Food costs/prices rising, what are the causes?

George, I did read the article from the nuclear accident in Middleton, PA.
Nothing happened, yes, but my point was, that it CAN happen in the US
as well.

There comes a stigma with nuclear plants, and Germans - the poster boys
for safe environment Very Happy

- are especially leery of them, but we might not
have another choice in the meantime than to make use of them.

I just read that fast breeder reactors use uranium-238 and it's been estimated that uranium-238 is plentiful available for the next hundreds of
years to come. So we might not see the bright future in solar, as I wish
it would.

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Uranium mining in the United States
Uranium mining in the United States

Most uranium ore in the United States comes from deposits in sandstone, which tend to be of lower grade than those of Australia and Canada. Because of the lower grade, many uranium deposits in the United States became uneconomic when the price of uranium declined sharply in the 1980s.

Regular production of uranium-bearing ore in the United States began in 1898 with the mining of carnotite-bearing sandstones of the Colorado Plateau in Colorado and Utah, for their vanadium content. The discovery of radium by Marie Curie, also in 1898, soon made the ore also valuable for radium. Uranium was a by-product. By 1913, the Colorado Plateau uranium-vanadium province was supplying about half the world supply of radium. Production declined sharply after 1923, when low-cost competition from radium from the Belgian Congo and vanadium from Peru made the Colorado Plateau ores uneconomic.[7]

Mining revived in the 1930s with higher prices for vanadium. American uranium ores were in very high demand by the Manhattan Project during World War II, although the mining companies did not know that the by-product uranium was suddenly valuable. The late 1940s and early 1950s saw a boom in uranium mining in the western US, spurred by the fortunes made by prospectors such as Charlie Steen.

Uranium mining declined with the last open pit mine shutting down in 1992 (Shirley Basin, Wyoming. United States production occurred in the following states (in descending order): New Mexico, Wyoming, Colorado, Utah, Texas, Arizona, Florida, Washington, and South Dakota. The collapse of uranium prices caused all conventional mining to cease by 1992. In-situ leach mining has continued primarily in Wyoming and adjacent Nebraska as well has recently restarted in Texas. Rising uranium prices since 2003 have increased interest in uranium mining in the United States.

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food costs/prices rising=== I don't suppose that the devaluation of the US dollar has anything to do with it. nah. (actually it is the main cause of food costs/prices rising) but profiteering is so much more dramatic an issue.

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Orange juice is now more than $6/gallon.

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Miller wrote:

Orange juice is now more than $6/gallon.

crude oil hit a record high $119.90 on Tuesday, before dipping in line with the recovering US currency.

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Putting aside for the moment all the nastiness of the fact that oil is a necessary evil in our current oil-based economy, how much of the current food price increases are directly related to increases in energy costs (primarily oil) and how much are they related to other factors, like changes in India and China, pure price speculation, devaluation of the dollar or efficiencies in agriculture?

Are food price increases 90% due to energy costs and 10% everything else? Or is it 40% energy costs and 60% everything else? What's the general consensus on the breakdown here?

Anyone care to throw some numbers down?

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rosborne979 wrote:

Putting aside for the moment all the nastiness of the fact that oil is a necessary evil in our current oil-based economy, how much of the current food price increases are directly related to increases in energy costs (primarily oil) and how much are they related to other factors, like changes in India and China, pure price speculation, devaluation of the dollar or efficiencies in agriculture?

Are food price increases 90% due to energy costs and 10% everything else? Or is it 40% energy costs and 60% everything else? What's the general consensus on the breakdown here?

Anyone care to throw some numbers down?

keepiing in mind that i am an extremist radical liberal, my take is that in comparing commodity prices along with gold, there has been almost unmeasurably low increase in cost which, to me is indicative of the fact that the devaluation of the dollar accounts for 90% (increase in energy costs) , the remaining 10% to misc factors.

