However, the food shortages in Haiti are being repeated around the world and yesterday via Atrios, it became apparent that we may be closer to them then we would like to be.
Already feeling the pinch from soaring wheat and flour prices, U.S. bakers are now beginning to experience some supply shortages.
Rye flour stocks have been depleted in the United States, and by June or July there will be no more U.S. rye flour to purchase, said Lee Sanders, senior vice president for government relations and public affairs at the American Bakers Association.
"Those that are purchasing it now are having to purchase it from Germany and the Netherlands, and that’s very concerning," Sanders said.
She attributed the shortage to high demand for rye flour, which is used to make rye bread, and less acreage devoted to rye grain than in the past.
Grain prices have been soaring worldwide while stocks have been dwindling, causing riots in some poor countries.
Well that’s certainly disturbing news.
Can it get worse?
For bakers, rye grain is not the only supply stock that is declining. In the past the market has typically had a three-month surplus of wheat stocks to serve as a cushion against supply interruptions, but now the surplus is down to less than 27 days worth of wheat, Sanders said.
And here’s an interesting hypothesis as to why:
The American Bakers Association has been lobbying Congress to open up "non-environmentally sensitive" land in the Conservation Reserve Program for production to help increase supply. The group is also advocating elimination of the ethanol import tariff and temporarily waiving ethanol production limits.
"We need to make sure there is good balance between traditional agriculture and ethanol policies," Sanders said.
I know this comes from an interest group, but it does have the benefit of being accurate and it isn’t a particularly popular topic here in Iowa, but this is further evidence that King Corn is slowly killing us.
Yes corn, one of the heartiest commercial crops to grow. The most flexible of crops, so lacking in nutrition it might as well be called the Hostess Twinkies (made up substantially of corn) of the vegetable world. And now, thanks to the "ethanol" craze it is rapidly taking up the farmland that used to be used for planting healthier crops like grains, beans, and soybeans. It is insanity — and once again Bush is right in the middle of promoting it anyway.
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Rye shortages, huh?
No problem, since they don’t make cake out of Rye the peasants may eat….
Don’t tell Hitchens. (It is RYE whiskey in his botttle, yes?)
Good morning ‘turk and pups. Thanks for the post.
I always thought he was a single malt scotch man.
At this stage give ‘im Silver Satin and Thunderbird and he wouldn’t know the difference.
but this is further evidence that King Corn is slowly killing us.
I had a whole rant going about high fructose corn syrup and the fact that you almost can not get any kind of food stuff without it as a major ingredient but I will spare you all this morning. I will say I believe it to be a key factor in the rise of obesity and diabetes in this country.
Good Morning Attaturk
I have a question. How are we going to eat our cake?
1,822 DAYZ AND THE KILLIN’ GOEZ ON AND ON AND…
Citizen Attaturk and the Firepup Freedom Fighters:
Oh gee, thanx for the post, now I don’t need a poke in the eye and a kick in the slats…shit, anyone for “Crisis Capitalism”?
The fascist bastards that have set us up like this need ta be put ta work cleanin’ up toxic waste dumps in their underware!!!
KEEP THE FAITH AND TAKE CARE OF EACH OTHER!!
I was tellin someone about Silver Satin and kool-ade just the other day. . .damn we’re old.
Bent over.
Good morning, everyone…
The NY times’ article on this was eye-opening, as well. What shocked me was the rise from 40% of Genetically modified crops grown in 2003 (?) to 75% now. The countries that so vigorously fought against introduction of GM products are now having to accept them because they can’t get non-GMO crops.
And it’s already been established that there are issues with GMO’s–people in India who worked around GM crops began experiencing severe allergies, having to take antihistamines daily; and the animals eating GM food suddenly started exhibiting unusual symptoms–pigs that appeared to conceive, only to have a bag of water instead; deer that would cross a road to eat organic/non-GM grain, and wouldn’t touch a field of corn made of GM grain…
Scary, indeed.
Well…there’s always Passion Fruit Mousse…
Gail Collins on the Hil celebration:
“This is one tough woman!” an ebullient Representative Joe Sestak of Pennsylvania told the crowd. He was so excited he referred to the primary as “the key to the beginning of the end for our next president,” which was probably not the exact message he meant to convey.
