[PEN-L] Peak food?

http://leiterreports.typepad.com/blog/2006/09/peak_food_helli.html Food supplies are shrinking alarmingly around the globe, plunging the world into its greatest crisis for more than 30 years. New figures show that this year's harvest will fail to produce enough to feed everyone on Earth, for the s

[PEN-L] Peak food

A guy came into the food co-op today to pick up his four 25-pound sacks of wheat. He advised me to "pick up a couple of sacks of wheat for yourself and store them in your basement." So I took a look at recent news stories on agricultural commodity prices. Prices are soaring. Every kind of planted c

Re: [PEN-L] Peak food?

http://leiterreports.typepad.com/blog/2006/09/peak_food_helli.html Food supplies are shrinking alarmingly around the globe, plunging the world into its greatest crisis for more than 30 years. New figures show that this year's harvest will fail to produce enough to feed everyone on Earth, for the

Re: [PEN-L] Peak food?

raghu wrote: ...while much of the food is thrown away for the amusement of the rich. . The other part of the reply I received from Travs T. Hipp in regard to the congratulatory note I sent: Industry dinner, two hundred for dinner, filet mignion etc, eight to a table, I was the only one who fin

Re: [PEN-L] Peak food?

raghu wrote: > ...while much of the food is thrown away for the amusement of the rich. . The other part of the reply I received from Travs T. Hipp in regard to the congratulatory note I sent: > Industry dinner, two hundred for dinner, filet mignion etc, eight to a > table, I was the only one who

Re: [PEN-L] Peak food?

On 9/8/06, raghu <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: Part of that discarded food is apparently making grizzly bears slothful and overweight. Because of the negative impact on the bears, they are making a big effort to keep bears from eating discarded human food (by using extra-tough garbage cans, etc.)

Re: [PEN-L] Peak food?

On Fri, Sep 08, 2006 at 04:07:29PM -0400, ravi wrote: > http://leiterreports.typepad.com/blog/2006/09/peak_food_helli.html > > Food supplies are shrinking alarmingly around the globe, plunging the > world into its greatest crisis for more than 30 years. New figures show > that this year's harvest w

Re: [PEN-L] Peak food?

Michael Perelman wrote: There are environmental constraints coupled with an irrational system that does little to channel resources to where they are most needed. So we have the same problem that the United States based during the Depression: starving people and too much food. , Here's som

[PEN-L] peak food again

Here is a different take on the subject. Daryll Ray might be the most effective pro-small farmer ag. economist. Ray, Daryll E. 2006. "On Accelerating Without Brakes." MidAmerica Farmer Grower, Vol. 23, No. 33 (18 August).

Re: [PEN-L] Peak food

On Feb 17, 2008 9:47 PM, Sandwichman <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > A guy came into the food co-op today to pick up his four 25-pound > sacks of wheat. He advised me to "pick up a couple of sacks of wheat > for yourself and store them in your basement." So I took a look at > recent news stories on ag

Re: [PEN-L] Peak food

is that "peak food" or a run-up of food prices due to the ethanol boom? On Feb 18, 2008 12:47 AM, Sandwichman <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > A guy came into the food co-op today to pick up his four 25-pound > sacks of wheat. He advised me to "pick up a couple of sacks of wheat > for yourself and sto

Re: [PEN-L] Peak food

A couple of thoughts. The extreme drought in Australia has severely impacted that large producer of wheat. The US boom in ethanol has driven US corn prices soaring. And the switch to corn raised soybean prices. Having acknowledged that, I would add that actual agricultural commodity cost

Re: [PEN-L] Peak food

If prices rise, doesn't it put some of the marginal corn producers back in the game? I'm thinking about Mexico. Eugene Coyle wrote: A couple of thoughts. The extreme drought in Australia has severely impacted that large producer of wheat. The US boom in ethanol has driven US corn prices soari

Re: [PEN-L] Peak food

On 2/18/08, Eugene Coyle <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Having acknowledged that, I would add that actual agricultural > commodity costs are not the most important component of what we call > "food" prices at the supermarket. Two points, though. One is that the demand for the basic food comm

Re: [PEN-L] Peak food

The Blessed Max wrote: > If prices rise, doesn't it put some of the marginal corn producers back > in the game? > I'm thinking about Mexico. it's possible that it could intensify the incentive for the rich to steal the poor's land. -- Jim Devine / "Segui il tuo corso, e lascia dir le genti." (Go y

