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| Wheat Stocks at 60 Year Low; Demand 'Inelastic' |
| 2008-02-12 |
| Posted by:phil_b |
| #3 I still maintain that the Soviet Union fell, to a great extent, because of expensive US wheat sales to them under Ronald Reagan. It drained them dry. you'd be the only one then... |
| Posted by: RD 2008-02-12 20:50 |
| #2 Few people realize the immense scale of American agribusiness. I took a class on it in college, and about the only thing it can be compared to is the US "military industrial complex", which blankets all populated regions of the US. For a time from the 1950s-1970 or so, only four countries produced that vast majority of the world's grains for export. The threat that eventually the world would demand to be fed by these four "or else" was a wake up call to the USDA. They began a program to create hundreds of varieties of food crops that would grow all over the world, to take the pressure off. Companies like Monsanto were subsidized to produce enormous amounts of these seed grains to sell or give to these other nations. In turn, Monsanto created the Roundup project, to produce a superior herbicide. Once they had done this, they produced hybrid plants that were immune to Roundup, so entire crops could be sprayed at once and only the weeds would die. Monsanto kept creating better grains than the USDA, which it was subsidized to sell. But because foreign countries would re-use their crops for seed, cutting Monsanto out entirely, Monsanto created the "Terminator" hybrids. Some of the best, most productive plants ever, but after two seasons, they would not produce viable seed. The third and fourth world screamed bloody murder, demanding that Monsanto continue to give them stuff for free, or at least ridiculously cheap. Ungrateful bastards. But never underestimate the power of US agribusiness. I still maintain that the Soviet Union fell, to a great extent, because of expensive US wheat sales to them under Ronald Reagan. It drained them dry. |
| Posted by: Anonymoose 2008-02-12 19:56 |
| #1 They left out the disastrous conversion of corn into bio-fuel in the US. This adds to the pressure on wheat. Inflation will be fueled by rising meat and grain prices. The Corporate farmers will profit and the World will pay. It's a zero sum game. Converting food to fuel is D U M P dumb! |
| Posted by: GolfBravoUSMC 2008-02-12 17:45 |