Food Price Watch Thread

weatheriscool
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Wholesale prices shoot up near-record 11.3% in June on surge in energy costs

PUBLISHED THU, JUL 14 2022 8:51 AM EDT * UPDATED 10 MIN AGO

Jeff Cox
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KEY POINTS
-- The producer price index rose 11.3% from a year ago in June, near the record 11.6% posted in March.
-- Excluding food, energy and trade, core PPI was up 6.4%. The monthly gain of 0.3% was below expectations.
-- Jobless claims jumped to 244,000 last week, the highest level since November 2021.

Inflation hit hard at the wholesale level in June, as producer prices surged a near-record amount from a year ago due to a big jump in energy costs, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Thursday. ... The producer price index, a measure of the prices received for final demand products, increased 11.3% from a year ago, the highest reading since the record 11.6% in March.

Of that gain, almost 90% came from a 10% increase in final demand energy costs as prices for oil, natural gas and other products soared during the month. ... Excluding energy, as well as food and trade service prices, so-called core PPI rose 6.4% on a 12-month basis, a deceleration from the 6.8% gain in May.

On a monthly basis, the core measure increased just 0.3%, below the 0.5% Dow Jones estimate. Headline PPI rose 1.1% on the month, higher than the 0.8% estimate. ... The release comes one day after the BLS reported that the consumer price index, which measures final-sale prices in the marketplace, surged 9.1%, the highest 12-month gain since November 1981.
{snip}

Read more: https://www.cnbc.com/2022/07/14/produce ... costs.html
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caltrek
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caltrek wrote: Tue Jul 12, 2022 12:46 pm
weatheriscool wrote: Sun Jul 10, 2022 9:58 pm I promise you that the party in power is going to get blamed for this! What are they doing? Closing down American oil fields and killing offshore drilling. Dumb.
Ummm....this is a thread about food prices, not oil prices. I think that it has been established in this thread that rising food prices are due to the war in the Ukraine and extreme weather events, not increased oil prices.
I also wanted to add another point. That relates to the irony of it all. Food price rises have been caused in part by extreme weather events, which in turn have been in part caused by increased greenhouse gas emissions.

In California, it goes even deeper than that. One means of increasing oil production is through what is known as fracking. Consider:

California Farmer Blames Fracking for Water Quality Issues
by Sara Jerome
June 6, 2017
(Wateronline) A farmer in California claims fracking wastewater injected into the ground is tainting the environment and harming his crops.

Farmer Mike Hopkins is waging a legal battle over the issue.

“The problem began about eight years ago when the leaves of his newly planted cherry orchard started turning brown, Hopkins said. Soon the almond trees followed,” CBS News reported.

“Hopkins eventually ripped out 3,500 dying trees,” the San Francisco Chronicle reported.

Water tests helped clarify the origin of the problem, Hopkins alleged, per CBS News.
Read more here: https://www.wateronline.com/doc/califor ... ssues-0001

This problem is not just isolated to Mr. Hopkins' farm:

https://cuesa.org/article/food-farms-an ... california

https://www.landcan.org/article/Frackin ... rests/1215
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caltrek
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Blue state politicians don’t just complain about inflation in food prices. They are doing something about the problem. Can the same be said of red states?

As the text below is taken from a public web site, and is therefore not subject to copyright restrictions, I have quoted from that web site at length.

Farm to School


Introduction:
(Office of Governor Gavin Newsome)
As a mother of four and co-chair of the California Farm to School Working Group, California First Partner Jennifer Siebel Newsom is committed to advancing farm to school programs and extending their benefits to more children throughout the state.

Why Farm to School?

