On Wed, 11 Apr 2007 21:44:28 -0700, Jan Steinman wrote:
>> From: "Barry B. Bean" <bbbean@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
>>
>> ... the US enjoys the least expensive food and fiber in the world
>Due COMPLETELY to cheap energy, which is about to make a BIG change!
Wow. I'm shocked to learn that efficient production, US Farm Policy, well
designed infrastructure, US economic policy, and market forces have nothing to
do with it. At the risk of casting aspersions
on the depth of your economic analysis, I'm afraid I have to reject your
simplistic model.
>"Appetite for ethanol spurs food price inflation... Rising demand for
>biofuels will likely cause the prices of corn and soybean oil to rise
>further, and to move more closely with the price of crude oil, as has
>been the case with sugar, [according to the normally stodge
>International Monetary Fund]" http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/
>story/RTGAM.20070410.wxfood0411/BNStory
I wouldn't dispute this. Basic supply and demand dictate it. However, given
that the price of raw commodities is such a small portion of consumer food
prices, and that the increase in grain prices is
still well within the normal range of price variances due to weather, war,
etc., I think the problem should be manageable, and worth offsetting our
dependence on petroleum to some degree.
>The US farmers (you possibly excluded :-) are not better, brighter,
>or more business-savy than farmers elsewhere.
We do manage to out-produce farmers around the world, and the world is
perpetually knocking on our door for the ag technology we develop. They're
eager to grow our seed varieties, use our
pesticides, buy our equipment, hire our advisors and consultants, and adopt the
techniques we pioneer. They send their ag scientists to study in the
Universities, private labs, and research stations
we pay for. Not that that makes us brighter, better, or more business-savvy,
but I think we hold our own...
> They simply have a huge
>subsidy in the form of the world's cheapest energy, which is only
>because oil is priced in dollars, so people all over the world are
>willing to hold these IOUs so they can buy oil.
>Which brings us to the REAL reason Iraq was invaded -- they were
>about to price their oil in Euros, which the Iranians are currently
>doing, much to their peril.
You know, if the only tool you have is a hammer, sometimes everything starts to
look like a nail.
--
Barry B. Bean
Bean & Bean Cotton Company
Peach Orchard, MO
www.beancotton.com
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