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It must be a growing burden for Dys, a reasonable, rational man of generally moderate views, to maintain this cranky, irascable and radical image - in the face of the accumulating evidence of his even temper, good heart and right understanding.

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What are the causes? Simple supply and demand. Too many hungry people demanding to eat stuff... which is earmarked as our vital machine food, i.e biofuel for cars.

Most inconsiderate of them if you ask me. Why cant they just starve quietly somewhere?

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There you go, Steve!! Once the Chinese stopped eating rice and started
eating our westernized food, the demand has increased tremendously,
dto. for fuel consumption.

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georgeob1 wrote:

It must be a growing burden for Dys, a reasonable, rational man of generally moderate views, to maintain this cranky, irascable and radical image - in the face of the accumulating evidence of his even temper, good heart and right understanding.

I'm taking that as a compliment and suggesting that Georgeob is over-dosing on his pain meds.

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Morphine always produces that effect...

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I noticed too that George has become quite mellow in recent days.

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Steve 41oo wrote:

What are the causes? Simple supply and demand. Too many hungry people demanding to eat stuff... which is earmarked as our vital machine food, i.e biofuel for cars.

The recent spike in prices are an anomaly in the last 20 year period. It seems reasonable to assume that something has changed recently to cause such a spike in prices.

Supply and Demand can't have changed that much in such a short time.

I think this spike is driven by economics, not supply and demand.

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The preconvictions of one's friends are truly a heavy burden.

It's not morphine - just a "mild" dose of Oxycontin, though I am fast weaning myself of it. (Sometimes hard to do that, with the ministrations of a very aggressive physical therapist in the offing.)

Calamity may be right - I have noticed some 'mellowing'. I think it may be an effect of the extended physical inactivity. Hard workouts produce their own kind of tranquility, but, in an odd way, they also coarsen one's sensitivities. I just got back from a "walk" with my 5 year old grand daughter, who imagines she is a doctor and supervising "Papa's" recovery. I loved it - even more than I would have a few months ago.

However, Francis can still get to me. :wink:

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There you go, George. I'm sure your wife isn't complaining either of
your new found mellow ways.

rosborne979 wrote:

Quote:

Supply and Demand can't have changed that much in such a short time.

I think this spike is driven by economics, not supply and demand.

It actually has been a gradual process, rosborne. I go shopping every
week and have noticed a steady increase in my bill while buying the
same items.

One definitely underestimates the ever increasing demand for food in
high population countries like China and India.

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Quote:

One definitely underestimates the ever increasing demand for food in
high population countries like China and India.

Yep, and the more the dollar weakens, the more attractive exports look. Hopefully, the same dollar will stimulate manufactoring and other value added process in the U.S., but with the dollar encouraging exports and discouraging imports, food prices will be under pressure for awhile.

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CHICAGO (Reuters) - The U.S. Federal Reserve is expected to put an exclamation point on its string of interest- rate cuts with a small reduction this week.
Oy.....how much lower will this drop the dollar?

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georgeob1 wrote:

It's not morphine - just a "mild" dose of Oxycontin, though I am fast weaning myself of it. (Sometimes hard to do that, with the ministrations of a very aggressive physical therapist in the offing.)/quote]

Don't worry about it. I expressed a similar concern to my doctor last year. He said to not worry. With all the narcotics I was currently taking, plus what I had received in the hospital, I was already addicted, and would have no trouble leaving the drugs behind when I didn't need them.

I know the meaning of "aggressive physical therapy". Take the dope; you'll get more out of the therapy.

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dyslexia wrote:

CHICAGO (Reuters) - The U.S. Federal Reserve is expected to put an exclamation point on its string of interest- rate cuts with a small reduction this week.
Oy.....how much lower will this drop the dollar?

Yes, in order to bail out the banks with their self inflicted foreclosure crisis, we're not lowering the interest rate only, but our economy experts have no prevision. I swear, every time Bernanke talks, all financial hell breaks loose. Evil or Very Mad

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Food costs/prices rising, what are the causes?

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