US food reserves are nearly gone

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Alpine5654

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This is my 1st post on HBT. So I would just like to hello to all
of you and I've enjoyed reading your posts over the last few
months. I thought this article was important because without
grains, we have NO beer.


Taken from here: http://www.tristateobserver.com/modu...icle&sid=10121

AAM Concerned with CCC Inventories

WASHINGTON - Larry Matlack, President of the American Agriculture Movement (AAM), has raised concerns over the issue of U.S. grain reserves after it was announced that the sale of 18.37 million bushels of wheat from USDA’s Commodity Credit Corporation (CCC) Bill Emerson Humanitarian Trust.

“According to the May 1, 2008 CCC inventory report there are o*nly 24.1 million bushels of wheat in inventory, so after this sale there will be o*nly 2.7 million bushels of wheat left the entire CCC inventory,” warned Matlack. “Our concern is not that we are using the remainder of our strategic grain reserves for humanitarian relief. AAM fully supports the action and all humanitarian food relief. Our concern is that the U.S. has nothing else in our emergency food pantry. There is no cheese, no butter, no dry milk powder, no grains or anything else left in reserve. The o*nly thing left in the entire CCC inventory will be 2.7 million bushels of wheat which is about enough wheat to make ½ of a loaf of bread for each of the 300 million people in America.”

The CCC is a federal government-owned and operated entity that was created to stabilize, support, and protect farm income and prices. CCC is also supposed to maintain balanced and adequate supplies of agricultural commodities and aids in their orderly distribution.

“This lack of emergency preparedness is the fault of the 1996 farm bill which eliminated the government’s grain reserves as well as the Farmer Owned Reserve (FOR),” explained Matlack. “We had hoped to reinstate the FOR and a Strategic Energy Grain Reserve in the new farm bill, but the politics of food defeated our efforts. As farmers it is our calling and purpose in life to feed our families, our communities, our nation and a good part of the world, but we need better planning and coordination if we are to meet that purpose. AAM pledges to continue our work for better farm policy which includes an FOR and a Strategic Energy Grain Reserve.”

AAM’s support for the FOR program, which allows the grain to be stored o*n farms, is a key component to a safe grain reserve in that the supplies will be decentralized in the event of some unforeseen calamity which might befall the large grain storage terminals.

A Strategic Energy Grain Reserve is as crucial for the nation’s domestic energy needs as the Strategic Petroleum Reserve. AAM also supports full funding for the replenishment and expansion of Bill Emerson Humanitarian Trust.

The May 1, 2008 CCC Inventory report may be reviewed here: http://www.fsa.usda.gov/Internet/FSA_File/wid2a.pdf.
 
your first post was about this?

Oh wait, I get it....you're doing us a favor by telling us this arent you
 
How 'bout that 'Department of Homeland Security'; I feel a lot better and safer since we have that now.

No emergency grain, no need to deliver it to catastrophe victims, and then no way to blame the DHS for not performing...
 
Never fear! For any US citizen who is hungry, I am prepared to mail a cheese sandwich across the Atlantic to you, for the bargain price of one hundred English pounds.

Please allow six weeks for delivery.
 
Honestly, do we really need a strategic grain reserve? I think the "half a loaf per person in the United States" says a lot. I mean, I'd be more concerned witho how many loaves for the each person in Louisiana? The notion of a catastrophe that struck everybody in the entire United States is a bit absurd. Even if it did happen, I suspect there would be no way of converting that grain to food very readily. If everybody in America were affected, who would even be left to convert that grain?

And why would I want my government to be holding onto enough cheese or powdered milk for every man woman and child in America? Personally, that sounds like a waste of tax dollars.

Now, to be honest, I had never heard of grain reserves before, but it sounds to me like more of a subsidy to the farmers than a national strategic necessity.
 
Never fear! For any US citizen who is hungry, I am prepared to mail a cheese sandwich across the Atlantic to you, for the bargain price of one hundred English pounds.

Please allow six weeks for delivery.

That's just mean. You can't charge that much for a cheese sandwich. Food aid should come without a price tag.

I have some extra casserole from last night. I'll wrap it up and send it along right away. The Republican bigwigs look pretty well fed, but that Obama guy looks like he could use a nice meal. Anyone got his address?
 
