As if the Fuel Prices Rises were bad enough. In Recent weeks Rice has risen in Price and has been in Short supply in the UK (and is being rationed)

Going to have a big Knock-on effect right across the Food industry in the UK (and Beyond)
Whats the US situation on stocks?
Food crisis: rationing introduced in bid to protect rice supplies

Sam's Club, the big discount store in the US ( a spin off of Walmart)is rationing rice. I think 3 bags per visit. I suppose others have followed suit.

Yes, they did..but look at the size of the bags ! It's time to stockpile.

Citing Supply, Sam's Club and Costco Limit Sales of Rice

That was April dg (Saw Similar comments in the UK press about the same time) What is the current situation Today in June?

And is it possible to Grow Rice in these latitudes as a cash crop?

PS The Restaurants in the City are down to 1 sack per customer (off the wholesaler) before it may be an order of a dozen per week or more to tide them over
And they cannot Pick and choose the Type!

quote:

Originally posted by bedstor:

And is it possible to Grow Rice in these latitudes as a cash crop?

Yes. There's an old man called Uncle Ben who grows it in his 'back yard' over there in the States.He must be very busy.

Rice is commonly exported from Ireland.It was the home of the Rice Paddy (before he came over to play soccer for the Arsenal)

quote:

It was the home of the Rice Paddy (before he came over to play soccer for the Arsenal)

I remember Rice Paddy. Had a great bicycle kick. Made Pele look like a piker. His Japanese winger Sushi used to feed him a lot. Some thought their off the pitch relationship was fishy, but there isn't a kernel of truth to it.

dg Fred was referring to Pat Rice
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pat_Rice

quote:

Originally posted by juanruiz:
I remember Rice Paddy. Had a great bicycle kick. Made Pele look like a piker. His Japanese winger Sushi used to feed him a lot. Some thought their off the pitch relationship was fishy, but there isn't a kernel of truth to it.

Where is a "groan" icon when you need one?

quote:

Where is a "groan" icon when you need one?

Hey, where is it stated that a guy can't have a little pun around here? As for Sushi, his sense of humor got a little raw some times, unlike mine.

Several years ago, the Dept. of Agriculture had restrictions on how much rice could be produced. To maintain prices & not to flood the market. I wonder if these restrictions are still in place.

quote:

Originally posted by juanruiz:

quote:

Where is a "groan" icon when you need one?

Hey, where is it stated that a guy can't have a little pun around here? As for Sushi, his sense of humor got a little raw some times, unlike mine.

Quite.Your punning is on a different scale.

We should mention Billy the Fish, in passing. He was a great soccer player. He was great guarding the net and made breathless saves

(You can find him in action on YouTube: "Billy the Fish")

Here's a description :

The Tail of Billy the Fish

Billy, huh? Thought his name was Gil. And I thought he was on a rowing team. Sorry, didn't mean to egg you on.

"Several years ago, the Dept. of Agriculture had restrictions on how much rice could be produced. To maintain prices & not to flood the market. I wonder if these restrictions are still in place."

I don't know, LR, and it raises a good point of discussion.

I understand that some farmers need these "paid not to grow" programs, else the market would be glutted, farmers would no longer be able to make a profit, or, in many cases, be able to pay off expensive equipment loans. In my life time, I remember seeing farmers pouring milk on the streets rather than sell it for a fraction of what it cost them to produce. But when big agribusiness gets money for these programs, or, in some cases, wealthy individuals*, the programs are not doing what they were intended to do. How can we help the legitimately needy small farmer, not give away money to the huge agribusinesses, and justify both actions?

I really don't think that anyone wants to see small town America cease to exist, but isn't farming the backbone of most rural small towns? (It's my opinion that, when we lose the last small farmer, we'll have lost the battle for an American middle class.)


*The name that comes to mind when I think of this is Al Gore. I have no idea if this is true, and am not going to check it out, but I definitely remember reading that he, along with a number of Congressmen, were paid not to grow tobacco. Senators and representatives make about three times as much as the median family income in the US, and do not come close, in my opinion, to being small farmers, even if they only own a few acres, most of which have no crops, but earn a nice piece of change.

DG , what you are describing seems familiar. The European Union was keen to save small farmers. The reason was more sentiment than sense but some member states had a great many small farmers and their politicians were anxious to preserve the status quo.An extensive range of subsidies was arranged. The result was that we ended up with what we called the "European Wine Lake" and the "European Cheese Mountain" and other vast surpluses. We were, in effect, paying small inefficient farmers to stay in business, not change their ways, and to continue, or increase, growing whatever they had been producing for centuries.In trying to keep them going we stopped the natural laws of supply and demand which would otherwise have stopped them.(We also, incidentally, created considerable opportunities for fraud in parts of Italy and Greece)

So we scrapped that. Even the stupidest and most romantic politician could not justify a wine lake. So then we tried 'set aside',insisting that an acreage of each farm be left fallow in return for payment, coupled with grants for growing certain crops for which there was a need, the need to date being met largely by imports. That's why England suddenly went yellow:there was a great incentive to grow rape, a crop which could be used (inter alia) for animal feed and which has vivid yellow flowers.(For a glorious short while England went blue with flax flowers too, because the regulations said we could grow anything on set aside land which was not a crop for either human or animal feed.Some idiot in charge did not know that flax was not just for linen. Some varieties are grown for linseed oil, used in cattle feed The cleverer lawyers, reading the rules, realised this and told farmers to grow the supposedly inedible, claim the set aside grant and sell the crop for oil, or even linen (!) (or even plough much it back into the ground) ! )

For all that, the policy gradually had the desired effect. Slowly the small and inefficient were retired altogether or formed more effective cooperatives or groups which worked and grew more efficiently, and grew the right stuff.

