Concerns over food inflation as harvests fail

[medbiller777]

The global economy is facing a second wave of food inflation after the US agriculture department on Tuesday warned of significant falls in stocks of corn, wheat and soyabean and heavy demand.

Officials forecast US wheat stocks would shrink to their lowest level in 60 years, dropping from 312m bushels to 280m by the end of the 2007-08 crop year.

US is the world’s biggest exporter of wheat and importing countries are bidding heavily for its crops as other exporters cut supplies.


http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/ca3846d0-a81e-11dc-9485-0000779fd2ac.html?nclick_check=1

[kenny1659]

Two years in a row of bad crops, between droughts and floods they either don't come up or they rot in the fields. On top of all of that throw in all the acreage that is being used to grow corn for ethanol.:thinking One more bad year and the price of food will really skyrocket.:fear

[ojibweindian]

Two years in a row of bad crops, between droughts and floods they either don't come up or they rot in the fields. On top of all of that throw in all the acreage that is being used to grow corn for ethanol.:thinking One more bad year and the price of food will really skyrocket.:fear

Yep. the great thing is, though, that with all the ethanol being made from corn, we'll still be able to afford the gas for our SUVs :doh!

[Brick]

This will be interesting. I'm always hearing about the farmer who is getting the shaft you'd think that stuff like this would help them out some.

And all that worry about corn to ethanol. We only have ourselves to blame. People have to make a living and if they can't do it raising corn to eat, but can do it by raising corn or ethanol, it doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out what one would do.

[Nova]

I thought grain & corn harvests were up. I couldn't get the usda pds link to open. But I thought more grain was being diverted to energy production, thus leaving less for livestock feed & human food. But that the overall harvests are good.