Never fear! For any US citizen who is hungry, I am prepared to mail a cheese sandwich across the Atlantic to you, for the bargain price of one hundred English pounds.

Please allow six weeks for delivery.

Remember guys... one if by land. Two if by sea.
 
your first post was about this?

Oh wait, I get it....you're doing us a favor by telling us this arent you

Since when is having all of the information bad?

What happens when there is a drought and some of the US crops fail?

Oh wait, the southern US is ALREADY having a drought.

Food doesn't magically appear on your dinner table. If we don't
have grain in storage, we have to buy it from overseas with a
devalued dollar. Can you say $5.00 per loaf for generic white bread?
 
Never fear! For any US citizen who is hungry, I am prepared to mail a cheese sandwich across the Atlantic to you, for the bargain price of one hundred English pounds.

Please allow six weeks for delivery.

How about a cheese sandwich in exchange for dental care?:eek:
 
http://www.washingtontimes.com/artic...646631468/1003

A lethal variant on an ancient disease affecting wheat has spread from its base in Africa to Iran and now threatens vast fields in South Asia, the Middle East and Europe at a time of global food shortages, agricultural specialists warn.

The new strain of wheat-stem rust, first identified in Uganda nine years ago, is threatening crops during a global crisis over rising food prices, depleted reserves, rising agricultural trade barriers and violent food-related protests on four continents.

The U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) reported in early March that the new wheat fungus had been found in fields in western Iran far earlier than computer models anticipated, perhaps carried on the high winds generated by Cyclone Gonu in June. The geographical leap means that the spread of the disease to countries such as Pakistan and India may be just a matter of time.

"The detection of the wheat-rust fungus in Iran is very worrisome," Shivaji Pandey, director of the FAO's Plant Production and Protection Division, said in early March. "The fungus is spreading rapidly and could seriously lower wheat production in countries at direct risk."

Wheat represents nearly a third of the world grain-crop production and a fifth of the world's caloric intake, but soaring prices and competition for land from biofuels have left reserves low and prices high. Wheat hit a record $13.49 a bushel in February, up 67 percent in just 12 months.

In part because of rising global demand, drought and natural disasters, prices have been soaring for several staple foods, including rice, corn and soybeans. Many developing countries face intense pressures to restrain food prices and ensure adequate stocks of staple goods.

The Asian Development Bank said this week that more than 1 billion Asians may sink back into extreme poverty without extra aid to counter soaring food prices.

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has become increasingly outspoken about the threat to the international system from the crisis in agriculture.

"If not properly handled, this crisis could cascade into multiple crises affecting trade, development and even social and political security around the world. The livelihoods of hundreds of millions of people are threatened," he told reporters in New York after a fact-finding trip on the food crisis to Africa and Europe.

The East African stem rust, which is resistant to two main genetic defenses bred into 90 percent of the world's grain crop, could pose a greater risk to stability in the Middle East than the Iranian missile program, the Iraq war and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, according to the Middle East Times.

"All these threats pale almost into insignificance by comparison with the confirmation [that the wheat-rust strain] has crossed the Red Sea," the journal said in an editorial last month.

Stem-rust diseases have long been a bane of wheat harvesters. The ancient Romans prayed to a god named Robigus to protect their crops from the disease. As recently as the early 1950s, nearly half of the U.S. and Canadian spring wheat crop was lost to an attack of stem rust.

The "Green Revolution" of the second half of the 20th century benefited from more productive strands of wheat and from the development of new wheat variations that were bred specifically to resist stem rust.

U.S. agronomist Norman Borlaug, who earned a Nobel Peace Prize in 1970 for helping foster the Green Revolution, has been outspoken about the dangers posed by the new wheat-rust strain.

Mr. Borlaug said the new fungus variations originating in Uganda in 1999 are "much more dangerous" than the earlier stem-rust strains.

"The rust pathogens recognize no political boundaries, and their spores need no passport to travel thousands of miles in the jet streams," the 94-year-old researcher said at a recent conference on the wheat crisis in northern Mexico.

The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation last month approved a $26.8 million grant to Cornell University, working with 15 research partners in Africa, Latin America, the Middle East and East Asia, to deal with the global menace.

