Editor’s Note: Daily Reckoning editor Bill Bonner thinks it’s time to get out of the cattle business – why bother with meat when corn prices are sky-high?
Editors Note: At least 29 countries have limited food exports in recent months, according to The New York Times, pushing already record food prices around the world even higher. Could it be time to consider investing in genetically-modified foods?
When it comes to rice, India, Vietnam, China and 11 other countries have limited or banned exports. Fifteen countries, including Pakistan and Bolivia, have capped or halted wheat exports. More than a dozen have limited corn exports. Kazakhstan has restricted exports of sunflower seeds.
The restrictions are making it harder for impoverished importing countries to afford the food they need. The export limits are forcing some of the most vulnerable people, those who rely on relief agencies, to go hungry.
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Editor’s Note: Corn prices have hit record highs today and commodities expert Kevin Kerr says they are only going higher. High fuel costs are pushing food prices higher. Kevin says the solution is to think locally. Food sources will need to be closer to the final consumers. The old way is simply not sustainable anymore…
Renewed Midwest rains has corn and soybean prices through the roof, reports AP. Corn prices and soybean prices hit all-time highs following more heavy rains in Midwestern states, which left replanted crops once again under water.
Clusterfuck Nation author James Howard Kunstler, writing in The Daily Reckoning Australia, has an apocalyptic view of the future of US agribusiness — based as it is on “cheap oil and cheap natural-gas-based fertizer.” James says it will take a convulsion it will be dragged kicking-and-screaming into a new reality. Meanwhile, Americans are entering a season of food hoarding…
Corn prices surged to a record high today following flooding the Midwest.
Reuters reports that “front month July corn on the Chicago Board of Trade rose to a contract high of $7.57-3/4 a bushel, up more than 3.5 percent from Friday’s close, while July 2009 soared to an all-time peak of $8.07.”
Get ready to pay through the nose for food, says Brian Hunt in DailyWealth:
The states of Iowa and Illinois are the world capitals of corn production. Over 27 million acres there are devoted to growing corn.
The world keeps turning and the resources get used up. It’s really quite simple.
When I was growing up, it never mattered how bad my day went or which concert I might have missed, because there would always be rice, beans, and meat on the table every night.
Stocks Sideways as Earnings Reports Await… Gold Shrugs off IMF Sale Report… Dire Forecast From World’s No. 2 Oil Producer… Food Riots in Africa, Caribbean…and a Worrisome Sign in New York City… Kerr’s Farmer Contacts Bring Bad Tidings on Ethanol Plants, 2008 Crops.