He just misspoke
I posted it because I though it was funny, Jesus
made me laugh :)
Good morning, pups. It’s Collins, Cohen and Kristof today in the NYT. La Collins writes about “Hillary’s Smackdown” and says it’s O.K. by her if Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton keep running against each other. Just as long as they keep it personal. Mr. Cohen says we should “Bring On the Right Biofuels,” and that biofuels are suddenly being blamed for every global ill. Most of this, to borrow a farm image, is hogwash and bilge. Mr. Kristof says “Better Roses Than Cocaine,” and that in Latin America, it is Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton who are seen as the go-it-alone cowboys, by opposing the United States’ free-trade agreement with Colombia.
http://mgpaquin.wordpress.com/
The coffee, tea and hot chocolate are ready, and I’ve got waffles with honey butter or maple syrup. I’m feeling a bit accomplished today, because I’ve finally finished most of what I had to do in the back yard. Now to tackle the front… Have a great day.
The Democratic Party will not survive the Clintons, it has made an
effort to come back, but that pair of sick fucks have knee-capped
it for good… Pennsylvania is the future, and that will not work,
we are fucked.
Morning Attaturk,
There.is.no.excuse.for.this.
I hate George Bush.
Maybe “has not survived the clintons” The clintonistas (DLC) took over and ruined the Dem party many years ago. We have to now rebuild the party by electing reps and sens that are progressives and not repugnantlite
i thought it was funny too
and wished to reciprocate
evidently my humor missed
‘misspoke’ is the saddest excuse for a word
(or an excuse)
I absolutely agree with you about this. Just try to find a cereal without the stuff… Shredded wheat doesn’t have it, but almost every other breakfast cereal out there does. Once you start really looking a food labels you realize it’s in virtually everything on the supermarket shelf.
Here’s what’s on Washington Journal this morning:
7:00 am – Tom Vanden Brook, USA Today, Pentagon Reporter
7:30 am – Rep. Darrell Issa, (R-CA), Judiciary Committee, Antitrust Task Force
8:00 am – Rep. Peter DeFazio, (D-OR), Highway & Transit Subcommittee, Chairman
8:30 am – Raymond Offenheiser, Oxfam America, President
9:30 am – StudentCam Winners
.
LINK to submit questions for guests on Washington Journal
Call-In Numbers:
Support Republicans (202) 737-0001
Support Democrats (202) 737-0002
Support Independents (202) 628-0205
Outside U.S. (202) 628-0184
Email: journal@c-span.org
OT: w00t Hardy Heron is here!
and for the record, the United States had a thriving floral industry until the government sacrificed it for their impotent “War on Drugs” and a few rosey advantages for Israel.
The Clintons are preventing that as we speak, it is their life work.
You are right, Clinton founded the DLC to permanently cap the old
Democratic Party for his corporate handlers, and they have. The
corporate media have declared total war on the insurgent democrats as
evidenced in the “coverage” of the campaign… unless huge numbers of
people ignore the daily drumbeat from the press and make a real fight
of it, we are fucked.
thanks
i was just wondering last night what distro i might want to toss on my new laptop
Morning all :)
Dugggggg :)
I always believed that America’s true secret weapon was our food supply. Can it be that BushCo has even destroyed that?
I was away all day and night yesterday. What happened with the Lily Ledbetter vote?
Attaturk – my husband and I went up to the mill we use(this is in upstate new york)and not only was it a situation of “the cupboard was bare”, but there was a sign up saying that they could not get grains to mill..at any price and that the US grain reserve was basically gone. Considering that Upstate NY in the nineteenth century was a major exporter of grain and flour, this is pretty interesting. At the same time, I can tell you that there are farmers just north and west of us here that are putting acreages that have been fallow for decades into organic grains and a couple of them have started their own organic flour and feed mill.
Well, I can tell you in my neck of the woods, it was repubs who introduced legislation to get behind the biofuels.
Let me repeat my pet peeve.
Corporate America has come to regard progress in 3 month segments.
Long-term planning is has been pushed to the back burner because of short-term stock valuation objectives.
This mindset has characterized our economy and our government for the past 15 years at least.
It got worst under CEO President Bush.
Running a country is not like running a company.
And running a corporate conglomerate has one purpose: short term profit and liquidity.
None of this is an accident.
The wealthiest are looting our country and mass famine will only make the world easier to control.
Nevermind. I found the vote on Ledbetter. Unbelievable.
How can the repubs possibly justify that?
They are evil.
we are so f*cked
The American Indians have a saying to not do anything without thinking of the consequences of seven generations ahead…if we could only subscribe to that idea…
There better never be a shortage of pasta or I’m taking it to the streets.
My bad!
Yes you are, and it pisses me off.
Well it’s the same
old song
with a different beat. . ./
Well, seeing as pasta is made from wheat you’d better get ready… Start collecting bricks and bottles now.