The research partnership will focus on developing new wheat strains resistant to the disease.

"Farmers need access to wheat varieties that can resist the new type of wheat-stem rust, especially in developing nations where reliance on wheat is high and budgets for fungicides almost nonexistent," Ronnie Coffman, director of the Cornell project, said in a statement.

Researchers say a solution may be more urgent, given the discovery in March in Iran.
 
Since when is having all of the information bad?

What happens when there is a drought and some of the US crops fail?

Oh wait, the southern US is ALREADY having a drought.

Food doesn't magically appear on your dinner table. If we don't
have grain in storage, we have to buy it from overseas with a
devalued dollar. Can you say $5.00 per loaf for generic white bread?

Nothing wrong with having the information. I'm still trying to figure out whether it is bad. Here in the midwest, it's been cool, but steady temps with plenty of steady, but not damaging rainfall. I'm thinking it looks to be a great year for midwestern crops. In fact, I might hop on the bike for grits and shins and go take a ride through some fields today and have a look for myself...

And don't say $5.00 for a loaf of white bread. Bread costs about a nickel to make. The rest of the cost is in transportation, storage, and spoilage. So even if the cost went up 1000%, the price of bread wouldn't jump all that much.
 
So now it sounds like the spores are nowhere near us at this time, we are in no immediate danger, and other parts of the world are facing a serious crisis.

And we released a huge amount of grain reserves.

Thanks for digging up info, Alpine. You've at least piqued my interest.

And information on how the projected harvest for the U.S. is looking for this year? How are futures doing? Probably through the roof due to the spread of stem rust? Or is it holding pretty steady within historical averages?
 
Nothing wrong with having the information. I'm still trying to figure out whether it is bad. Here in the midwest, it's been cool, but steady temps with plenty of steady, but not damaging rainfall. I'm thinking it looks to be a great year for midwestern crops. In fact, I might hop on the bike for grits and shins and go take a ride through some fields today and have a look for myself...

And don't say $5.00 for a loaf of white bread. Bread costs about a nickel to make. The rest of the cost is in transportation, storage, and spoilage. So even if the cost went up 1000%, the price of bread wouldn't jump all that much.

I live in SE Wisconsin, I haven't noticed food shortages yet, but have you
seen the prices? Items are up 50%+. It is all due to Greenspan and Bernake
monetary policy. Because commodities are based on US Dollars, every
commodity is skyrocketing.

For one, my wages have not kept up with inflation. I am personally
worse off financially than a year or two ago. I work more hours,
but have less when all the bills are paid for.
 
For whats it worth to all of you...

I'm a married 28 year old father of 3 (all under the age of 4) living
in SE Wisconsin. I posted this to inform you. Take it or leave
it. I didn't think I needed my "Flame Suit" this morning. I
reason I did it is people need to open their eyes and see what
is happening around them, and things that may affect their
daily lives.

I found this board because I make wine now with my dad, and
was interested in info to make beer and mead
 
After is post I'm done on this subject. Please do your own due diligence.

http://www2.nysun.com/article/74994

Food Rationing Confronts Breadbasket of the World

Many parts of America, long considered the breadbasket of the world, are now confronting a once unthinkable phenomenon: food rationing. Major retailers in New York, in areas of New England, and on the West Coast are limiting purchases of flour, rice, and cooking oil as demand outstrips supply. There are also anecdotal reports that some consumers are hoarding grain stocks.

At a Costco Warehouse in Mountain View, Calif., yesterday, shoppers grew frustrated and occasionally uttered expletives as they searched in vain for the large sacks of rice they usually buy.

"Where's the rice?" an engineer from Palo Alto, Calif., Yajun Liu, said. "You should be able to buy something like rice. This is ridiculous."

The bustling store in the heart of Silicon Valley usually sells four or five varieties of rice to a clientele largely of Asian immigrants, but only about half a pallet of Indian-grown Basmati rice was left in stock. A 20-pound bag was selling for $15.99.

"You can't eat this every day. It's too heavy," a health care executive from Palo Alto, Sharad Patel, grumbled as his son loaded two sacks of the Basmati into a shopping cart. "We only need one bag but I'm getting two in case a neighbor or a friend needs it," the elder man said.