Today, over 2 million children in California do not have access to healthy, whole foods, with Black and Latinx children reporting food insecurity twice that of children in white households. We know that schools are key sources of food for children — approximately 3.9 million California students were eligible for free or reduced-priced lunch during the 2019-2020 school year. Given California’s recent investment in universal school meals and its unparalleled agricultural production, the state is uniquely positioned to build a healthier, more equitable future through innovative farm to school programs, which help:
• Increase food access and nutrition security.
• Support local food purchasing from California producers.
• Promote educational activities that use food as a teaching tool to connect classrooms, cafeterias, and communities.
• Create experiential learning opportunities in school gardens, culinary classes, agricultural programs, and other hands-on learning experiences to help youth better understand the connections between food and the world around them.
• Educate students about how they can be environmental stewards from the earliest of ages.

Planting the Seed

Building on her commitment to ensuring California children have the best start in life, First Partner Jennifer Siebel Newsom announced the release of a new report, Planting the Seed: Farm to School Roadmap for Success, in February 2022. The report highlights policy goals to advance child well-being, economic growth, environmental resilience, and racial equity through farm to school systems that connect children to locally sourced, whole foods and produce in cafeterias, classrooms, and gardens. The report and its recommendations are the result of a collaboration — led by First Partner Jennifer Siebel Newsom and California Department of Food and Agriculture Secretary Karen Ross — among a number of state agency leaders, education professionals, and farm to school experts and practitioners. Read the full report here!

The Benefits of Farm to School

Healthy kids and vibrant communities start with farm-fresh, nutritious meals. Through farm to school programs, schools purchase food from local farms, offer students food education, and deliver hands-on learning opportunities that support students’ academic achievement, health, and wellbeing. Research shows that:
• Students who participate in farm to school programs see improvement in their grades and test scores.
• By purchasing from local farms, schools with farm to school programs also support local farmers and economies.
• Children who participate in farm to school programs have a lower risk of childhood obesity and diet-related diseases like diabetes.


California Investments in Farm to School

Under the leadership of Governor Gavin Newsom and First Partner Jennifer Siebel Newsom, farm to school received its first permanent state funding in the Governor’s 2019-2020 budget, including $1.5 million in baseline support for the California Department of Food and Agriculture Office of Farm to Fork (CDFA-F2F) and $8.5 million to pilot a farm to school grant program.

In the first year of funding, CDFA-F2F hired staff to lead the California Farm to School Network, hosted the inaugural California Farm to School Conference, funded 60 farm to school projects throughout the state through the California Farm to School Incubator Grant Program, and organized a working group led by First Partner Jennifer Siebel Newsom and CDFA Secretary Karen Ross to define the future of farm to school.
Building on this success, Governor Newsom and the California State Legislature allocated $60 million over two years in the 2021-2022 state budget to sustain and expand the California Farm to School Incubator Grant Program, signaling widespread consensus for this important initiative.

Farm to School Grants

The CDFA-F2F California Farm to School Incubator Grant Program supports local and regional farm to school projects that promote nutrition education, sustainable food production and procurement, and high-quality student engagement through experiential learning.
Read more here: https://www.gov.ca.gov/cafarm2school/
Last edited by caltrek on Sat Jul 16, 2022 8:24 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Food Price Watch Thread

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Just going through my own personal finances, food prices have risen by 15% in the last few months. More than the "official" inflation rate of 9%.
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Re: Food Price Watch Thread

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wjfox wrote: Sat Jul 16, 2022 7:06 pm Just going through my own personal finances, food prices have risen by 15% in the last few months. More than the "official" inflation rate of 9%.
Yeah, official figures always revise it downwards. They change their definition of inflation every so often as well to mask it (for example, by excluding things like fuel or food). If we used the same standards as we did back in the 1970s and early 80s, today's rate of inflation wouldn't be much lower than it was then. The real figure is probably at least double the official figure.
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caltrek
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Food and Oil Price Increases in India
by Subrata Majumder
July 18, 2022

Introduction:
(Eurasia Review) Pan-India outrage has spiraled with the soaring inflation and government’s inability to control it. Angers has been hurled against the government’s failure to seize the oil price hike and its impact on inflation.

