Prices up in your area?

[ScottA]

I've been noticing sharp increases in prices at the grocery store since the first of the year. It was very bad this week with over half our usual items up in price, some by as much as 50%. I'd say prices overall for groceries have risen 20% since the first of January. Anyone else seeing this or is just a local thing here? Also propane is up by $.35 a gallon since November.

[StinkerBell]

Did you say INFLATION?

[desdawg]

At least in part you can thank your favorite oil company. Everything sold in those stores is transported by diesel guzzling truck. The rest of the country may be in recession mode but the oil companies are flying high. Thank you George W.

[glenn kangiser]

Oil companies own this administration.

Food prices were forecast to increase sharply several months ago.  Thank big farms having a bit more of a monopoly also.  Hug your local small farmer.

Drew is up digging ditches today -- probably have to wait until tomorrow night to give him that group hug.

...and I'm off prospecting.

[Willy]

Feed has taken a real jump and when you have around 200 animals it will raise the price of meat big time. Fuel to get the feed, raise and cut the hay ect and the end of all this is on the consumers backs. No extra profet for us we just have to get back what we spend to raise it. Mark

[Homegrown Tomatoes]

I notice it when I go to the grocery store, too.  We usually try to spend no more than $200 a month on food, but lately it's been harder to do.  The last time I went to the store, I spent over $100 and only got about three and a half bags of groceries.

[ScottA]

Ok I wasn't imagining it. It's official.

World wide food shortage.
http://articles.moneycentral.msn.com/Investing/SuperModels/CouldWeReallyRunOutOfFood.aspx

[benevolance]

well

One of the big problems is the fact that much of America has been experiencing severe drought...the southeast the last few years just got no rain...a bale of hay in the the carolinas is as much as $10-12 per bale folks! This is insane!!!! Should be 2 bucks a bale...

Oil plays a big part... but no rain means what little does grow will be twice as expensive

[Homegrown Tomatoes]

I've really felt the difference in prices since we moved.  Groceries in OK now compare with what we paid in WI.  When we moved up there three years ago, it seemed like WI was terribly expensive, but now the prices in this area are pretty comparable, only the sales tax is higher, so we end up paying as much if not more than at our favorite store in WI.  The good thing is that the grocery store here is really within walking distance should I decide to walk.

[muldoon]

There are a number of factors here that are working against us. 

Production of ethanol has made the cost of corn go nuts.  Farmers have abandoned other crops to plant corn which has made their prices increase do to supply and demand. 

Also, yes, there is a wheat shortage:
http://news.google.com/news?hl=en&q=wheat+shortage&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&tab=wn

Yes, beef has increased in price because it is more expensive to feed them. 
http://www.usnews.com/articles/news/2008/03/07/the-growing-food-cost-crisis.html
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/05/washington/05cnd-energy.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

However that's not the only reason.  You have to consider the other factors involved and how they relate. 

Instead of saying the cost of food is going up.  You can also say it another way .. the same amount of food requires more money to buy.  Take that to Why does it take more dollars to buy food and then to why is the *value* of my dollar decreasing.  It applies to food, to oil, to gold, to anything that is traded internationally on a commodity market. 

If you want to see the value of our dollar decreasing we can watch it in near real time at the DX chart:
http://quotes.ino.com/chart/?s=NYBOT_dx

As oil gets more expensive the cost to transport food gets more expensive.  The cost of the fertiliser gets more expensive.  The electricity needed to keep the food fresh gets more expensive. 

Anyway, one last point to make is that I dont think this is inflation at all as was suggested above.  Inflation is a monetary term that relates to an increased amount of money in the system which drives up prices because everyone has more to spend.  Does that sound like anyone you know in the last 3 months?  It certainly is not the banks with the money, for that information just go look at the data made available from the Federal Reserve:

http://research.stlouisfed.org/fred2/series/BOGNONBR?rid=19
http://research.stlouisfed.org/fred2/series/BORROW?rid=19

Yes, those are negative numbers.  Huge ones. 

[peternap]

I'm beginning to like you Muldoon. You don't own a 45/70 by any chance, do you?

There are some simple ways around the current prices..... on food  anyway. Not completely legal everywhere...but workable.

