Food Prices Skyrocket, House Committe Calls For Cu

[ty]

As Food Prices Skyrocket, House Committee Calls For Cutting Food Stamps Instead Of Agriculture Subsidies In 2010, 18 percent of the country — nearly one in five households — reported not having enough money to provide food at some point during the year. Last month, food prices increased by 3.9 percent, in the largest jump since 1974. Vegetable prices increased by nearly 50 percent, driven in part by weather disasters damaging crops in place such as Australia and Russia.
These trends are occurring at the same time that unemployment has remained unacceptably high, leaving many Americans with nothing but the social safety net standing between them and going hungry. But as National Journal’s Tim Fernholz reported, the House Agriculture Committee has called for a reduction in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (food stamps) in a letter to House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan (R-WI):
One part of the agriculture budget that has seen increases is the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) where spending has tripled over the last ten years. Given the economic downturn and high unemployment which has left many Americans with few options, an increase in nutrition assistance spending is to be expected….But much of the cost increase has come through government action as opposed to the kind of macroeconomic forces that naturally result in increased subscriptions.
The letter’s co-authors — House Agriculture Committee Chairman Frank Lucas (R-OK) and ranking member Collin Peterson (D-MN) — are correct that, in the face of the Great Recession, food stamp benefits were increased. But those increased benefits have (unfortunately) already been reduced to pay for a jobs bill that Congress passed last year.
And at the same time they’re pointing to food stamps as an area ripe for cuts, Lucas and Peterson say that the tens of billions in annual agriculture subsidies that the U.S. provides should be off-limits for reductions. At the moment, 61 percent of the subsidies that the U.S. provides for agriculture go to just ten percent of recipients. Though some restrictions on rich farmers receiving subsidies were placed into the 2008 farm bill, they were mostly ineffective. And entrenched lawmakers on the agriculture committee help to keep it that way:
The 15 congressional districts receiving the most in payments accounted for about a quarter of all farm aid…Representatives from nine of those districts serve on the House Agriculture Committee, including the panel’s top Democrat and Republican.
At the moment, 90 percent of agriculture subsidies go toward the production of just five crops — corn, wheat, rice, soy and cotton. “Most of that 90 percent went to the large farming corporations,” said Annie Shattuck of the Institute for Food & Development Policy. “Much of those commodities were not used for food, but for animal feed and industrial applications. Cotton is not even a food.” Yet lawmakers on the Agriculture Committee feel that this wasteful spending is more important than helping Americans families weather the Great Recession.

thinkprogress.org/2011/03/21/ag-prices-subsidies/

[henryclay]

Well, I'm not for cutting farmers out of anything. That is "farmers". Farmers have about the highest exposure in the country when it comes to the possibility of loosing an entire year's work all to weather. Too much rain. Not enough rain. Early frost before harvest. Late frost after planting. Equipment costs and only used a short period each year. Just fencing alone would break some wealthy people.

But there is one place that "might" be looked at in the "farmer" category. Corn growers. I think anybody that handles corn, whether it's the grower or the "in between men", that does not wind up on the table of Americans should absolutely be cut off from any subsidies. We are at the point that almost half the corn grown in the country is being used for ethanol. Ethanol is hardly a "farm" product.

Besides doing more harm to the enviornment than plain gasoline, it is a death sentence to many engines, particularly marine and arcraft engines.

[vonnie6200]

and corn meal, corn flakes, polenta, tortillas

[henryclay]

Come on now, , , , animal feed? I already covered animal feed. I SAID anything that winds on a American dinner tables.

I haven't bought any booze lately, but my vibes tell me the price of getting a buzz on ffrom corn squeezins has gone up at least as fast as everythng else.

The problem with corn going to animal feed is that "real" farmers can't afford the price of corn any more to feed their animals that we would like to eat. Just like Americans can't afford the price of people feed any more. It's because so much of our corn production is going to ethanol.

And I don't know anybody who drinks ethanol.

[ty]

Come on now, , , , animal feed? I already covered animal feed. I SAID anything that winds on a American dinner tables.
I haven't bought any booze lately, but my vibes tell me the price of getting a buzz on ffrom corn squeezins has gone up at least as fast as everythng else.
The problem with corn going to animal feed is that "real" farmers can't afford the price of corn any more to feed their animals that we would like to eat. Just like Americans can't afford the price of people feed any more. It's because so much of our corn production is going to ethanol.
And I don't know anybody who drinks ethanol.

A lot of animal farmers are beginning to shut down which will mean the fewer cattle and pig farmers we have, the higher the prices are gonna go for the beef and pork. I believe we are going to be heading for real hard times within the next few months. Especially now that Gaddafi's at war and Israel are now making attacks themselves in the middle east which will raise the cost of oil, which will raise the cost of gas, and all the food that is transported by truckers and the companies are going to be passing the bill on to the consumers.
America and the American people are screwed if we don't stop all this fighting overseas and start investing in the American people for a change. How is one to survive in America if there are no jobs for the people, and now they are looking at cutting food-stamp programs for the poor.

