Give Us This Day Our Daily Fuel (Bread): One Bushel At A Time
by John Laumer, Philadelphia on 02. 9.08
Most anywhere where corn is grown, you may substitute wheat in next year's planting. The opposite is not always true. In fact it's seldom true. As a general rule, corn won't easily grow where wheat is currently a dominant crop, unless irrigation is added. Hence, this year's record breaking wheat future price needs to be understood in the frame of competition for crop land, climate change, and corn-based ethanol demand. Risk for farmers is high, according to the National Association of Wheat Growers; but so is profit potential.
We are entering a period where family farmers will compete intensely with traders and distributors for a fair share of the benefits. With corn based ethanol tying up so much fertile land, there is a possibility that wheat prices may not, unlike every other time since the Great Depression, plummet a few years after peaking.
Wheat, corn, wheat, corn.... What's a farmer to plant?
Via::TwinCities.com, "Record wheat price ignites food inflation fears"
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Similar to the oil buisness only about 5 very large private companys control the worlds grain supply.
Cargil is an example,sort of like the grain Exxon,they control purchacing of grain,processing for flour,feed production and have very large commercial feedlots and packing plants.[Excell beef]as the article states "farmers will compete intensly with traders and distributors"Farmers are almost always left holding the short end of the stick,along with consumers.
Bad example with Exxon. They just control political clout in the U.S. You should have used Aramco.
The issue could be solved very fast - a government ban on using foods for making ethanol....Only allow non-food crops to be used for ethanol.
Amen to that!
Bulgarien said - "The issue could be solved very fast - a government ban on using foods for making ethanol....Only allow non-food crops to be used for ethanol."
OK, everybody farm switchgrass... same problem. Not enough food being grown.
-Lego