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MNeagle
3rd May 2010, 04:54 PM
Food Prices Will Rise

Washington’s Blog

I have repeatedly argued that - even if deflation continues - food prices might rise dramatically. See this, this, this, this, this and this.

In addition, a likely affect of the oil spill is that food prices will rise.

Initially, there is the loss of substantial portions of the fisheries and shrimping in the Gulf Coast. See this and this.

In addition, the disruption of shrimping lanes will drive up prices.

As AP notes:



Besides the immediate impact on Gulf industries, shipping along the Mississippi River could soon be limited. Ships carrying food, oil, rubber and much more come through the Southwest Pass to enter the vital waterway.



Shipment delays — either because oil-splattered ships need to be cleaned off at sea before docking or because water lanes are shut down for a time — would raise the cost of transporting those goods.



"We saw that during Hurricane Katrina for a period of time — we saw some prices go up for food and other goods because they couldn't move some fruit down the shipping channels and it got spoiled," PFGBest analyst Phil Flynn said.



The oil spill is not the only environment catastrophe which could increase prices.

Bee colonies are also collapsing worldwide. As the Guardian notes:



Disturbing evidence that honeybees are in terminal decline has emerged from the United States where, for the fourth year in a row, more than a third of colonies have failed to survive the winter.



The decline of the country's estimated 2.4 million beehives began in 2006, when a phenomenon dubbed colony collapse disorder (CCD) led to the disappearance of hundreds of thousands of colonies. Since then more than three million colonies in the US and billions of honeybees worldwide have died and scientists are no nearer to knowing what is causing the catastrophic fall in numbers.



The number of managed honeybee colonies in the US fell by 33.8% last winter, according to the annual survey by the Apiary Inspectors of America and the US government's Agricultural Research Service (ARS).



The collapse in the global honeybee population is a major threat to crops. It is estimated that a third of everything we eat depends upon honeybee pollination, which means that bees contribute some £26bn to the global economy.



As the Guardian notes, the problem might be a combination of pesticides and nutrition:



US scientists have found 121 different pesticides in samples of bees, wax and pollen, lending credence to the notion that pesticides are a key problem. "We believe that some subtle interactions between nutrition, pesticide exposure and other stressors are converging to kill colonies," said Jeffery Pettis, of the ARS's bee research laboratory.


Indeed:

•Bees spend most of their lives being trucked all around the country in boxes

•While being trucked around, bees are fed a diet of high-fructose corn syrup (and soy protein), not real pollen (see also this).
To recap: bees are fed junk food totally different from what bees naturally eat with very little nutritional content, taken out of their normal natural environment and shoved into trucks, and then driven all over the nation.

The poor nutrition, exposure to numerous pesticides (and genetically modified foods), and stressful condition of being constantly trucked all over the country are hurting the bees. Why do beekeepers do it? Because high-fructose corn syrup and soy protein is cheap.

The bottom line is that raising and using bees to pollinate crops in a way that won't kill so many bees will be more expensive ... thus driving up food prices.

http://www.zerohedge.com/article/food-prices-will-rise?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+zerohedge%2Ffeed+%28zero+hedg e+-+on+a+long+enough+timeline%2C+the+survival+rate+fo r+everyone+drops+to+zero%29


MUCH better formatting at original link & easier to read.

MNeagle
4th May 2010, 12:57 PM
Not 1 response???

Damn.

Don't you people like to eat?

I was ready to back up the van to Costco, and stock up (again). Even my husband said he needed "to think about it".

What gives here???? ??? ??? :'(

Jazkal
4th May 2010, 01:46 PM
If your not sitting on 3 years supply of food, you need to catch up.

old steel
10th May 2010, 02:48 PM
Personally i believe that not only are prices going to rise a lot of food we are used to seeing on grocery store shelves will simply not be available.

In other world it's going to be a double whammy, with huge shortages and sky high prices for whatever is left.

That being said taking everything else into consideration potable water is still my greatest concern.

Plan accordingly.

Book
10th May 2010, 04:13 PM
I was ready to back up the van to Costco, and stock up (again).



http://www.buythecase.net/uploads/products/200/8660000064.jpg

Soon unavailable at a store near you. 5 year+ shelf life. No-brainer...lol.

:)

skid
11th May 2010, 07:08 AM
Time to plant your garden NOW!

gunDriller
11th May 2010, 11:45 AM
If your not sitting on 3 years supply of food, you need to catch up.


i don't have 3 years worth. i'd be happy to have 1/4 the pantry of Imacannin. there were pics of her pantry at the old GIM.

i noticed evaporated milk took a big jump. from $1 a can to $1.20. i know within the last 5 years i got it for 50 cents a can.

sugar is $3 for 5 pounds. within the last 5 years, i know i got it for $1 a pound.

i tend to do a lot of substituting. as long as you're not dead set on any particular brand or food, you can usually make it out of the supermarket without spending 3 figures.

i wonder how much of the food price increases we're seeing are related to the cost of energy.

mick silver
15th May 2010, 07:58 PM
i have the wood to cook with an i see you have the food

Ponce
21st May 2010, 07:17 PM
Seven to eight years of food here......plus 1,850 rolls of tp to keep up with the food hahahahhaahah.........and a lot of seeds.