I'm so tired of farmers getting ripped for these prices.?

Question

aren't you? How many years have we been getting ripped off for our grain now we have a chance to make some money & we get blamed 4 high food cost. Not many bushels of grain in a loaf of bread(ect) yet we get blamed 4 high prices.

Answer 1

Can you imagine that most consumers have no idea that farmers do not set the prices for their products?

Yet farmers have to accept blame for growing too much corn for ethanol and failing to grow human food. We did react to demand for corn by taking land out of food production.. who else should consumers blame? Perhaps themselves for failing to take options on the food they will need?

How the heck were farmers to know that people would still want to eat if the  people themselves did not anticipate it.

Answer 2

a lot of the corn and soy beans are going to produce ethanol and biodiesel. it takes a 76 pound bushel of corn to produce 3 gallons of ethanol. sure the prices are going up but so is everything else. gasoline is $3.30 to $3.60 per gallon.

Answer 3

It's because the average consumer hasn't the foggiest idea about ag commodity pricing. They hear that the higher cost of corn will "double the price of corn flakes due to ethanol usage". Never mind the fact that prior to the markets going up, there was 3 cents worth of corn in a box of corn flakes. Now there is 6 cents worth of corn in a box. They also don't understand that the corn used to make corn flakes isn't the same corn that's used to make ethanol. Ethanol plants won't pay the premium for food grade corn just to squeaze it. They believe what the media tells them. Farmers have been selling their crops for years at prices below the cost of production and getting by with the subsidies from the government. The media would like the government to stop subsidising farmers. We would too. Get the government out of the markets (crop reports/carryout reports/grain on hand/acres planted etc) and all will be well, but, the prices of food and fiber will increase dramatically, as it should. You can't have the cheapest food in the world and not have subsidies.

Answer 4

People can't see the truth because they don't know the reason for what is in front of their eyes. Farmers put all the food on our tables these days. Unless you grow at least some of your own food, you buy it all and someone has to grow it. The high cost should be obvious but people can't see past their shopping receipt. Farmers labor and that is a lot, plus seed and all that is needed to grow and harvest that crop. That is big money. Shipping from the farm is equipment use and depreciation +oil +maintenance +labor +management. Dispersion from that point all brought together just to go to processing add transportation +depreciation +oil +maintenance +labor and than can't forget  management. Now as most food that is eaten then gets processed you then have processing equipment use and depreciation +electricity +maintenance +labor and management + metal and paper and plastic packages +boxes +on pallets. Now it gets sent to shipping and there is that huge blue collar support and computers and railroad or trucking reservations. Then Dispersion from that point add transportation +depreciation +oil +maintenance +labor. There may even be a second distribution. Some items are even handled by air shipping. Then labor with direction from management puts it on the shelf if there is anything left of it. That is why fresh produce tastes like the box it ships in. Look at what you buy and it is a whole lot more than a jar of applesauce now. That is why we pay so much for food. I love the farmer dearly, I have an agriculture degree and I love it, but this is all just B>S>. In any other place and time I believe the term is RACKETEERING. But in agro business it isn't. The cost of food is agro-racketeering.

Answer 5

i agree.