The Patels seemed headed for disappointment, as most Costco members were being allowed to buy only one bag. Moments earlier, a clerk dropped two sacks back on the stack after taking them from another customer who tried to exceed the one-bag cap.

"Due to the limited availability of rice, we are limiting rice purchases based on your prior purchasing history," a sign above the dwindling supply said.

Shoppers said the limits had been in place for a few days, and that rice supplies had been spotty for a few weeks. A store manager referred questions to officials at Costco headquarters near Seattle, who did not return calls or e-mail messages yesterday.

An employee at the Costco store in Queens said there were no restrictions on rice buying, but limits were being imposed on purchases of oil and flour. Internet postings attributed some of the shortage at the retail level to bakery owners who flocked to warehouse stores when the price of flour from commercial suppliers doubled.

The curbs and shortages are being tracked with concern by survivalists who view the phenomenon as a harbinger of more serious trouble to come.

"It's sporadic. It's not every store, but it's becoming more commonplace," the editor of SurvivalBlog.com, James Rawles, said. "The number of reports I've been getting from readers who have seen signs posted with limits has increased almost exponentially, I'd say in the last three to five weeks."

(More in link above).
 
Welcome to the board, Alpine!

No need for your flame suit. Political threads get a bit heated around here, but they are usually closed down before they get out of hand. This thread, while not political, is a bit of a hot-button sort of issue, so you should probably expect some back and forth. Also, it's an unusual first post. We've gotten some weird spam around here lately, so some folks may have interpreted your intentions incorrectly, but the fact that you're still here defending the thread speaks volumes. So, again, welcome!
 
Welcome to the board, Alpine!

No need for your flame suit. Political threads get a bit heated around here, but they are usually closed down before they get out of hand. This thread, while not political, is a bit of a hot-button sort of issue, so you should probably expect some back and forth. Also, it's an unusual first post. We've gotten some weird spam around here lately, so some folks may have interpreted your intentions incorrectly, but the fact that you're still here defending the thread speaks volumes. So, again, welcome!

Thank you for the welcome! I appreciate it.

I do have to agree. It was an unusual 1st post,
but it did get some attention i guess :D

I have not posted political articles in the past for that
reason. Didn't want to stir the post too much.

Thanks Again!
 
Plenty of rice & flour at the Costcos in Austin. No rationing, No lines, no people saying the end is near. Plenty of Apple Juice for Apfelwein as as well. :D
 
I still see plenty of everything. But I can also see the light and the end of the tunnel, the one that's attached to the train. People are so wasteful, they deserve what they get AFAIAC.
 
My SWMBO must be some kind of psychic or something. Just last week she goes out and buys 20 lbs of rice. "WTF are we going to do with 20 pounds of rice?" I ask. She says it was a good deal, so she bought it.

What the hell do I know? :drunk:
 
Don’t kid yourself folks; there is a world wide grain shortage. I don’t remember all the ins and outs but the commodity experts are saying it will take 3 to 4 years of exceptional crops to pull us out.

Just because you’ve only seen minor increases at the grocery store, doesn’t mean the problem isn’t there. Six months ago I was paying $7 for a 25 pound bag of flour. Today it’s $23 a bag. Those are hard facts that I deal with every day. Rice (the other mass usage grain) is up 40%. Five dollar bread is not out of the question, however, the producers tend to take the hit rather than raise the retail price too high. The greater problem is that bread is a small percentage of wheat usage. Check out the ingredient labels in your cupboards and fridge. It’s in everything from soy sauce to boxed mixes and used in mass quantity by manufacturers.

In six of the past eight years we have used more grains that the world produced. That’s were that the surplus grain you were joking about comes in. It’s the grain we’ve been pulling from to make up the shortage. Unfortunately, we have gone through about 50% of the surplus in the last few years.

As for the information from the OP, I certainly don’t know what the answer is but burying our heads in the sand isn’t it.
 
Since when is having all of the information bad?

What happens when there is a drought and some of the US crops fail?

Oh wait, the southern US is ALREADY having a drought.

