Food vs. Fuel

After a couple of damp, blustery days, I am really ready for the spring that we thought was here. It looks like planting will start late this year. The forecast calls for possible snow tonight. No sign of global warming here on the farm this spring!

I started a week ago trying to post some pictures, but my "add image" button refuses to allow me to post. I have gotten no help so far from Blogger's help, so I guess I'll just won't be able to add any pictures.

One of the hot topics right now is the food vs. fuel debate. Food prices have increased and ethanol (made from corn)and its subsidies are being blamed. Yes food prices have risen. But the increase in the price of corn due to ethanol production is just a small part of it. When the price of corn doubled over the past two years, the cost of the corn in a box of corn flakes went up by 4 cents (from 4 to 8 cents). The cost of corn (and corn silage) in a gallon of milk went up 8 cents (from 8 to 16 cents). Just a fraction of the store price of these items. We are in a global economy and what is often overlooked is that the global cost of energy to process food has increased, labor costs have increased(especially health insurance), the cost to transport raw and processed food has dramatically increased with oil prices, with the growing economies of developing nations(especially China and India) food demand has increased, our exports of grains are at record high levels(partly because of the cheap dollar), and the world had a poor wheat crop last year. The prices paid to farmers for pork and beef are actually lower than in recent years. Americans pay less than 10% of their income on food. Americans still have the safest, cheapest, and most abundant food supply in the world!