know what we are going to do soon. When winter sets in and everything is more expensive than last year people will be literally starving to death or freezing to death. Welcome to America.

[Warren Stupidity]

6. Your post is self contradictory. nt.

[smacky44]

7. Maybe because they are not "upcoming" but already here.

And as one DU poster pointed out sometime ago, the prices are up while the content is down. A double whammy for the unwashed consumer.

[theHandpuppet]

8. Thank you for raising this topic

Your observations are chilling but evenso, they do not take into account the horrible heat & drought in the agricultural breadbasket of California, nor the very real possibility we could have one or two major hurricanes which could devastate crops in the gulf south. Time to stock up that pantry with plenty of canned veggies, fruit and meats. I can see I will have to expand my garden next year, too.

[shaniqua6392]

10. My weekly grocery bill has already climbed up

approx. $40.00 per week over the past 6-9 months and I buy the same stuff every week. I make a menu for the week and then write down the ingredients I will need. I cook simple stuff. Nothing fancy. Prices in Michigan are already killing us. I can't wait for any more increases. Damn. Then you watch the stock market and I just goes up as if nothing is wrong. Bush keeps complaining he does not get credit for the great economy. They are such liars. Rich bastards have no clue what being hungry is.

[radfringe]

9. already going up

due to fuel prices. Weather conditions causing the prices to go up further is a secondary focus to the public.

If fuel wasn't so high - then the increases due to weather would be in the news. gas prices trump weather

essentially - the economy sucks, individual earning power is down, local taxes are up, utilities are up, and cost of basic necessities are up. People have less money in their pockets.

assuming we continue on this repub-rubberstamping/bush-smirking course for the next two years, and assuming we get someone in the white house that knows what they are doing - we are looking at least another 6 years before the economy heads on the right course.

[WCGreen]

11. General Millls just announced an across the board 3%

price increase as of this fall....

[cmd]

12. I get less for more everytime I shop

My hundred dollar trips now cost a hundred and fifty. The prices sneak up every week. I imagine they will be two hundred dollar trips by this time next year.

[enuffs_enuffs]

13. So, do you think it's gonna take articles about grannies...

eating cat food to survive to whip up real discussion?

[cornermouse]

16. I don't think they're going to care.

They always seem to think its going to happen to someone else, not them; that those who have misfortune somehow deserve it, and I'm afraid they've finally become too selfish and insulated. All you ever hear from them is "taxes", "welfare", and "entitlements".

I think this might be the root cause for America losing their position as a world leader.

[CrispyQ]

24. I completely agree!

We have lost our sense & value of community.

I’m surprised how mean spirited people are toward those less fortunate. They would rather cut off everyone who is truly needful than possibly be fleeced by a few individuals for $800 a month, but we will give huge tax cuts & incentives to industry, many of whom are key culprits in polluting our air & water, outsourcing our jobs, stealing our elections, & the list goes on & on.

[ThomWV]

14. Unfortunately the cost of production does not drive agricultural prices

There wasn't enough room on the title line. What I meant to say is that prices of agricultural products are not driven by input cost. I know that sounds idiotic but its a function of how many farms there are.

Also, consider how our grain exports effect domestic prices if you need something to do for a couple of decades.

[Warpy]

15. The cost of the base product is nothing

compared to the costs of transporting, processing, packaging, marketing, and eventual retail sale.

What is going to cause the coming inflation in food is not the poor harvest in much of the country this year, it's the cost of all of the above, dependent on OIL.

The one area that will be affected by increased grain and hay prices is the area of food animals. Get ready for sticker shock when you go to the market looking for that steak next spring.

[ThomWV]

21. Or Check Out This Chain

Natural gas makes fertilizer.

Fertilizer makes grain.

Grain makes meat.

Grain also makes fuel suplements.


Now, raise the price of natural gas and see what happens

[Rosemary2205]

17. We don't complain about food prices because

the farmers, groceries, processors etc aren't out there posting record profits. Their margins have always been fair and continue to be so.

[TheFarseer]

18. I want to make certain

people realize that costs to farmers have NOTHING whatsoever to do with the price of corn or anything else. If farmers have higher costs, they just take it up the ass. Food is going up because costs to ship it are going up (or companies can use this for cover and raise it because of greed). I never thought I would see a $3 loaf of bread, but there is was at the grocery store the other day. Unbelievable!

[napi21]

27. I hear ya about the cost of bread! I've been making my own for

several months now. I buy my yeast from Bulk Foods and it costs 1/16 of what it does in the grocery store, I use powdered milk also from Bulk Foods, and the only thing I have to watch is the price of flour. My bread machine does all the work, and I just shape the bread or buns the size we want. My husband almost choked last week when he saw the price of a package of 8 hamburger buns was $3.47!!!! Yes, this was in the bakery dept, but we don't like those things they call buns that are prepackaged in the bread asile. Even THEY are up to $2+ a pkg. and they're awful.

I make my own "Hamburger Helper, Taco seasoning, and everything else I can make from scratch cheaper than a mix is. I don't know what I'm going to do if prices rise 30% or 40%!!!!

[cliss]

19. Thanks for sharing.

Now if you ignore the impact of a very dry summer & just look at gas prices, you have a disaster on the way. Agriculture is one of the most petroleum-dependent industries. Everything....from plowing the fields, petrochemical fertilizer....planting the seeds, harvesting, processing the food, shipping it in trucks.

When gas goes up even a little bit, it affects this industry because it is completely dependent on it. Prices are going to go up astronomically because of it.

NOW add in the problems of weather disturbances. You have a perfect storm.

[havocmom]

22. Been telling people to grow as much as they can

Between fuel costs, weather and the increasing corporate control of food production, we are in trouble.

Folks are having trouble with huge corporations having control of their gas tanks. I have been warning about the days not far ahead when those huge corporations control their bellies.

Not many take me seriously.

Teach kids to grow things. There are many lessons for them in gardening. Life sciences, planning, joy of making a difference, finding out that the way things are is not how they have to be, people CAN change things and not rely so much on what they buy, preserving foods and seed, it's pleasant to get outside and do something physical... All lessons we seem to have lost in America where too many have to be entertained and fed.

[Strelnikov_]

23. And Thanks To Importing 67% Of Our Liquid Fuel Feedstock

when the dollar goes ker-plop even our domestically produced food will go through the roof.

No matter what we do (nationalization of oil reserves, etc.) we are bidding against the rest of the world for 67% of our oil supply, with an ever weakening dollar.

And as others in this thread have noted, most of the cost at the store is added downstream of the farmer. The petroleum used by farmers to grow the food is surprisingly little when compared to the other consumption sectors. Downstream of the farmer it is another story.

[treestar]

25. America is obsessed with weight - hell, they be happy if they can't

afford to eat!

[earthmama]

26. prices are already going up

Meat and produce are stupidly expensive. Even at the farmers market, you can not get any decent prices on produce.

I meal plan, cook enough to eat left overs and we always have soup and sandwiches one night a week and my bill went up 20-30$. I shop only at Aldi's and get sales and reduced meat at Bilo. I use coupons and I still can keep up with the increase.

I plan to ask my hubby's grandmother to teach me how she fed 4 kids back in the 40 - 50's with hardly no money.

[MissB]

28. It likely involved a back yard garden

and baking bread from scratch.

[earthmama]

29. for sure ...

I am sure she has some great recipes for cheap meat cuts and such.