Grocery Shopping

[R. Richard]

I do my own grocery shopping. Each time I go to the supermarket, I see a few more prices higher.

I work for a man who's heavy into commodities futures. He tells me that ther prices of most basic commodities have doubled in 2010. If corn, wheat, rice and cooking oil double, the price of food will continue to rise.

Yes, this is a porn board. However, even porn authors need to eat. If you don't like spending more and more of your money on food, I suggest thaqt you talk with your elected representatives and let them know of your concern. (Don't start your presentation with, "Look, you stupid son-of-a-bitch/bitch!" For whatever reason it tends to upset people.)

If you wanna back your rep into a corner, ask, "Why do you encourage the use of corn to make automobile fuel? It isn't efficient and it runs food prices up. If you must use biofuel, use bagasse as a source. Why not?"

 

[sr71plt]

I don't do my grocery shopping.

I've been curious. Why is the werewolf in your avatar brandishing a carrot?

 

[R. Richard]

I don't do my grocery shopping.

I've been curious. Why is the werewolf in your avatar brandishing a carrot?

You still pay for the food you eat.

It's not a carrot, it's a sword.

 

[sr71plt]

You still pay for the food you eat.

It's not a carrot, it's a sword.

I'm pretty sure my wife pays for the groceries out of her money.

No, it's clearly a carrot. If it was sold to you as a sword, I'm afraid you got taken.

 

[R. Richard]

I'm pretty sure my wife pays for the groceries out of her money.

No, it's clearly a carrot. If it was sold to you as a sword, I'm afraid you got taken.

Then, as long as you don't actually see the money go, high food prices don't bother you? An interesting viewpoint. However, in third world countries, where it often requires a majority of a family's income to buy food, they do care. In fact, they even riot.

A red carrot? You do need to check out the supermarket.

 

[sr71plt]

Then, as long as you don't actually see the money go, high food prices don't bother you? An interesting viewpoint. However, in third world countries, where it often requires a majority of a family's income to buy food, they do care. In fact, they even riot.

A red carrot? You do need to check out the supermarket.

In my computer's view, the carrot is definitely orange. Oh, well, at least the werewolf will have something to eat.

(How many red swords have you seen, incidentally?)

Come to think of it, I do believe I've see more red carrots than red swords:

http://www.google.com/images?rlz=1T...tle&resnum=2&ved=0CDcQsAQwAQ&biw=1003&bih=515

 

[1sickbastard]

I do my own grocery shopping. Each time I go to the supermarket, I see a few more prices higher.

I work for a man who's heavy into commodities futures. He tells me that ther prices of most basic commodities have doubled in 2010. If corn, wheat, rice and cooking oil double, the price of food will continue to rise.

Yes, this is a porn board. However, even porn authors need to eat. If you don't like spending more and more of your money on food, I suggest thaqt you talk with your elected representatives and let them know of your concern. (Don't start your presentation with, "Look, you stupid son-of-a-bitch/bitch!" For whatever reason it tends to upset people.)

If you wanna back your rep into a corner, ask, "Why do you encourage the use of corn to make automobile fuel? It isn't efficient and it runs food prices up. If you must use biofuel, use bagasse as a source. Why not?"

