[Rod_Cloutier]

Here we go. The other shoe is about to fall:

http://www.cbc.ca/money/story/2010/09/0 ... wheat.html

They were able to keep a lid on the price of oil only by creating an artificial recession to suppress demand. Now as oil continues to diminsh even with reduced demand the other shoe of collapse is about to fall.

[Pops]

Yea, corn's over $5 and the harvest that was looking pretty good now looks lo be down from expectations - corn stocks are low, La Nina makes N&S America droughty and of course China is buying.

[Plantagenet]

[Sixstrings]

It could hit us hard, but will never be as bad as others in the world. Countries like Bulgaria, where something like 50% of their income goes to food. And Asia of course, India, Pakistan, Africa, Mexico and South America.

[Tanada]

It could hit us hard, but will never be as bad as others in the world. Countries like Bulgaria, where something like 50% of their income goes to food. And Asia of course, India, Pakistan, Africa, Mexico and South America.

I guess you missed the fact that we live in a global market and are up to our eyebrows in foreign debt? Has it never occurred to you that China et al can demand to be paid in grain instead of paper to repay that debt? Similar things have taken place many times in many places over the path of human history.

[wisconsin_cur]

As far as I know there is nothing in the contract giving them a grain option and the dollar is not back by grain.

They can demand whatever they like but in the end we are liable to see bilateral agreements, much as China has done with oil supplies. Sure, well, send you some but this is what we want (rare earth metals or some of those oil contracts).

In the end, however, I imagine we will help out friends before we will help out an uppity rival.

[Pops]

This of course makes me wonder again how long before some "emergency" brings more price controls from the government. 39% of US corn is turned into ethanol (from a Todays Farmer article) it's becoming a strategic resource.

Not that it matters to average Joe any more than what gov does to EXXON, more and more banks/investors own and rent out the farmland, Monsanto et.al. own the crop from seed to seed and ADM/Cargil buy it up and sell to the highest bidder, all the risk is on the farmer who otherwise is just a tractor operator - and most of that is done by GPS.