Food Costs

In our Land of Plenty…

~ grant.gallagher ~ 1 Comment

… we have nothing to worry about. Food, cars, electricity, gasoline, toilet paper, are all available in abundance, with no fears about where our next roll of the soft white stuff will come from.

That is, until you go to the store or dealership and find out that shelves and car-lots are bare. Maybe not everything at the same time, but these shortages are popping up continually now. Something most of us have never encountered in our lifetime is suddenly staring us in the face. It’s irritating and inconvenient, but is it REALLY something to get worried about? We always manage to get by. Next year, the cars will be better and have even more exciting accessories. You’ve thought about trying a new brand of cracker and since your usual brand isn’t on the shelf, now’s the time. There isn’t any kernel canned corn, so it’s creamed corn today. You had your heart set on making a loaf of fresh bread, but there are no packets of yeast to be found. Little adjustments that are annoying but nothing to get upset about. But that’s today. What’s (not) in the stores tomorrow?

Let’s start with a few facts about food. In order to produce field crops, the ground has to be fertilized. Commercial production does not allow the sustainable and thoughtful rotation of crops from year to year. Smaller farms may be able to do this, but the big growers need all their land to produce, all the time. Specific crops have particular nutritional needs, and these have to be provided artificially on big farms. No problem, right? We can lay that fertilizer down in March for wheat and twice over the course of a few months for corn and our crops will be magnificent. Amber waves of grain!! Corn as high as an elephant’s eye on the fourth of July!!

Unless you can’t get the fertilizer. What happens then?

Take a minute to consider all the food areas that corn, wheat, rice and oil affect (hint: ‘moo’, ‘oink’, ‘cluck’). What does this mean to our ability to buy the food products we want? Well, nothing unless there is an interruption in sourcing fertilizer. How could this happen?

On April 19th of this year, U.S. fertilizer manufacturer CF Industries (CFI) advised its customers that railroad-mandated shipping reductions will result in nitrogen fertilizer shipment delays during the spring planting season. Union Pacific informed CFI, without advance notice, that it was mandating CFI and around 30 additional shippers, to reduce the volume of private cars on its railroad, effective immediately. Effectively, CFI was told to reduce its shipments by nearly 20%. Non-compliance, according to CFI, would result in the embargo of its facilities by Union Pacific. That means CFI will be unable to accept new rail sales involving Union Pacific customers for the foreseeable future.

As if that wasn’t bad enough, the USA is experiencing severely-restricted access to the source of fertilizers, too. Did you know the US receives about $10.3 billion worth of fertilizer from the Ukraine, or that $1.3 billion worth comes from Russia? So there goes that source for the foreseeable future! Maybe you’re a little uncomfortable with this info that crop yield is going to be down significantly. You should be. But wait, there’s more, and in the next part of this post you simply won’t believe what is happening.

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Oh! Isn’t that EXPENSIVE now…?

~ grant.gallagher ~ 2 Comments

Author ScotShot Scott is an NRA and USCCA certified Instructor and Training Counselor in a range of firearms, and home and personal defense disciplines. In an Alternate Universe, he is a husband, father, grandfather, scientist, musician, educator and grumpy old professor. Just your average reactionary, short, fat, old, bald guy!

I was chatting with my aunt in Glasgow recently, and she was telling me that they had been told by Scottish Gas that the Government has agreed to a price rise for natural gas. In April, their bill is going up from eighty pounds a month to one-hundred and sixty. It is about to double. What’s more, they have been told that a further increase has been approved for October, just in time for winter. She also mentioned that gas (‘petrol’) is currently up to 1.70 pounds per litre and was expected to reach 2.00. At the current exchange rate ($1.33 per 1 GBP), that’s $2.66 per litre x 3.79 litres per US gallon = $10.08 per gallon.

Her husband suggested that they “start stocking up on things we use” and in the course of doing this, she noticed that something she had last paid 0.68 GBP for, now cost 0.75, which is a 10.3% increase. It’s happening everywhere and across all commodities. She mentioned that it was difficult to get meat (“shelves are empty”).

So I decided to ask the Silver Tigers what they were observing, and what they were doing about it. I asked who has seen food shortages and/or price rises, and what action were being taken. The answers are illuminating. People are seeing shortages everywhere – for example:

  • John R: Not necessarily shortages but certain items were out. For example, yesterday I stopped at a Sam’s Club to get coffee and nuts. They had plenty of coffee but no peanuts or mixed nuts. I did buy an extra can of coffee to be prepared.
  • Chet W: Meat prices are insane, shelves run empty but are filled in a day or two.
  • Heidi BS: Definite food price rises! Prices are high particularly for meat. Occasional short term shortages, usually of chicken. But still seeing areas of empty shelves on occasion.
  • Theresa RM: Rising prices for almost every products for groceries. Our local ‘Giant’ stores in SE PA, have had low inventory on canned goods, and some other items. Other stores are ok.
  • Debbie M: Certain items, like aluminum foil, have been quietly increasing in price for the past 3 years. I was buying extra when it was on sale but am not seeing sales anymore. Check out the aluminum price increases. Aluminum Price is at a current level of $3245.79 per metric ton, up from 3005.98 last month and up from 2078.59 one year ago. This is a change of 7.98% from last month and 56.15% from one year ago.

People are up-stocking and gardening more, too – for example:

  • Lateif D: I can’t fit any more in my freezers.. need to start rotating food…
  • Chet W: We have a freeze dryer and preserve our own food. We go to the local farmers’ markets, and have our own chickens.
  • Dawn D: My ‘hoop house’ [what is a hoop house – Ed] is full of seedlings and we’re doubling the garden size this year. We’ve added additional chickens. We have all the freezers full and I’m prepared to can all the meats if needed. I want a freeze dryer and have been sporadically researching them for what seems like years. I’ll get there eventually.
  • Matthew M: I just bought a meat canner.
  • Heidi BS: We started raising meat chickens last year, have had laying hens for years. This year we’re raising 2 hogs. And we hunt. Thankfully an option for us

So the question is – is this a Real Thing? If so, what are YOU doing? Not all of us has a big garden, or are fit enough to use one. My township prohibits the keeping of chickens. Are you allowed to have them? What about rabbits?

Do you even think it’s serious? If you do, then maybe start by buying an extra jar of your favorite pasta sauce and see where that takes you (if you can still get it, of course…).