Using corn as fuel is only a small part of the problem (okay, it was a big problem in Mexico a few years back when a sudden spike in corn prices hit the population HARD)
More of it directly relates to the price of oil & gas.
After the advent of the Green-Revolution (not talking about enviromentalists here, okay?), agriculture became inditrialized agribusiness. Uses of heavy machinery and petrotium based fertilizers, herbacides & pesticides led to a massive explosion in productivity.
Maintaining that productivity is ENTIRELY dependent on petrolium. Oil is now a basic requirment for food production. And with most businesses, if costs rice to produce, those costs are passed on to the consumer.
And the use of corn for ethinol isn't just in the US. In more than a few 3rd world countries, agriculture has been moving away from food production to growing crops that produce plant-based fuel. Ex; Brazil uses a huge amout of sugar cane for fuel production, Plantaions in the tropics have moved to palm-oil production, etc.
Even using farmland in the US to produce bagesse or switchgrass means that land isn't being used for food production.
The solution-
Don't ask me, I got nothing.
Possibly the world is entering into the first real Malthusian Crisis. There's very little arable land left to be developed. Much of the arable land has entered into declining production as the soils are being depleted.
Switching to organics isn't a solution either, unless one is willing to let 2-3 billion people starve to death. Then again, world-wide starvation may be unavoidable.
Possibly world-wide populations will decline due to increasing urbanization & education for women, which has already reduced the worldwide rate of natural increase to 2.56-zero gain increase rate is 2.1. Below that and population declines on its own.

Oh, and I thought your beastie was carring some sort of chili pepper...

 

[lovecraft68]

I'm pretty sure my wife pays for the groceries out of her money.

No, it's clearly a carrot. If it was sold to you as a sword, I'm afraid you got taken.

Oh get serious it is obviously a flaming sword. As for groceries bulk is the way to go. Invest in an extra freezer and go to wholesale clubs like BJ's and Sam's clubs. Stock up so during tight weeks you don;t have to spend.

 

[lovecraft68]

Then, as long as you don't actually see the money go, high food prices don't bother you? An interesting viewpoint. However, in third world countries, where it often requires a majority of a family's income to buy food, they do care. In fact, they even riot.

A red carrot? You do need to check out the supermarket.

Don;t worry I set him straight. It's a flaming sword.

 

[Stella_Omega]

I've been searching futilely for this source, but I remember reading that the Chinese, in Confucius's time, were very very concerned with over-population-- Marco Polo commented on the emptiness of the landscape, devoid of sprawling peasent villages that he was used to in Europe. Some dignitary told him that even so, there were too many people on the land.

I always thought it was a chili pepper pretending to be a sword.

 

[sr71plt]

Don;t worry I set him straight. It's a flaming sword.

So, has RR written a story about his werewolf with the red carrot here on Literotica? Because I sure would like to read that. Link, please.

 

[R. Richard]

Using corn as fuel is only a small part of the problem (okay, it was a big problem in Mexico a few years back when a sudden spike in corn prices hit the population HARD)
More of it directly relates to the price of oil & gas.
After the advent of the Green-Revolution (not talking about enviromentalists here, okay?), agriculture became inditrialized agribusiness. Uses of heavy machinery and petrotium based fertilizers, herbacides & pesticides led to a massive explosion in productivity.
Maintaining that productivity is ENTIRELY dependent on petrolium. Oil is now a basic requirment for food production. And with most businesses, if costs rice to produce, those costs are passed on to the consumer.
And the use of corn for ethinol isn't just in the US. In more than a few 3rd world countries, agriculture has been moving away from food production to growing crops that produce plant-based fuel. Ex; Brazil uses a huge amout of sugar cane for fuel production, Plantaions in the tropics have moved to palm-oil production, etc.
Even using farmland in the US to produce bagesse or switchgrass means that land isn't being used for food production.
The solution-
Don't ask me, I got nothing.
Possibly the world is entering into the first real Malthusian Crisis. There's very little arable land left to be developed. Much of the arable land has entered into declining production as the soils are being depleted.
Switching to organics isn't a solution either, unless one is willing to let 2-3 billion people starve to death. Then again, world-wide starvation may be unavoidable.
Possibly world-wide populations will decline due to increasing urbanization & education for women, which has already reduced the worldwide rate of natural increase to 2.56-zero gain increase rate is 2.1. Below that and population declines on its own.

Oh, and I thought your beastie was carring some sort of chili pepper...

The solution is to use food for food, not motor fuel. If you need cleaner motor fuel, use natural gas. (Dune buggies do and it works.)