[henryclay]

".............. A lot of animal farmers are beginning to shut down..............."

Shutting down is usually a voluntary act. Not this time. "Getting shut down" is closer to the real case.

"........ Pilgrim’s Pride, based in Pittsburg, Texas, filed for Chapter 11 on Dec. 2 in U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of Texas in Fort Worth. The largest U.S. poultry company, , , , , , Pilgrim’s Pride reported $8.5 billion in yearly sales through the end of September, according to the company’s annual report. But Pilgrim’s Pride has been hammered by higher costs for corn, soybeans and other chicken feed. A glut of chicken in the marketplace and decreased consumer demand haven’t helped either.

Pilgrim’s Pride reported more than $2.7 billion in debts, according to its initial bankruptcy petition. Weil, Gotshal & Manges is lead bankruptcy counsel to Pilgrim’s Pride. Andrews Kurth is representing the official committee of unsecured creditors. .............."

Missed in this was the publicity that Pilgrim's Pride doesn't own a single chicken house. They contracted with indivdual growers , , , , farmers , , , , , to do the actual raising, and they sopld the chickens and eggs to other people. Pilgrim's pride went bankrupt and made the news. Nobody seemed to notice all their chicken and egg pruducing farmers also going bankrupt.

The article mentions a slump in demand for chicken products. What it really said was that the cost of producing chickens and chicken products has caused their prices to escalate to the point of people switchig to something else.

It can be compared to America itself in a way. The price of American products has caused people so switch to somebody else's products. Even Americans won't buy American products.

I wonder how many unemployed people, including Pilgrim's Pride's union labor force, are looking back now and wishing they had seen what their demands at the bargaining table was going to lead to in the end. I also wonder if the congress and Mr. Obama know what their ethonal binge is doing to the country.

This was forecast long ago. It's not rocket science. Rocket science is what it takes to determine what time of day to shoot a rocket into the sky pointed eastward. from the earth which is travelling westward, so that four days later it will hit a precise point on another moving object 90 million miles away. All this took to foresee was common sense.

[mmhmm]

I get most of my produce, eggs, and meat from the local market, thankfully. Still, I see the prices rising rapidly in all sectors. Going to the grocery for staples is an eye-opening experience; especially, since I have only my mother and I to feed. Two old ladies really don't eat all that much!

[workpublic]

good thing there is no inflation, or else we'd really be screwed.

[henryclay]

"......... The 15 congressional districts receiving the most in payments accounted for about a quarter of all farm aid…Representatives from nine of those districts serve on the House Agriculture Committee, including the panel’s top Democrat and Republican.
At the moment, 90 percent of agriculture subsidies go toward the production of just five crops — corn, wheat, rice, soy and cotton. “Most of that 90 percent went to the large farming corporations,” ............."

As I said earlier, a "farmer" who is producing the ingredients for ethanol production, which are now selling at record prices, sure don't also need tax dollars to do it. The quote above seems to indicate that is exactly what's happening.

It is time to contact every congressman and senator who continues to support it with a promise to be a one issue voter in the next election. The House members are listed here with contact information on each member:

agriculture.house.gov/singlepages.aspx?NewsID=1222&LSBID=23|69&RBSUSDA=T

The Seanate committee is here:

agriculture.senate.gov/sen.htm

[floridayankee]

Mar 22, 2011 12:45:57 GMT -5 henryclay said:

As I said earlier, a "farmer" who is producing the ingredients for ethanol production, which are now selling at record prices, sure don't also need tax dollars to do it. The quote above seems to indicate that is exactly what's happening.

It is time to contact every congressman and senator who continues to support it with a promise to be a one issue voter in the next election. The House members are listed here with contact information on each member:

agriculture.house.gov/singlepages.aspx?NewsID=1222&LSBID=23|69&RBSUSDA=T

The Seanate committee is here:

agriculture.senate.gov/sen.htm

They could address high food prices by eliminating CRP. If I remember my numbers right, there are nearly 40 million acres in CRP at an average of $45.00/acre costing the government $1.8 trillion to keep farmers from producing.

But, of course, the environmentalist lobby would never allow that happen.

[fairlycrazy23]

CRP and all other subsidies need to be phased out. They need to make it easier/cheaper to produce food locally.

[henryclay]

"............. CRP.......... costing the government $1.8 trillion to keep farmers from producing.........."

Yankee, you are usually pretty good with your data, but can you post a link or two with more information on that?

[handyman2]

One major way to cut farming costs and help farmers stay in business is to have price controls on farm equipment fuel and seed for farmers so they can produce more crops. The fuel and seed costs are a major reason they go under.