Great post, Attaturk. Can it get any worse? Well, yes it can. Scary times we’re living in right now. Just in the last week or so I’ve seen 4 different newer styled cars with their gas doors missing on their car. I think some are prying open gas doors to siphon the gas out, because the price is getting too much and some are becoming desperate.
where are the dems on this? some of us were screaming at them last june about their stupid and evil energy bill (i don’t imagine that pushing ethanol for car fuel is helping matters).
although when i said “people with cars won’t be the ones starving. our cars will be fed. the poor of the world will starve.” it now looks like i underestimated the problem.
*whisper* I think it was Raven…
Ammo would be a better choice.
Yo, I haven’t boosted any fumes in. . . years.
good mornin peeps
2 days agothe farmer behind my house,sold off his cattle,hay prices have doubled….cant look out the window and see the babes being born anymore…teh sad
Wonder if Juno is still driving her tank?
;)
calling Mel Gibson to the courtesy phone…(road warrior redux)
when people are going hungry, the dem’s argument that they are better than the republicans and don’t forget the supreme court – well, the nicest thing i can say is that it wears thin.
but i got an electric scooter,need to get helmut though and it only goes 8 mi.
LOL Raven! Stop siphoning other people’s gas please. *kicking you in the butt* ;-)
poor peeps have been going hungry in this country for the last 8 years,but MORE people will fall into this category,as the screws are put to us,my widowed friend is moving in with me,cause she lost her house,(no rent)
Exactly. It feels like Mad Max has come full circle or something. Jees.
I would interpret Raven’s 47 as a confession…
what the hell does it mean anyway,oh never mind,that would be a prohibited FOLLOW UP question,havent seen one in years,about 7 1/2 years
What a kind thing to do, Sadly. This time of trial is either going to make or break us.
wow that was like 25 years ago,no?
I’d stock up on that, but first I’d have to get a gun… Although if we lose this one in November I surely am going to.
It’s nostalgia. Remember I’m one of those hardened criminals that were taken in the military because the smart people got deferments.
i really dont want to ,cause,i just started a new biz,and things are tight,but she begged me,and she has no other place to go,we will STRUGGLE together i expect,but thats ok
Almost 30
not many know,im a sharpshooter 3rd bar,but ive never hunted prey or peeps,but my skillz are still there…hahahahaha
Don’t wait til then, you think there is a run on rice.. .
I understand. It’s tough.
wow,we knew this was coming after,the Arab oil embargo…we did………………………………crickets
Alright fine. It’s not Raven who is siphoning gas from unsuspecting people. He’s being a good boy today. But who is it then? Poor Mainers. Yep. Poor Mainahs.
i think it will be fine,i do….peeps have lived like this in America,before the affluent 50s
Glenn Beck was on his radio program touting he was right about using corn as ethanol. When did Beck become a liberal? He cares about the people of the planet starving to give America a different form of energy? Who knew!
I hate that asshole. He won’t be satisfied until the oil companies are making $1 billion an hour in profit with the same result (starving people).
Im thinking of buying milk goats,and make cheese,plus their milk is teh nutritious
I, too, have somehow become responsible for my (very) elderly aunt and uncle (in their 90s). All their money is gone, they’ve simply outlived their savings. I pick up their rx which I tell them is free or they won’t take it, I undercharge them for groceries, I grab a monthly bill or 2 and pay it without telling them. Then when she has extra money at the end of the month, she gives me $20 to thank me. She thinks she’s being generous (which she is). She’s happy that she can give it to me, I’m happy that they survived another month.
As someone who used to raise dairy goats, I can tell you that you’ll also need the best, tight fencing that you can get – put a horse charger on one electric line at the top. I love goats – they are great – but they literally will stand on a fence and pull it down. They are also wicked smart.
doofus Beckola,makes$ 10,000,000.00per year to CATAPULT the propaganda,nice for him…hahahaha thats twice as much as Tweets,he needs to ramp up his bullkacky
bless you!it is what we should do,for the GREATER GOOD
I being a capricorn,will outsmart them,and enjoy the game…ha ha
and to make matters worse, there is human nature – we read about a run on flour and rice, how many of us are going to be stocking up at least a little bit? that will just exacerbate any shortages.
we are fucked.
unless of course there are a lot of solais out there.
you cant store rice,it will go bad
or oats,we need fresh food stocks on demand
ok, flour then.
but why not rice? what makes it go bad?
When I saw one of our “girls” unscrew a piece of hardware which locked their enclosure — WITH HER TONGUE — that’s when I KNEW that we were doomed.
Seriously, I’m sitting here trying to figure out if I can buy a year’s worth of food.
MRE’s
this will cheer you up. not.
gotta run, catch you-all later. be good to each other.