As to raising more food. The solution, fought by many, is genetically modified food crops. Actually, all current major food crops are genetically modified. The people who raise food crops have been modifying the genetics of the crops that they raise by selecting the variants that produce more and better of what they want, over the centuries. (AFAIK, all of the Hass avocados in the world can be traced back to one tree, in a vacant lot orchard of a Mr. Hass, in SoCal.)

Genetically modified crops, raised with fertilizer and irrigation can produce the food we need. Next, what is needed is a food distribution system. (The US has a good one. Russia let's much of their food crop rot in the field, because they don't have a good food distribution system.)

Food is getting more and more expensive and will continue to do so. The first world countries are debasing their currencies and that can only make food more expensive.

 

[oggbashan]

Weather anomalies have also affected the prices of food.

The floods in Australia, in Pakistan, in Bangladesh, in China - have all affected cereal production. In Russia the cereal harvest last year was poor. In parts of Africa drought or unseasonal rain have affected their harvests leading to famine and higher prices for the food that is available.

You don't need to blame systemic long-term climate change for the poor crops, just a series of recent weather patterns that have damaged yields.

The world's economy is so inter-related that a large-scale crop failure in China or Russia will force prices of that crop up globally.

A glut of a particular crop can also affect prices. If farmers can't sell crop A, next year they'll grow crop B, if they can. Then crop A might be in short supply, and crop B has a glut...

As far as food prices in the US (and the UK) are concerned, a major factor is the relative value of the dollar and pound against other countries. A low dollar means US exports are cheaper for someone else to buy, but imports are more expensive.

To save money on food there are several possibilities:

1. Grow your own, but be aware of the true cost of your produce. If you produce 50lbs of tomatoes, all ripe within a couple of weeks, and you can't use more than 5lbs then that 5lb bears the whole cost.

2. Buy foods in season, preferably as close to the source as possible. For example I can buy cauliflowers from the field for 20 pence each, from a farm shop at 50 pence each, from a local greengrocer at 75 pence each and from a supermarket at one pound and fifty pence - for the same product.

3. Buy fruit and vegetables for their taste, not their appearance. Class II fruit, particularly if it is fruit that is peeled, may look worse than Class I but taste the same.

4. Buy supermarket brand products instead of major brands unless the supermarket brand is markedly inferior. Today we bought some tins of chopped tomatoes at 33 pence. We could have paid 56 pence for the same size tin but we know from experience that we can't tell the difference between the branded product and the supermarket brand.

5. Buy in bulk when in season and/or on offer and store - if you have suitable space. There is a limit on what is sensible. Don't buy a year's supply of something that has a shelf-life of six months. Don't buy anything that you won't use just because it is cheap.

Og

 

[JuanVato]

Yes, some prices are going up.
Whenever fuel goes up, so do food prices.

I mostly eat from the produce and fresh meat sections so I have been watching those prices rise over the past few months.

 

[DarianBlack]

Don;t worry I set him straight. It's a flaming sword.

...Wait. That carrot is a sword?


Anywho, about the topic...

*shrugs* We'll either figure something out, or we wont. And we'll either live, or we'll die.

If someone offers me a gun and tells me "Hey, I FINALLY figured out a way to fix the world's problems!" I'll listen. Sceptically.

And take the gun anyways >.>'

Other than that, what would you have us do? Write a politician? Go door to door trying to get people to "Become part of the solution?"

Meh.

I don't see the entire world banding together to try and fix the problems we're having. They just seem to create more and more and more. What it will come down to is what it always has - Someone will do something stupid, people will get killed, and things will level back out.

Or they wont.

 

[sr71plt]

I don't see the entire world banding together to try and fix the problems we're having. They just seem to create more and more and more. What it will come down to is what it always has - Someone will do something stupid, people will get killed, and things will level back out.

Or they wont.

But if a werewolf is willing to offer you a carrot, that's at least a start, isn't it?

 

[DarianBlack]

But if a werewolf is willing to offer you a carrot, that's at least a start, isn't it?

