-The "Food Storage Window in Time" May Be Fast Closing

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http://www.reuters.com/article/topNews/idUSTRE4A58RZ20081106?feedType=RSS&feedName=topNews

Steep food price increases on way: experts

Thu Nov 6, 2008 4:50pm EST

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. food prices will rise by at least 7 percent in 2009 because of higher feed costs for chickens, hogs and cattle, said a group of food-industry economists on Thursday.

It would be the third year in a row that food prices rose faster than the overall U.S. inflation rate. Food inflation is the highest since 1990.

"The sizable increase in the cost of producing food has not been fully passed on to the consumer," said private consultant Bill Lapp. He foresaw food inflation of 7 percent-9 percent in 2009.

During a teleconference, economists from the National Chicken Council and the consultancy Farm Econ said food inflation could be 7 percent-8 percent. The teleconference was arranged by a group of major foodmakers.

Wholesale prices for items used by foodmakers have climbed more rapidly than grocery and restaurant prices, so higher consumer prices are in store, said Lapp.

Although grain prices have declined since summer, this year's corn, wheat and soybean crops are forecast to fetch prices at the farm gate that are double their 2005 levels. Corn and soybeans are major ingredients in feed rations.

"We've been losing money for more than a year," said Bill Roenigk, economist for the Chicken Council, who said producers intend to cut production by as much as 12 percent. "We need to recover these feed costs."

Thomas Elam, head of Farm Econ, said poultry, hog and cattle producers would cut production in coming months because of feed costs, meaning less meat on the retail market but at higher prices.

Menu prices are restaurants up 4.3 percent so far this year, the largest increase since 1990, said Hudson Riehle of the National Restaurant Association. He said one-third of each sales dollar goes to food purchases.

Agriculture Department forecasts also say pricey meats will drive food inflation in 2008.

Americans spend more than $1 trillion a year on groceries, snacks, carry-out foods and restaurant meals. Farmers get 20 cents of the food dollar. The rest goes to processing, labor, transportation and distribution.

(Reporting by Charles Abbott; Editing by Marguerita Choy)

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http://www.allheadlinenews.com/articles/7012934801

Report: Record High Cereal Production But Number of Undernourished Increasing

November 6, 2008 10:39 a.m. EST

Linda Young - AHN Editor

Rome, Italy (AHN) - Rome-based Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations say that world cereal production is expected to reach a new record high this year but that the global financial prices will still affect the agricultural sectors of some countries in a negative way.

High prices tempted farmers to plant more cereal crops and favorable weather means a new record high harvest is expected, FAO said Thursday in the latest issue of its bi-annual commodity publication "Food Outlook."

That record high harvest is should be enough to meet current needs and replenish world reserves of cereal grain.

But, the report cautions that prices of cereal remain volatile, and that although they have been pushed down recently, that planting output could be affected and cause a surge in prices in 2009/10 causing a worse food crisis than the most recent one.

In addition, most of the recovery in cereal production took place in developed countries, such as the United States, because farmers in developing countries were more limited in their ability to respond to high market prices.

"The financial crisis of the last few months has amplified downward price movements, contributed to tighten credit markets, and introduced greater uncertainty about next year's prospects, so that many producers are adopting very conservative planting decisions," Concepcion Calpe, one of the report's main authors, said in a statement.

Sharp increases in food prices in 2007/2008 meant more people in the world couldn't afford adequate food and became undernourished. The number of undernourished people worldwide is estimated to be 923 million.

And lower international commodity prices haven't trickled down to lower domestic food prices in most low income countries, the report notes.

But the same thing is true in the United States where bulk organic oatmeal prices started out at 69 cents to 79 cents in most places at the beginning of the year and have steadily risen until they recently reached $1.49 to $1.59 a pound, with no signs of going back down.

The same is true of many other food items, pinching consumer budgets and causing varying degrees of food insecurity across the world.

"There is a real risk that as a consequence of the current world economic problems people will have to reduce their food intake and the number of hungry could rise further," Calpe said.

Individuals who are undernourished or malnourished run the risk of developing a variety of diseases and experiencing more sick days and loss of production and income than do people who have adequate food.

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The "Food Storage Window in Time" May Be Fast Closing

Time is short, perhaps much shorter than any of us are willing to acknowledge. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is a worldwide church, and if you look carefully at conditions in the world today you will find that for some Saints, in some nations, the "moment in time" regarding food storage preparation may well have already passed.

For the rest of us, the "window" of our "significant moment in time," the opportunity for us to obtain our food storage, may well be fast closing. No one knows the exact time when this window will close for each individual or family. What we do know is, a regret will not feed us or our families is we are unprepared.

But I would also emphasize that I do not believe it to be the Lord's intent for us to be preparing for a day of need that never comes. Rather, we should be carefully preparing for a day of need that for many will indeed come, and that by so doing we may secure a much greater sense of peace, happiness and safety for ourselves and those we love.

If in the brief period of our lives we are never personally called upon to use our food storage, let us find satisfaction in that special blessing and rejoice in the fact that, regardless of the outcome, we have been ever willing to be obedient.

(Neil H. Leash, Prophetic Statements on Food Storage for Latter-day Saints, p 33)

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