Now the EU still pays farmers but pays them a set sum based on the acreage and payments they had for that acreage overall in the past.They can grow what they want, keep whatever livestock they want, but the payment is the same. It's coupled with their having high standards of husbandry and taking steps which are environmentally and ecologically beneficial. This produces some slightly odd sights, not noticed by townees, but odd to us old countrymen.Here we keep a narrow strip of uncultivated land around each arable field. We are encouraged to keep hedges. That's good for wildlife and good for us. The market will take care of the rest. The crafty trick is that these payments are gradually being reduced. In a perfect world we'll reach a stage where they have wasted away altogether.As it is, I, like many others, employ a specialist in a land agents who checks the returns to make absolutely sure that I get every penny or (euro) cent that I'm entitled to and nothing is missed. This lady is quite busy with us all,though since she does little else, she probably finds it all child's play. That is good husbandry

I do wonder to what extent a strategy and tactics like these are of use in other countries

Bit off topic but continuing Freds Post
The National Farmers Union who have their North-West regional HQ in our town. Is visible from our House about a mile away They are now Primarily an Insurance company/bank funding-wise How that happened? Don't ask me www.nfumutual.co.uk/
The "Union " part...
www.nfuonline.com/ Note to Fred the Poll results section makes interesting reading and I broadly agree with the Findings

What next? One of the High Street Banks becomes a travel agency or sell TV's ? Well in real terms, both the AA and RAC Motoring organisations both have Travel agencies on their sites...So Nothing really would surprise us
Did you know that Dickie Branson has never bothered with Farmers interests. He's Virginized almost every other Sector in some way No Food interest either bar the catering sector , They do need a person like him to sort the Mess out at Governmental level or Several MPs to champion the Farmers Interest in Parliament

bedstor, the NFU [National Farmers' Union] Mutual is the insurance branch of our trade association, the NFU.It was founded in 1910 and is still a 'mutual', not a company with shareholders. Insuring farms is a very specialist,complicated, and big, business. The provision of car and household insurance to non-farmers is an incident to their insuring vehicles, farmhouses and farm buildings for farmers, that's all. They don't advertise on the High Street !

The poll is interesting for its asking what the farmer will be having for Christmas dinner. The pollsters are asking the question in May. Farmers are expected to plan everything months in advance but Christmas dinner is not usually one of them

I bought from Uncle Ben a week or so ago and didn't notice any signs or shortages at that point. I will have to see what happens during my upcoming trip to BJ's.

quote:

I really don't think that anyone wants to see small town America cease to exist

Afraid that has already happened. Most small farms have pretty much shut down. People in small towns have moved to larger cities in their state. Retirees have become snow birds.

quote:

Originally posted by juanruiz:
Afraid that has already happened. Most small farms have pretty much shut down. People in small towns have moved to larger cities in their state. Retirees have become snow birds.

It has not ceased to exist (yet) JR, it depends where you look is all.

It is true many small farms have been bought out and absorbed by mega farms but the small farmers who survived have done ok from what I personally see.

They had to upgrade their equipment (at huge costs) and farm more land just to break even but most do turn a profit. The ones that didn’t upgrade were bought out by farmers who did.

The smartest man I know is a farmer. You wouldn’t know it by looking at him or is passing conversation, (as he looks and talks like the “farmer Joe” stereotype) but once you get to know him you can see his brilliance.

He farms about 7,000 acres pretty much by himself. He does use some hired help for a few weeks in the spring and fall but that’s about it. He is also a savvy investor and inventor. He owns three airplanes (one built from scratch by him) and surveys his land by air regularly. He is also one of the wealthiest people I know.

The population in the area I am familiar with in rural Iowa has remained pretty stable over the past 20+ years. Sure some people move to the “big cities” but most do not. The ones that don’t want to follow the family farming business find other local jobs. Not everybody there is or ever was a farmer.

My town here in New York tries very hard to hold onto the “Americana” feel. It does a very good job of it too. Our “Main Street” has a very good “feel” to it, right down to the barber shop that has not upgraded anything since sometime in the late 50’s – early 60’s.

The ugly green uncomfortable are still there too. I go there about once a month and enjoy my chats with the barber. Sure his prices have gone up, ($8.00 now) but so has everything else.

Our Memorial Day Parade makes me think of the Independence Day Parades I have attended in Iowa. To be honest the parade in Iowa is bigger and better attended than the one in my town and we have at least 10x more people locally.