[jkapp]

Mar 22, 2011 14:56:22 GMT -5 henryclay said:

"............. CRP.......... costing the government $1.8 trillion to keep farmers from producing.........."

Yankee, you are usually pretty good with your data, but can you post a link or two with more information on that?

I recall reading something about this a while back...but I think the $1.8T is the ten-year number, so $180 billion per year. Which is still way too much!

[fairlycrazy23]

I'm not sure how much CRP costs are yearly, but besides costing US taxpayers, it distorts the market, causing people to do actions that they might not do otherwise, other subsidies do this as well (corn)
With a massive amount of new money introduced into the US monetary fund over the past couple of years inflation is to be expected, add to that the increase in energy costs which effects the cost of food across the board (production,transportation and storage), so a rise in the price of food should not be unexpected.

[vonnie6200]

Mar 22, 2011 17:19:28 GMT -5 @toughtimes said:

I agree that using corn for fuel under today's conditions is ludicrous. In fact, given the massive amount of petroleum-based fuel to grow the corn and transport it (fertilizer and shipping expenses) I wonder whether we have any net gain producing ethanol that way even disregarding the diversion from food.

Probably a loss here.

So far as price controls on farm equipment and seed, that is an excellent way to insure shortages of both. If one is required to sell an item for less than it costs to produce than logically the most intelligent thing is to stop producing it.

Absolutely agree here!

[handyman2]

Tough times I was refering to a fixed price that farmers can buy the fuel and seed that is discounted. When a farmer must pay higher fuel costs that can put him out. We could afford to have a lower fixed price for fuel to the farmer than market price. I was not refering to a fixed price he sells his products for. That would stay at market value.

[vonnie6200]

Mar 22, 2011 17:55:43 GMT -5 handyman2 said:

Tough times I was refering to a fixed price that farmers can buy the fuel and seed that is discounted. When a farmer must pay higher fuel costs that can put him out. We could afford to have a lower fixed price for fuel to the farmer than market price. I was not refering to a fixed price he sells his products for. That would stay at market value.

Government controls - they always work so well.

[floridayankee]

Mar 22, 2011 14:56:22 GMT -5 henryclay said:

"............. CRP.......... costing the government $1.8 trillion to keep farmers from producing.........."

Yankee, you are usually pretty good with your data, but can you post a link or two with more information on that?

Actually no...I should have typed $1.8 billion...not trillion. Good catch. The numbers I used were from some Iowa farm bureau newsletter DW gets for her Mom's land that she inherited from her parents. The article below shows slightly different numbers but comes close to my (corrected) number.

What can I say...I only got 4 hours of sleep Monday night.

In fiscal 2010, USDA will distribute approximately $1.7 billion in CRP rental payments to producers holding about 758,000 contracts on 424,000 farms for an average of $51.52 per acre.

www.agjournalonline.com/features/x640757891/Expiring-CRP-acres-Think-twice-befor-tilling

[floridayankee]

Mar 22, 2011 18:42:07 GMT -5 @toughtimes said:

People really don't understand basic economics. The only "price control" that has some history of working well was the old-school lynching parties that showed up at a grocers store during temporary times of famine and forced him to sell his inventory rather than hoard it against a higher future profit.

lmao...good analogy tough. The free market is actually a rather effective price control. The higher the price goes, the less people tend to buy. One way to counter rising fuel prices is to buy futures...it's a gamble that can either save a tone of money or bite you in the backside if prices reverse. There was a news report last week about a city in FL doing this last week.

PALM BAY, Fla. (WOFL FOX 35) - While most of us are paying well over three dollars a gallon for gas, the City of Palm Bay is still fueling up it's fire trucks and police cars for, get this, $2.55 a gallon.

How is the city doing it? In 2009, Palm Bay City Manager Lee Feldman started locking in the price of gas 18 months ahead of time by purchasing gas futures for the city’s fleet of vehicles. Feldman says he got the idea to hedge the price of fuel because the city uses 440,000 gallons a year, so sudden spikes in prices would force the city to dip into reserves to cover the increase.

www.myfoxorlando.com/dpp/money/031611-palm-bay-saving-money-on-gas

[reasonfreedom]

If you want to learn more about corn production and farming, just go watch the move FOOD INC. . It has alot of good statistics, but I am warning that it might make you a little sick and make you choose different foods from now on.

[verrip1]

Mar 23, 2011 18:09:00 GMT -5 reasonfreedom said:

If you want to learn more about corn production and farming, just go watch the move FOOD INC. . It has alot of good statistics, but I am warning that it might make you a little sick and make you choose different foods from now on.

If you want to puke, go to a slaughterhouse sometime and ask for the tour. Don't miss lifting the lid on the paunch manure sump! Then there's the room where they keep the heads. Also ask to see the room where they age the beef to give you those ohhhh so tender rib eyes and filets mignon. Quite a sight.

Here's a hint - it's a bad idea to eat corn before you go on the tour.