Food doesn't magically appear on your dinner table. If we don't
have grain in storage, we have to buy it from overseas with a
devalued dollar. Can you say $5.00 per loaf for generic white bread?

Well my apologies then. Normally when
a new member pops in for the first time and posts this kind of thing it's usually spam.
 
Plenty of rice & flour at the Costcos in Austin. No rationing, No lines
Well, we usually buy rice for our family of four at Sam's club and I was disturbed when I read recently that they were limiting purchases to eighty pounds of rice per visit. So far, though, we've managed to make it.

Rick
 
Tin Foil Hat Time........ Everybody, let's put on our tin foil hats for a moment.

We all know that when a necessity becomes scarce, capitalists will raise the price, or socialists will ration it. Since rationing is out of favor with most business people in the world, the former will be the more popular option. The retailer could be the one to raise the pice and reap the rewards- they can simply raise prices to reduce demand and maintain their supply. However, at nearly a whim, the supplier can decide that he is the one that should raise the price and reap the windfall. The increase in prices can mostly go directly to the producers if they choose to simply raise their prices and be the ones (rather than the retailers) to curb the demand.

So the world's #1 producer of grain (USA) is providing subsidies to farmers who grow corn to use as ethanol, creating an artificial reduction in the supply of wheat. They are also the #2 user of petroleum.

The world's #1 producer of oil (OPEC) is restricting flow, thereby artificially reducing the supply of petroleum. They are, however, facing a rapid spread of a sort of fungal infection among their crops.

Each of these entities has the ability to stop the shortage any time they wish by killing the subsidies or turning on the spigot. Sounds kind of like a game of chicken, don't you think?


(one last thought: Which country is the one with the renewable resource? )
 
Well, we usually buy rice for our family of four at Sam's club and I was disturbed when I read recently that they were limiting purchases to eighty pounds of rice per visit. So far, though, we've managed to make it.

Rick

OMG! I'm glad you are able to make it on 80# till your next visit. Whew! You dodged a bullet that time. I'm glad we don't have those restrictions in Austin. I don't know how I could do it.
 
Well my apologies then. Normally when
a new member pops in for the first time and posts this kind of thing it's usually spam.

Hey, no problem...

Just didn't realize this would be such a hot topic

:mug:
 
I still smell a rat. Why don't you talk about wine or mead then?

If this is the only thread you post in, then something doesn't seem right. I think you are fishing for something.

Dude, perhaps you smell something else.

This is my first thread on this site. It just happens I was on another
MB I belong to, and this was a thread I came across that pertained to
this site (wheat).

I'm sorry if I have upset you for not posting in other sections on this
board yet, the city I live in just got nailed with severe weather and
most roads are impassable.

Someone please tell me why this community is so unfriendy and
paranoid (except Sir Humpsalot)? I appear to have hit a nerve.
Why is that? This thread was meant as a FYI, no underlying meaning.
 
Here you go "dude"


I planted a raspberry patch yesterday for some
homegrown fruit for some raspberry wine and
a raspberry mead.

I have not tried a mead yet, but I've learned a lot
from all of the members of the mead section.

I did not join this this message board to be a TROLL.
(Apparently contrary to popular belief) :mad:
 
Just because you’ve only seen minor increases at the grocery store, doesn’t mean the problem isn’t there. Six months ago I was paying $7 for a 25 pound bag of flour. Today it’s $23 a bag.
Nurmey...6 months ago, the Diesel fuel that was burned by the trucks delivering your flower was under $3.00 a Gallon. Now those trucks are burning a gallon of fuel every 5 miles that costs them $4.79. The USDA states that by the time a kernel of corn has made it from the field to the grocery store, It has been on a truck 7 times. At $10.00 a bushel, your loaf of $3.00 bread has 17 cents worth of wheat in it. Grain price does effect the price of consumer food stuffs, but if you want to find the cause of food price increase, get a map and a bunch of stick pins....next time you go shopping, while unpacking your bags put a pin everywhere an item comes from.

There are hundreds of things that play into this argument, and I don't' think that the "Average Person" can even discuss it intelligently. There is no way that Most of us can be aware of enough of the things that effect food price to even pretend to have a grasp on the reasoning. WE can (And Do) ***** about it... but that's about it.
 