Inflation (measured by Consumer Price Index) increased by 6.34 percent in 2021-22 as compared to 5.01 percent in 2020-21. It accelerated in the first three months of the current year 2022-23, despite the government reducing petrol and diesel prices by lowering excise duties.

Clamour sparked over the repeated hikes in petrol, diesel and LPG prices. In between March to May 2022, petrol and diesel prices were hiked 4 times. It was reduced from May’s end, after the reduction of excise duty. While comparing with prices in most of the Asian countries, who are dependent on crude oil import, Indian prices are now lower. For example, as compared to Delhi price of petrol at Rs 96.72/ litre, in terms of the Indian rupee, petrol prices were Rs113.96 / litre (US $1.44) in Vietnam, Rs 114.68/litre (US $145) in China, Rs102.22 / litre (US $1.29) in Burma, Rs119.80/litre (US $ 1.52) in Thailand, Rs123.77 (US$ 1.57) in the Philippines , Rs149.05/ litre (US $1.89) in Laos and Rs239.26 /litre (US $ 3.03) in Hong Kong.

Oil price hike VS inflation

Nevertheless, did really the oil price hike increase inflation in the country? The government records say a different story. Factors attributing to inflation were food articles, and not oil based fuel prices. Food inflation increased by 7-8 percent in the first two months of current year in 2021-22, as against a 4 percent increase in fuel and electricity prices. Food articles have the biggest weight in the CPI Index (45.9 ) and fuel and electricity have less weight in the index (6.8). This infers that the increase in overall inflation was mainly due to food articles. Weight in the Index indicates the significance of the sectorial impact on inflation.
Read more here: https://www.eurasiareview.com/1807202 ... nalysis/
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Just Two Weeks of Food Billionaire Wealth Gains Could Fund Anti-Hunger Effort in East Africa
by Jake Johnson
July 18, 2022

Introduction:
(Common Dreams) The aid group Oxfam International estimated Monday that a mere two weeks of wealth gains recently secured by global food billionaires would be enough to fully fund the United Nations' multibillion-dollar effort to combat hunger in East Africa, where soaring commodity prices are intensifying food insecurity and pushing poverty to new extremes.

"Food inflation in East African countries where tens of millions of people are caught in an alarming hunger crisis has increased sharply, reaching a staggering 44% in Ethiopia—nearly five times the global average," Oxfam said in a new analysis published amid a worsening global hunger emergency.
"It is estimated that one person is dying every 48 seconds in Ethiopia, Kenya, and Somalia alone, where the worst drought in decades is being exacerbated by the war in Ukraine and is pushing food prices to skyrocketing levels," the organization said. "Against this backdrop, food billionaires have increased their collective wealth by $382 billionaire since 2020."

"Less than two weeks' worth of their wealth gains," the group calculated, "would be more than enough to fund the entirety of the U.N.'s $6.2 billion humanitarian appeal for East Africa. The appeal is currently woefully funded at merely 16%."

In late May, Oxfam issued a report showing that "corporations and the billionaire dynasties who control so much of our food system are seeing their profits soar" in the midst of surging prices and hunger worldwide. The crisis has hit particularly hard in East Africa, a region heavily reliant on imports.
Read more here: https://www.commondreams.org/news/202 ... ort-east
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Searing Summer Heat Is Driving Food Prices Higher Still
by Kate Yoder
July 19, 2022

Introduction:
(Mother Jones) Vicious heat waves are sweeping parts of the globe this week, along with the dangers that come with blazing-hot temperatures: wildfires, dehydration, and even death. The hot weather could also push prices up for food, making inflation even worse.

Western Europe is facing sweltering temperatures again this week, with the thermostat hovering around 110 degrees in Seville in southern Spain. More than 20 wildfires are burning in Spain and Portugal, and persistent drought has left rivers and reservoirs running so low that they’re exposing ancient artifacts.