Re: [PEN-L] Peak food

Have many already lost their land? On Mon, Feb 18, 2008 at 02:24:24PM -0500, Max B. Sawicky wrote: > If prices rise, doesn't it put some of the marginal corn producers back > in the game? > I'm thinking about Mexico. > -- Michael Perelman Economics Department California State University Chico, CA

Re: [PEN-L] Peak food

I don't know. Gene On Feb 18, 2008, at 12:02 PM, Sandwichman wrote: On 2/18/08, Eugene Coyle <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: Having acknowledged that, I would add that actual agricultural commodity costs are not the most important component of what we call "food" prices at the supermarket.

Re: [PEN-L] Peak food

On Feb 18, 2008 12:02 PM, Sandwichman <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > respond to changes in price. Normally, the credit system and futures > market would have an important role to play in managing the financial > risks associated with such rapid increases in prices. I thought the credit system and

Re: [PEN-L] Peak food

In the current situation of rapidly rising food prices, I think one has to consider both the factors affecting supply and demand (separately) and also the short and the long run factors affected future projected food prices. The current run up in prices have been attributed primarily to the Austr

Re: [PEN-L] Peak food

Paul gave some excellent warnings. Don't forget water shortages, elimination of ag. land via urbanization, and the poor treatment of the remaining ag. land. Michael Perelman Economics Department California State University michael at ecst.csuchico.edu Chico, CA 95929 530-898-5321 fax 530-898-590

Re: [PEN-L] Peak food

isn't the rising cost of energy content of modern agriculture specifically rising oil prices partly responsible for the rise in food prices? - Original Message From: "Perelman, Michael" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: PEN-L@SUS.CSUCHICO.EDU Sent: Tuesday, February 19, 2008 2:10:58 AM Subject: R

Re: [PEN-L] Peak food

This depends Michael. You are right when you talk about highly processed foods but quite wrong when talking about fresh foods like meat, fruits and vegetables. The retail margins are considerably higher on these items but that is because of the high cost of maintaining goods freshness and their

Re: [PEN-L] Peak food

Yes, but production costs are a relatively small part of most food costs compared to profits, distribution, marketing On Mon, Feb 18, 2008 at 11:48:38PM -0800, soula avramidis wrote: > isn't the rising cost of energy content of modern agriculture specifically > rising oil prices partly resp

Re: [PEN-L] Peak food

I think that was what I specifically said in my longer comment, but it is not just the higher cost of energy of modern agriculture, but increasingly, the higher energy content and cost of processing foods and moving them increasingly longer distances. Paul Phillips soula avramidis wrote: isn't

Re: [PEN-L] Peak food

I'd agree with you, Jim If any food type is being 'diverted' for ethanol production and the cost of that food price rises as a result, people are going to switch to other staples, thus causing an increase in demand and the resultant price hike. Or, seen in a more simplistic way, land that was pro

Re: [PEN-L] Peak food

this brings me to whatever is going to happen to real wages (w/p) where p is determined by mark-up and the degree of monopoly or market imperfection in the broader sense. to use one analytical tool from kalecki: w/p=Q/kL-fF/pL, where k is the degree of monopoly, f is the price of imported materi

Re: [PEN-L] Peak food

Agricultural populists have argued this way since the mid 1800s. For a brief moment they made common cause with the striking railroad workers, but for the most part the connection has not been made by urban workers. On Wed, Feb 20, 2008 at 03:17:41AM -0800, soula avramidis wrote: > this brings

Re: [PEN-L] Peak food

I just like kalecki s equation. it shows in the typical classical sense that price markup and degree of monpoly ie profits lower proportionatly the real wage. moreover since prices are in the purview of capital workers can only raise their nominal thru union activity. _

Re: [PEN-L] Peak food

soula avramidis wrote: > ... moreover since prices are in the purview of > capital workers can only raise their nominal thru > union activity. Kalecki's equation is often interpreted as saying that all unions can do is raise money wages. Since the boss simply adds a mark-up to unit labor costs, ra

Re: [PEN-L] peak food again

Yes, but before the payments went through the roof -- and remain on top of the roof -- the "Freedom to Farm" bill had to be repealed by the conservatives. Repealed but not repudiated. The latter would have meant repudiating the market and no one wanted that. Gene Coyle On Sep 8, 2006, at 8:1