I get beef on the hoof from neighboring farms that don't get what they consider fair market anyway. Part of the deal is I let them cut hay on my property that I only use to feed the game. They get discount feed and paid for the beef....and they don't have to transport them to the stockyard.  I have to do  little butchering but that's not a big deal.

Get eggs and milk direct from the farmers. Just be careful how you approach them. The FDA isn't keen on the idea. Vegetables, grow em or get them direct from a nearby truck farmer. Fuel savings will go a long way this year.

[ScottA]

Peter the wife and I where discussing how to do sorta like you are doing on food. We want to take the grocery out of the loop to some extent so we are looking at setting up to self produced food in the comming years. In years past it was hard to justify because the store was almost cheaper than rasing your own but I think thats changing fast.

[peternap]

You may well see a lot more of this in the coming year Scott. It's certainly not a new idea. Some of my most cherished memories from my early childhood are of butchering day. It was a community event as well as how everyone stocked up for winter.

While I stop short of saying I admire the Mormons, I certainly have a lot of respect for them. They have the Mormon store in most areas where the buy in bulk and sell to members. If Fellow Mormons can't pay, they still eat.

The Mennonites where I grew up have a strong communal community and share their harvests. Many groups do this on the barter system and that's the best of all worlds to me. Need help with a project, lend a hand on another one.

God did not create the world around the incredible shrinking dollar.

[Willy]

You may well see a lot more of this in the coming year Scott. It's certainly not a new idea. Some of my most cherished memories from my early childhood are of butchering day. It was a community event as well as how everyone stocked up for winter.

While I stop short of saying I admire the Mormons, I certainly have a lot of respect for them. They have the Mormon store in most areas where the buy in bulk and sell to members. If Fellow Mormons can't pay, they still eat.

The Mennonites where I grew up have a strong communal community and share their harvests. Many groups do this on the barter system and that's the best of all worlds to me. Need help with a project, lend a hand on another one.

God did not create the world around the incredible shrinking dollar.

That is how we make ends meet. We also trade beef for things. We sell hanging beef for $1.65 a lb also and it is sure nice having over 1,000 lbs of meat in the freezer to pick thru. We raise a lot of our own food and don't worry what is in our meat when we cook it. Mark

[tanya]

Food prices are higher and quality has gone so far downhill it's embarassing.  I feel blessed that I  have the opportunity to grow some of my own food, and I am feeling a little guilty that I think I might have to shoot some deer and turkeys this year.  I could/would/should raise my own chickens, pigs, and cow but I don't like the responsibility of raising animals.  The few animals I have are plenty, and they need food too.  I paid $15 per bale of alfalfa all winter long and this is hay country.  I don't know how people get by.  I know families that have children is school and they get the breakfast and lunch programs but they will really have to stretch their food dollars this summer.   And I see on the TV that things are going better in Iraq and they have theatre now etc.  Idon't care, nice if they need theatre they should have it but they should be the ones responsible for getting it not US soldiers!!!  The US invovlement was successfully finished when they took out Saddam and his sons.  PERIOD!!!  After that the Iraqi people had an obligation to themselves to make democracy happen.  Another country can't just come int here and do that for them.  They are not doing it, not because they are lazy or inept but because their culture is a completely diferent culture.  They are tribal warriors from centuries back they fight for what they see as theirs and for what they want in the name of religion.  So now we have been led into this fight by Bush/Cheney and there is only one way to leave maybe two.  First get UN backing to fully secure Iraq, bring the soldiers home while letting democratic peacekeeping endeavors continue.  Second bring our soldiers home and give them an ultimatum that they get their areas cleaned up or we can't continue supporting such a mess.  Then we can have a better economy, there has to be a huge reinvestment in putting US workers back to work at sustainable wages though.  The economic stimulus packages are doing nothing to stimulate the economy long term the only thing that will do that is more jobs with sustainable wages. 

[Sassy]

Here's something that's sure to raise prices...   http://www.cfiflistmanager.org/hugotaxbreak1be.html

    "Last week, the House passed H.R. 5351, a bill that will jack up the prices that you and I pay at the pump for gasoline through the imposition of an $18 billion dollar tax increase!

    Then they turned around and EXEMPTED HUGO CHAVEZ'S STATE-RUN OIL COMPANY, CITGO, FROM THE TAX!"