Someone please tell me why this community is so unfriendy and
paranoid (except Sir Humpsalot)? I appear to have hit a nerve.
Why is that? This thread was meant as a FYI, no underlying meaning.

I would not say that your statement above is accurate. You have every right to post what you want on HBT. However, when none of your posts are brewing related it does tend to cause some questions to be raised in our minds. Take the time to go to the introductions forum, post a bit about yourself and what you are interested in brewing.
Also you stated in an earlier post that you were done discussing the subject. If you continue to get defensive and combative, expect it to come back to you.

No offense, but your thread is similar to several spam threads that we have had before and we have seen several posters who claim they are interested in brewing make several posts, without once mentioning anything about brewing. Sorry if you are feeling unwelcome, but if you let it go I'm sure you will fit in here just fine.
 
I would not say that your statement above is accurate. You have every right to post what you want on HBT. However, when none of your posts are brewing related it does tend to cause some questions to be raised in our minds. Take the time to go to the introductions forum, post a bit about yourself and what you are interested in brewing.
Also you stated in an earlier post that you were done discussing the subject. If you continue to get defensive and combative, expect it to come back to you.

No offense, but your thread is similar to several spam threads that we have had before and we have seen several posters who claim they are interested in brewing make several posts, without once mentioning anything about brewing. Sorry if you are feeling unwelcome, but if you let it go I'm sure you will fit in here just fine.

I have every intention this morning when I posted this to try and
give everyone a heads up. I follow this stuff very closely along
with economic and government issues.

Normally I'm a pretty easy going guy, but I tend to get pretty
defensive when people are "attacking" me without provocation.

I had no prior knowledge of spammers posting similar type threads.
If I had known that I wouldn't have posted a thread like this.

As far as posting in other subforms, I am trying to learn as much
as possible, I don't have much to contribute at this time. I will take
everyones suggestions and start posting in other subforms.

Thanks!
 
Well holy **** guys... I haven't posted about brewing in months.... What's the big deal? :drunk:

We have a whole thread dedicated to bashing you as well.:D

Seriously we all need to get off this guys case and give him a chance. I'm pretty sure he means well.
 
Alpine although I don't consider my self very political. I do appreciate the info. being somewhat new to the brew scene myself, I didn't understand about the hops problems. but if the older members thought back a bit they might have remembered saying "hops will always be here and in good supply". Now that they are expensive, IF you can even get the variety you are looking for, I would really hate to see the price of grain go up the way hops did. It would probably drive a lot of home brewers away since this hobby is expensive enough. How many of us would still be brewing if grain prices jumped up the way gasoline prices have recently?
 
If there's one thing living in Utah taught me, is that everyone should have enough emergency food stored for their family for three to six months in case of natural disaster (or political uprising). Reading stories like this only prove my point. Sure there's no problem buying food now, but what about 5 years from now? What about 1 year from now? I'm tellin ya that when I get my own place I'm going to be getting a stockpile of foodstuffs to last for as long as I can. A surplus of vegetable oil would probably go a long way as well for eating or driving a diesel car.

Alpine, I don't blame you for feeling picked on, I would too in your situation in regards to this thread. But I've just now read this entire thread and you don't seem to spammy to me :D
 
No offense Alpine, and I'm not attacking you. But I think you need to thicken your e-skin.
I haven't seen anything close to flaming. Trust me the car forum I belong to will make an internet tough guy cry like a little girl. So please don't feel unwelcome. These are good people here.

I do appreciate the info on the grain surplus. I didn't have a clue that was going on.
 
Subsidies for ethenol are a major culprit, there is no crisis except farmers make more money growing fuel grain than food grain.... More profit in Fuel Corn than wheat hence fields are being converted and the government still pays farmers not to plant crops.

I remember well the "gas crisis" that wasn't, in the 70's, panic created a crisis when supplies were unchanged but the delivery couldn't keep up with the panic demand.

Fear mongering doesn't fix the problem and concerns of a Farm lobby group don't hold much water with me, especially enough to be concerned.
While the increase in prices blows, I have yet to go into a WFM, Safeway, or Food Giant and see any empty shelf space or not be able to find what I needed/wanted.

and welcome Alpine :)
 
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