Tonight, while searching for canning recipes (yep, tommorrow I cook and can woohoo), I started searching the US Dept. of Ag for canning info - one link lead to another and I found myself at the USDA Economics Research Service. Okay, being a 70’s child, I was intrigued when I saw the word Farmgate. Did that ever turn out to be a descriptive term!

While there, I checked out the historical pdfs of wholesale prices for things like eggs. While the egg prices haven’t changed that much, with the exception of a few blips, the prices at the store have been increasing 2 fold. We buy white eggs, xlarge, 18 pack. A year ago we were budgeting 2.25 for two 18 count cartons when we shopped. This last grocery trip on August 4, 2007 they were 2.12 for ONE 18 count carton. That is almost doubled!

Like most Americans, first we figured the cost of gas was affecting shippers - it affects us - so it must be affecting them. Then gas prices dropped for a bit, egg, dairy prices didn’t. A quick search about a month ago, brought up articles about Ethanol. We cursed the enviromentalists under our breath for a bit, then went on about our business. Feed prices were up because now everyone wants to grow corn (aka feed) for Ethanol because they can get better pricing. Then I run into this article:

From CNNMoney.com (this is the cached page from August 5, 2007 since the original link is no longer available) an article titled:

“High Corn Prices Drive Up Eggs and Help Cal-Maine Have Fun”

Jul. 10, 2007 (Investor’s Business Daily) –

Never mind whether it’s the chicken or the egg that comes first.

In the egg business these days, the question is about the ties between ethanol and feed stock.

The relationship is turning out to be a good one for U.S. egg producers, who are clucking all the way to the bank.

“We’re having fun in the egg business right now,” said Fred Adams, chief executive of Cal-Maine Foods (NASDAQ:CALM) CALM, the largest of them all…..

and this:

Egg industry experts are concerned that subsidized ethanol production could drive egg prices to dangerous levels, however. High prices might inspire producers to step up production.

“Oversupply would be devastating,” Dalton said. That doesn’t seem a problem, at least in the near term.

Cal-Maine keeps an eye on costs. “Over the years, they’ve learned to be very cost efficient,” Dalton said. “That’s probably their chief attribute. And they are a good marketer of eggs.”

Costs might rise some as the firm changes the way it treats its flock of hens to meet treatment guidelines set by animal rights groups, the company warned. For example, it’s increasing cage space and modifying forced molting practices. However, costs related to these changes so far have been passed on to customers….

Yeah - that devastating over supply would put a real crunch on their profits - but they have that covered too. As the article goes on to state - Cal-Maine is buying up the producers left and right - “increasing their market share”.

First question:
August 2006, US Dept. of Agriculture had Dollars per dozen / carton for eggs (conventional price which is white, large, non-organic) at .62 a dozen for first-receiver (what the farmers were selling them for to the first buyers - ie wholesalers).

Fast Forward:

August 2007. The prices for eggs today??? Who the heck knows - Since they only report every 6 months! Isn’t that a cozy arrangement when most commodities are given daily. Everyone is expecting them to soar, tho, even our own US Agri. Dept. who is not only selling us on Ethanol from one end but aiding egg corporations to have record profits on the other end. Here is a tad bit:

There are numerous effects on the working class families in this country. It is affecting the poor even harder. Here, In IOWA they are wondering how they will get the food needed to feed folks at the soup kitchens.

*Don’t forget to look at the bottom left window that states “Grocery Prices expected to rise” - US Agri Dept expects the price of eggs to inrease 12.7 percent in 2008.

With a slogan “Think Fast. Think Eggs. Think Profits.”

Ethanol problem is bigger than alot of us are even thinking about. Take a look at this article about corn production. Now maybe Kathleen Fasanella won’t wonder for long why that field of cotton was sitting there unpicked. I don’t think it’s a ‘help-wanted’ problem as many pro-immigration advocates becry.

Second Question
What good is “No Child Left Behind” when children’s parents can’t afford the basic ingredients to make food items on a budget and the government has no surplus food items to fill in those needs?

Our milk cost? Three kids, 2 adults: Pediatric Association reccomended 4 cups of milk per day per person - to meet that need, 16 cups = 1 gallon. That leaves 3 + a little more than a quarter cup per day per gallon each. We buy 2 gallons at a time for 2 days. It costs us 3.79 a day for milk x 30 days = 113.70. That is $113.70 of our $500 a month grocery budget. Last yr. a gallon cost 2.79. That’s a 1.00 more per gallon per day. Increase of 30.00 a month.

Now, add the cost of eggs - Our increase over Dec. 2006 (we paid 2.25 for 36 eggs - that’s .75 cents a dozen at Walmart) to now (we paid 2.12 for 18 eggs - that’s 1.41 a dozen) is an 88% increase in 6 months. That’s 3.98 a month more.

Bread is at an alltime high also at 2.34 a loaf (one a day) For the last several years, we were budgeting 2.00 a loaf.
That’s a monthly increase of $10.20

A Block of Cheddar Cheese we were paying 1.76 and now we are paying 2.24. .48 cent increase x 4 Montly increase of 1.92

Kraft Singles we were paying 2.74 last year now it’s 2.98 .48 cent increase x 4 Montly increase of 1.92 (same as Cheddar)

Cereals: We’re always under 2.50 a box last year, now the lowest priced cereal is 2.68 but they are averaging 3.44 a box.
We buy oat, corn and rice based cereals. They have ALL gone up. In fact, the corn ones have gone up the least. We buy 6 boxes a pay-period, every 2 weeks. Last year, we budgeted $15.00/6 boxes of cereal. Now we budget $21.00/6 boxes of cereal. This doesn’t include the price of oatmeals. It’s gone from 2.20 a box to 2.68 a box. Where’s the Ethanol inflation in that? Monthly increase of $12.00

Basic commodity foods for basic kids have impacted the monthly grocery by an increase of 60.02 over just 6 months ago. That’s a 12% increase. Add all the other prices that have increased - fruits (apples were 4.00 for 3 apples last week), vegetables, meats…. Gasoline - How can our government and corporations be in bed together and spout No Child Left Behind.

Just in case you might fall for that radical notion that gasonline and natural disasters are the roots of all evils, consider that coffee, at 5.48 a can for Folger’s Big Red Tub is actually cheaper than it was before Hurricane Katrina.

Remember the Boston Tea Party - Anyone up for an Egg Party? The new England is our publicly traded stocks and the taxation is the government subsidized (heavily lobbied) commodities industry. And we are the tea drinkers. It is definitely time to take a hard look at the facts.

The Bottom Line is take another look at that article from Cattlenetwork.com and you’ll soon realize, when those farmers start killing off the wheat and pulling up the beans to plant corn for 500 an acre, where’s the other produce going to come from? China?