Sam’s Club is restricting the amount of rice one person can buy.
http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/04/…..index.html
What about dried beans?
Solai – you might find it easier to get involved with a CSA(local farmer that you buy a share of their production – you’d get weekly supplies of whatever they produce).
it goes rancid,so do oats……sigh
its good
oh SHIITE!
Think combination locks…!
we really should not PANIC,we all eat too much as it is…but get a deep freeze,sime stuff does ok in there
dayuuuuuuuuuuuuuuum…….i just love me the 4 legged critters….2 leggs …not so much
I think I can remember where to find some C-ration fruitcakes buried during the 60’s.
Just take the position that they are at least as clever as you are – and not having an aposable(spelling eludes me here)thumb does not stop them.
I’ve had rice in the freezer that did well…had it over a year.
yea,i need to buy a deep freeze
oh what fun…scatches head…did you sell yours?
fruit cake,prolly has a longer half life than plutonium,if its made corectly
Yep – but not due to any real problems — in general, they are easy keepers(unless you get into breeding, in which case you end up with a buck — better to find a goat breeder in your area and take the girls over for a little romance). Lovely personalities, generally and the babies are just a delight. Sheep are far more temperamental and “pecking order”-ish. But once my kids got old enough that they did not want to do the 4H thing anymore…we found homes for them all. We may get back into it – our back 5 acres is starting to look like a forest and goats are the best way to get rid of that. Your choice on goats will depend a lot on what you want to produce with the milk: this site will give you a good idea in terms of butterfat content for cheese production(good ol’ Cornell) http://www.ansci.cornell.edu/4…..atfs2.html
thanks for all the info…”G”
The c’s we had in Korea in 67 we’re left over from the war, had green Lucky Strike labels
ps ,i go to the county fair here,watching the littleuns doing their 4h thing is my faveeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!
Hey – any time; one of your best bets to get involved with any livestock is to partner up with a local 4H club. Our goat and sheep leaders were real pros — half the time when I ran into trouble out in the barn, I’d call one of those guys first…and then decide if I needed the vet.
The other thing is – if we can do this…literally anyone with a little land and some shelter can do it. Neither my DH nor I grew up with any animal raising experience – at my house, their idea of “ag” was to throw a bag of Scott’s Turfbuilder out on the lawn. Everything we got, we learned from being involved with 4H and books.
great idea,we all need to change our thinking,do you live in the South,i do
Nope – upstate New York – let’s see now..goats for the south — I think you are going to want to go with Nubians, which I adore(they look like little girls with their hair up in long pigtails). Great personalities and they aren’t the ones who climb up on the roof, like Toggenburgs do.
i shall find the 4h ,here and apply for help
”How reminiscent of the ”welfare to work” policies cooked up by the Bill Clinton administration, an exchange of one form of dependency, welfare, for another, low-wage labor.”… Atimes
OT – I see the Reps killed the Lilly Ledbetter bill.
LINK
Seems to me that we ain’t seen nothin’ yet,if we keep converting our food into gas for our cars.
Easy solution…raise the tax on futures traders high enough for the government(s) to subsidize food for the people. It would do two things right away..lower food prices and stabilize commodities in general and it should be extended to ALL futures.
There have been acutely alert groups in South America countries strongly, vociferously, adamantly foursquare opposed to the conversion of their land to vast tracts of biofuel crops such as corn. Al Gore has not strongly opposed this consequence of his global warming awareness campaign for which he received a Nobel recently. In fact the a consortium of biofuels stakeholders have praised him for greasing the wheels to greater conquest of arable land presently devoted to growing food crops, vide, Biofuels Personality of the Year, Finalist: Al Gore
I’ve been a diagnosed celiac for 4 or 5 years now, and I confess this morning when I heard this story on NPR I thought to myself, “Finally, some bad news I don’t have to pay attention to!” But then I remembered the rice thing, of course…
But if anybody wants any tips on how to avoid wheat, rye, and barley in your daily diet, just let me know. It’s not so hard once you get used to it.
And for my part, I now have the additionally indicators of impossibly high prices and/or complete absence of a product to signal the presence of wheat. Before, all I could do was read the product-label like it contained somewhere within it the secret to the meaning of life.
Is it possible that shortages of food and increased prices with make biofuels un-economical in the long run?
For years I have kept my rice in a 5 gallon bucket with a screw-type gasketed lid: I buy 20lb at a time: fills up the bucket about halfway. Keeps for a long time, particularly if you can keep your wife from loosening the lid “to make it easier to open.” Biofuels and GM crops are pure scams to “feed” the corporate bandits.
Let’s hope so. Seems kind of crazy to use our food to make gas for our cars.