In Italy, the hot and dry conditions are expected to destroy a third of the seasonal harvest of rice, corn, and animal fodder — at a minimum. Locusts have descended on the island of Sardinia in the worst invasion in three decades, hurting the production of hay and alfalfa. The European Commission recently downgraded its soft-wheat harvest estimates from 130 million tons to 125 million tons—more bad news amid a food shortage precipitated by Russia’s blockade on exports from Ukraine. (Russia and Ukraine are among the world’s biggest exporters of grain.)

Across the world in China, a record-breaking heat wave is causing major problems. Roofs are melting, residents are relocating to public cooling zones in underground air-raid shelters, and health workers are strapping frozen food to their too-hot hazmat suits. The Central Meteorological Observatory in Tokyo has warned that the heat could further hurt the production of corn and soy, worsening inflation. These crops are used to feed pigs, and early-season failures have already sent the price of pork, China’s staple meat, soaring.

When major crops wither, it can have knock-on effects across the ocean and show up on your grocery bill. Inflation has been climbing in the United States at the highest rate in 40 years, up 9.1 percent over the past 12 months, much of it the result of spiking food and energy prices. The surge has been egged on by the pandemic-beleaguered supply chain and by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. But climate change is becoming a driver of inflation, too. Experts are warning that heat, flooding, drought, wildfires, and other disasters have been wreaking economic havoc, with worse to come.
Read more here: https://www.motherjones.com/environme ... s-crops/
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Russia and Ukraine Sign Deal to Resume Crucial Grain Exports
by Dave Lawler
July 22, 2022

Introduction:
(Axios) Russia and Ukraine signed separate agreements Friday to reopen blockaded Ukrainian ports and allow grain exports to begin to flow.
Why it matters: Ukraine is one of the world's top exporters of wheat, sunflower oil and other agricultural products. With those exports almost entirely blocked due to Russia's Black Sea blockade, the food crisis plaguing countries in Africa and elsewhere has deepened.

The big picture: The deal, which was brokered by the UN with the help of Turkey, would be in place for 120 days and can be renewed, UN officials said.
  • Under the agreement, Ukrainian captains will help guide the ships carrying the grain out of Odesa, Ukraine's largest port, and two neighboring ports through safe channels mapped by Ukraine's Navy. Ukraine has mined its ports to defend against a Russian naval incursion.
  • The passage of the vessels will be monitored by a control center in Istanbul.
  • Ukrainian presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak said earlier Friday that Ukraine and Russia would sign separate agreements, stressing that Kyiv “does not sign any documents with Russia.”
Read more here: https://www.axios.com/2022/07/22/russ ... blockade
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Indian Citizens Dying Due To Hunger Despite India's Development
by Shiva Chaudhary
July 22, 2022

Introduction:
(The Logical Indian) The Supreme Court (of India)… on Thursday (July 21) stated that Indian citizens are dying due to hunger despite our development. The top court said this while asking the state governments to work out modal quality to ensure maximum migrant labourers are given rations.

A two-judge bench of Justices M R Shah and B V Nagarathna was hearing a case in which the apex court in May 2020 had taken cognisance of the hardships and distress of migrant workers.

What Did The Supreme Court Say?

The bench noted that each state's food and civil services department must target how many ration cards they will register. The bar added this has to be worked locally as each state will have its own criteria, and there must be a fixed criterion.

Justice B V Nagarathna said, "Ultimately, the aim is that no citizen should die of hunger in India. Unfortunately, this (starvation deaths) is happening despite our development; citizens are dying of hunger and lack of food. In villages, they tie their stomach tightly so that they do not feel hungry. I know it. They tie their stomachs with a sari or some other cloth and drink water, and sleep. Children and elders do it because they cannot afford food," quoted NDTV.

The supreme court said it would pass some orders on the matter and hear the case after two weeks.
Read more here: https://thelogicalindian.com/trending/ ... n-36663
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