I had my home inspection yesterday and passed! I wasnt worried about it, but I feel so much better now!

But the depression part....the guy from the Dept of Agriculture was talking about the rice,flour issues.....rice is already being rationed in some stores here in Ohio. He said that by fall the cost of beef is most likely going to be DOUBLED! $4-$5 for ONE pound of lean ground beef. Flour is obviously on the rise, and like beef....will be double by fall. He said it is going to be more costly to buy in bulk. (he told me to stick whole bay leaves, in a coffee filter in the flour, that it keeps it fresher longer, anyone heard of that?)

More and more farmers are switching to growing corn for the ethanol...he said there are all these small towns building these ethanol plants and they are only going to be hurt in the long run, more ghost towns basically....as much as it takes to create ONE tank of gas could feed one person for an entire year.

The rationing of rice just shocked me...what is next?

A note on the ethanol issue. I used to work for an ag magazine and this obviously was a 'hot topic'. The thing is, though, that in reality the percentage of farmers switching to grow for ethanol is truly not that significant. Farmers are still unsure of the payout they will receive for ethanol.

which is why it's so important for all of us to stay on top of our pricing and not be afraid to charge what it's worth ..... if it costs us more, then it costs our customer more.

I just read an article today on the rice rationing issue, but for the life of me, I can't find it to link you.

Anyway - it's not nearly as worrisome as it seems. The overall rice production of the world is at an all time high - it's just certain types of rice (specifically jasmine and basmati that are popular in Asian countries) that is in higher demand than can be supplied.

The US's production of medium and long grain rice is plentiful and NOT in short supply.

The only rice that is being limited is large bags of imported basmati and jasmine rice that are typically bought by small businesses, which has gone up about 40% in the last year.

That said, I think we're all looking at food costs going up unfortunately.

yep I just read where Costo, BJ and the other large Warehouse stores are rationing rice to 4, 20 pound bags per person.

and I forgot what the pricing was, but they mentioned it was high also.

They were blaming the small business owners that are stockpiling the commodity in case the price goes up any more.

Yeah riiiiight.

I have several hundred pounds of rice hiding in my bathroom! not! lol

Prices of everything are going up but I don't think that it's as bad as that guy was making it out to be. I heard briefly that there's a rice shortage in Asia because there was a drought in Australia this year, and they had a bad crop season. I was listening to some alarmist radio talk show yesterday and they were saying the rice shortage was because of farmers growing corn instead (figure that one out???) but there wasn't a mention of a drought. A lot of it is political. so people will spin a fact ten ways to try to make it look like they want it to. Just keep an eye on prices and adjust accordingly is all you can really do, don't lose sleep over it.

Don't be depressed.....I was just thinking today about how some of the supplies I buy at Sam's have not gone up a penny in over a year.

Theres always gonna be someone who tries to pee on your parade....if we listened to them we wouldn't try anything.

As for the bayleaf thingy, yes. Bayleaf will keep the bugs away. Someone big is making a ton of $$$$ off of ethanol. When your car runs on ethanol, it runs less efficient. It costs more to run a car on ethanol.

Mike

Here's my honest opinion -

Back in the early 1970's, there were all kinds of "shortages" and rationing. It turned out that the producers of those goods were, for the most part, full of baloney, and just wanted to jack up the prices.

I do not deny that, globally, there is a food shortage. Countries in Africa and Asia are darn near revolution because people are starving. People are hungry here. Prices on goods and services are spiraling out of control.

To me, it the is producers and retailers, playing on this, and using it as a scare tactic to raise our prices.

The reports of rice rationing hit every news station on my cable network. But I watch a lot of news television (CNN, MSNBC, Bloomfield Report) and every economist on there stated clearly that there is no rice shortage.

It's like NAFTA - I won't say that I supported the trade agreement (my brother lost the best job he had over it), but the intentions in which NAFTA was written were good. Corporations found it's weaknesses, abused it and turned it into the monster it is.

Another thread discussed anti-trust laws. This rice rationing is a golden example of what one poster was writing about. Both Sam's Club and Costco rationing rice, starting the same day and same time? Come on, my friends, who's talking to who?

Just my honest opinion. Off my soap box now -

Theresa

I think it's NEVER as bad as media makes it out to be. I mean, a run on RICE? Come on, it's not like you HAVE to have it to survive here in the US I tend to listen to what the media are freaking out about and then REALLY tone it down, so "HUGE shortage of rice! We're running out! AHHHH!" is really, "rice has gone up in price, just like EVERYTHING else has recently" Anyhoo, that's the way I see it.

Edited to add: Congrats on passing your home inspection, by the way!!! Awesome!

Or when the media was so focused on shark attacks that year. When in reality, they really hadn't gone up much, if at all. They just have to pick a scare subject and beat it to death. There's always something for them to fake-freak about

if they want to scare people about sharks they should just play JAWS more often lol-when i vacationed in CA i refused to go in the water past my hips (very irrational i know but still...dahdah...dahdah...)

No news is good news....the gotta fill the time up with something....you know what hacks me off?

In winter the weather people are always scaring the folks about the "big storm comming in".....in a couple days....folks rush out to the grocery store stocking up like its their last chance to get any food...the lines are crazy long.....but the worst part is...the cancel their parties because they think no one can drive in that bad weather.....UGH...then it just ends up snowing a little...and the roads are just kinda wet...and i end up with half my business gone for that week.

And if the news is so accurate whatever happened to those killer bees comming in to kill us from mexico?

weren't they due to hit texas like 20 years ago? HA HA HA!

theres so many things they say.....that's never gonna happen.

And let's not forget the big one .... the big giant Y2K scare that was going to have airplanes dropping out of the air at the stroke of midnight.

That was the "lightning rod" of the technological age!

Back to the bay leaves ...does anyone know if the flour will pick up the scent of bay leaves at all? I've heard this tip before, but I've been keeping my flour in the freezer.

Thanks, I understood that the filter was to keep you from having to go on a fishing expedition ; since bay leaf is used frequently in cooked things and has a distinct smell, I was concerned that the flour might pick up that scent and be a weird background taste (kinda like grandma's attic, that faint smell of lavender and mothballs - not bad, but you know it's there)...whaddya think?

Here, on the west coast of Canada, experts predict that we will have a huge, massive earthquake. They say it will hit us "some time in the future".

I wonder how much those people get paid. Imagine that - something is going to happen in the future!!! Tax $$ well spent.

Congrats on the inspection!!

Avian flu oh yes I remember that all the chicken farmers had to have there chickens put down and the farms were closed. But all is well again prices went up for a while because of the shortage but its back to normal. This happened where I live and the neighboring towns. It was getting to the point where it was talked about checking all birds as pets, I have a cockatiel and was worried for a while.