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21 February 2008 - Food industry says prices headed up again in '08
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Americans who dug deeper into their pockets for groceries last year will face
sticker shock again this year when shopping for food, experts said on Thursday.
"There's going to be real food inflation in this country," C. Larry Pope, president and chief executive of U.S.
beef processor Smithfield Foods Inc., said at the U.S. Agriculture Department's annual outlook conference.
Prices of grain futures have surged lately. For example, wheat futures have more than doubled on the
Chicago Board of Trade over the last 12 months. Pope said meat shoppers eventually will pay for the rally
because farmers who raise livestock cannot absorb the sharp escalation in feed costs. Read more ...
Comment : This is nothing new, but it will, hopefully, focus more attention of pasture-based beef
production. It is a matter of simple economics that pasture is cheaper to produce (as well as being less of
a burden on the environment) than grain. Net profit is the goal, and the lower the input costs, the better the
bottom line. Visit http://www.ProfitableCattle.com.au/ for more on this line of reasoning.
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Americans who dug deeper into their pockets for groceries last year will face
sticker shock again this year when shopping for food, experts said on Thursday.
"There's going to be real food inflation in this country," C. Larry Pope, president and chief executive of U.S.
beef processor Smithfield Foods Inc., said at the U.S. Agriculture Department's annual outlook conference.
Prices of grain futures have surged lately. For example, wheat futures have more than doubled on the
Chicago Board of Trade over the last 12 months. Pope said meat shoppers eventually will pay for the rally
because farmers who raise livestock cannot absorb the sharp escalation in feed costs. Read more ...
Comment : This is nothing new, but it will, hopefully, focus more attention of pasture-based beef
production. It is a matter of simple economics that pasture is cheaper to produce (as well as being less of
a burden on the environment) than grain. Net profit is the goal, and the lower the input costs, the better the
bottom line. Visit http://www.ProfitableCattle.com.au/ for more on this line of reasoning.