INdeed. When I see that carrot... a tear slips from my eye every time. That carrot stands for... Hope...

 

[Boxlicker101]

I don't do my grocery shopping.

I've been curious. Why is the werewolf in your avatar brandishing a carrot?

I thought it was an umbrella.

 

[trysail]

Coming soon..., to a store near you!

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/chart?h=200&w=280&range=1y&type=gp_line&cfg=BQuoteComp_10.xml&ticks=SPGSAG%3AIND&img=pnghttp://www.bloomberg.com/apps/chart?h=200&w=280&range=1y&type=gp_line&cfg=BQuoteComp_10.xml&ticks=FAOFOODI%3AIND&img=png
​

SPGSAG:IND S&P GSCI Agric Indx Spot
http://noir.bloomberg.com/apps/quote?ticker=SPGSAG:IND

FAOFOODI:IND FAO Food Price Index
http://noir.bloomberg.com/apps/quote?ticker=FAOFOODI:IND

FAO Food Price Index are constant trade weighted average of 55 agricultural commodity prices quoted internationally, obtained from secondary sources. Laspeyres Price 2002-2004=100

__________________


http://noir.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601110&sid=aeDp9DjABJQM


Corn, Soybean, Wheat Prices Surge as U.S. Cuts Supply Outlook
By Jeff Wilson and Whitney McFerron

Jan. 12 (Bloomberg) -- Corn and soybeans jumped to the highest prices since July 2008 and wheat surged after the government cut its forecasts of U.S. inventories, signaling tighter food supplies as demand increases and adverse weather reduces harvests.

Production of corn in the U.S., the world’s largest grain exporter, dropped 4.9 percent last year and will leave supply before the 2011 harvest at the lowest in 15 years, the U.S. Department of Agriculture said. The USDA also cut its estimate of the soybean crop by 1.4 percent and said domestic wheat inventories will be 16 percent less than a year earlier.

Corn, used mostly as livestock feed, has surged more than 60 percent in the past year, while soybeans and wheat advanced 45 percent. Wholesale world food prices tracked by the United Nations surged 25 percent last year to a record, fueled partly by rallies in grains and oilseeds. Exports of U.S. crops are headed to the highest ever, boosting farm income and profit for agriculture companies including Cargill Inc. and Deere & Co.

“There’s no room for error anymore” on farms around the world, said Dan Basse, the president of AgResouce Co., a commodity consultant in Chicago. “With any weather issues, we’re going to make new all-time highs in corn and soybeans, and to a lesser degree, wheat futures.”

Drought ruined wheat fields in Russia last year and too much rain diminished supplies of the grain from Canada. Adverse weather led to a drop in 2010 corn production in the U.S. and a smaller harvest of soybeans than expected, government data show.

Planting Pressure
“The pressure is acute, in terms of planting fence row to fence row, and really getting the message out to farmers that they need to be planting up their front yards,” Basse said today during a conference call with reporters and analysts.

Rising prices will increase global demand for fertilizer from Mosaic Co. and seeds from Monsanto Co. Reduced supplies of corn will increase expenses for meat companies and squeeze profit margins for makers of ethanol including Valero Energy Corp.

Corn futures for March delivery rose 23.5 cents, or 3.9 percent, to $6.305 a bushel at 10:14 a.m. on the Chicago Board of Trade. The price advanced as much as the exchange limit of 30 cents to $6.37, the highest since July 2008.

Soybean futures for March delivery soared 60 cents, or 4.4 percent, to $14.17 a bushel in Chicago, after rising by the exchange limit of 70 cents to $14.27, a 29-month high.

Wheat futures for March delivery jumped 19 cents, or 2.5 percent, to $7.785 a bushel, after earlier gaining 4.1 percent.

more...

 

[trysail]

Get ready— get your wheelbarrows, inflationary pressures are building. Between running the printing press and debasing the USD ( thereby importing inflation ), Bernanke and the Fed's irresponsibility are sowing the seeds of the whirlwind.

