Faith Farm

Wheat prices & your grocery cost

We have all heard the arguments about how the price of corn and fuel are affecting the cost of the foods we eat and they are right it does-just look at the price of a gallon of milk.  But under the shadow  of the big corn and fuel debates there is yet another real concern to our food prices....shortage of world wheat supplies.  If you ask me (which few do-LOL) this is the one thing that we should watch the most.  The shortage of wheat has been an issue for many years due to drought, weather and desease related crop destruction, alternative crop planting, and shortage of quality seed.  It now has caused the price of wheat and wheat futures to sky rocket.  Basic Economics states that if you increase the price of a good the demand will slow.....well that isn't working in this case.  We continue to increase the price and the demand is still there and growing.  The shortage of wheat in other countries as well as the strong economy of many other nations has made this general rule of thumb useless.  We continue to export at  alarming levels.  Read more about it here  http://news.tradingcharts.com/futures/1/0/104501701.html  

http://www.abc.net.au/rural/news/content/2007/s2139674.htm

OK.....How does this affect us....

The demand for wheat is high all across the globe-our production in the US is good but as you can see it is not keeping with the demand or growth and reserves are low.  This translates into higher costs for flour and wheat products....we probably wont see this immediately but we will see it.  It is very hard for many of us as we walk down the supermarket isle to see that the world currently has a wheat shortage...unfortunately for many countries it is already painfully clear.  The nature of  crops is uncertain and therefore should have our attention.  Just thought I would share this information.  Blessings>faithfarm

Untitled Comment

{ 11:08, Wednesday, February 13, 2008 } { Posted by SisterLori }

Blessings!
Keep in mind that field crops are actually controlled by our government. Most folks either don't realize that or they don't believe it.
I have three different friends in three different places in the U.S. who grow wheat. It's their livelihood. The government came to them and offered to pay them to NOT grow it. This was many years ago and once they agreed to the money from the government they can no longer change their minds knowing what they know now. The government pays them more than the fields were worth in wheat so they agreed to the money and grew only as much as the government said they should. Now if they change their minds and start producing (as a matter of conscience) at full scale again, the contract says theywill have to pay the government back all that subsidy with interest.
It's not always a lack of a particular commodity that causes the prices to sore and demand to remain the same or rise, it't most often because governments are controlling it to create a demand and thereby raise the the global economy.
This is why we, as a family, are sure we are doing the right thing by growing our own and fighting for the right to do so.
Just my two cents:)
God be with thee!
Sister Lori