As of 11/7/10:

http://www.npr.org/news/graphics/2010/10/gr-grain_prices-300.gif​

 

[sr71plt]

Ah, we're saved. Trysail and his pilfered pie charts have arrived. Now we can just sit back and let the "see what I found on Google" reposters wallpaper this thread.

Maybe the werewolf will give Trysail a red carrot in gratitude.

 

[trysail]

Blah, blah, blah

You obviously never figured out why you've always been picked on throughout your entire life; it's fairly simple— it never had anything to do with what you thought— the problem was basic and right in front of your face: you're a full blown asshole. You've never understood that. It likely has deep roots in your lifelong insecurity which is projected as extreme narcissism and braggadocio.

You're right, nobody believes your laughable claims. It's a shame that you're a bit of a dimbulb, to boot. Worst of all, you're amazingly boring.

 

[LettersFromTatyana]

The US government spends millions of dollars collecting data... use it!

I'm not a food economist or policy expert, but if there is one thing I know, it is how to use a government data site!

The prices of certain food items might be increasing, but in general food inflation--like all inflation in the US--is fairly consistent, and low. Barring natural disasters, diseases, etc, it will probably stay that way. We're extremely lucky that we don't really have giant swings in our food prices.

Yeah, it's sometimes tempting to look at anecdotal evidence and draw conclusions (I do it, too), but food prices are not going to skyrocket--no need to panic! Traded commodity prices and supermarket prices are related, but it's not like there's a 100% match. And even the commodity graphs that trysail included are misleading; click on the 5yr tab, and you'll see a drastically different picture. Tufte would not be pleased.

If you are curious about actual food inflation, check out the USDA for a discussion about food prices:
http://www.ers.usda.gov/Briefing/CPIFoodAndExpenditures/

A direct quote from that link:
"The Consumer Price Index (CPI) for all food increased 0.8 percent in 2010 and is forecast to increase 2 to 3 percent in 2011. Food-at-home prices increased 0.3 percent, the lowest annual increase since 1967, while food-away-from-home prices rose 1.3 percent in 2010."

If you are truly nerdy (like me, ahem), you can have some real fun looking at old CPI data:
http://www.bls.gov/bls/inflation.htm
http://data.bls.gov/cgi-bin/dsrv?cu

You can chart food at home inflation back the 1950s, and see how stable the increase is (see the picture). Please note that the chart is in current dollars (since this is how the governmnet measures inflation, the numbers are obviously not adjusted for inflation, so they don't reflect your changing purchasing power).

PS-I hope this doesn't count as a "see what I found on google" post. Since I spend my days looking at government data sites, google was not involved in the creation of this post.

 

[sr71plt]

You obviously never figured out why you've always been picked on throughout your entire life; it's fairly simple— it never had anything to do with what you thought— the problem was basic and right in front of your face: you're a full blown asshole. You've never understood that. It likely has deep roots in your lifelong insecurity which is projected as extreme narcissism and braggadocio.

You're right, nobody believes your laughable claims. It's a shame that you're a bit of a dimbulb, to boot. Worst of all, you're amazingly boring.

Umm, no, I haven't been picked on my whole life. Have you always stolen someone else's writing and used it without their permission to avoid forming a thought of your own?

 

[squarejohn]

Crude oil, a few days ago, was $86.00 a barrel. That translates to a little more than $2.00 a gallon just for crude oil. The cost of refining it into gasoline and distributing it becomes the price you pay for gas now.

Riots over food prices in Tunisia and now Egypt, may lead to the closing of the Suez canal, which is controlled by Egypt. When the oil tanker traffic through the Suez canal stops, today's oil prices will seem like a bargain. Gasoline could--and probably will--easily reach $5.00 a gallon. Food prices will easily skyrocket.

We need to stop daydreaming about wind power and solar power and start drilling for our own oil, offshore and inland, right here in the USA. And start using corn as food instead of as second rate fuel.