Potato crop down a lot, Wheat down a lot

Its starting to look like basic food items will go up quite a bit, this years crop of spuds doesn't look up to much due to wet weather and cold temperatures. The Wheat harvest has been reported to be the same as it was in 1900 due to the same reasons. The only problem is their are three times the mouths to feed. So better get some spuds in now while you can, and a few bags of flour. The thing with Grand solar minimums, you can only ignore them until you cant.

Yes, it's a terrible thing when Global Warming causes abnormally cold and rainy springs that ruin planting and then cause early and harsh falls that curtail the end of the growing season and disrupt the fall harvest.

a reply to: anonentity

Well thats not good. I suppose if it gets bad, just going to have to grow my own potatoes. But that is not likely for a while yet. I see no difference in prices at the market, that is to say. But ya! A cold spell would change that literally overnight.

a reply to: galadofwarthethird

Just a heads up I would think most of the stuff in the supermarkets are not the new seasons , they store some from last season using some gas or other. But it does look like in a few weeks theirs going to be a significant increase in basic food stuff, which will ripple through to grain fed animals and so on. Including next season as seed will cost more that's if they have enough for a full plant.

My potato plants went to seed this year because of a cold part of the summer. I took three of the potato fruit and took the seeds out of them, I am thinking I should go out in the garden and gram about ten more that got buried when I dug the potatoes. That is the first year that I got the potato fruit and my potatoes were tiny. I have about two hundred seeds that I dried.

I am curious to see how they start, I guess you start them inside a couple weeks before than plant the plants. I guess Michigan got hit by that colder than normal july. Thank you global warming for cooling the area.

I suppose I should buy about ten five pound bags of organic flour. It is 3.89 a bag now, but it could go up to five bucks or disappear from the local store during a shortage in the country like it did once last year. Fifty pounds lasts us about three months.

I keep hearing this kind of thing. Alarmists telling me that food prices are gonna skyrocket very soon. I just haven't seen it. I've been hearing this for more than a year and the prices I pay for food (in general) have not gone up much at all in that time. I have not seen any empty shelves or drastically higher prices on anything.

a reply to: anonentity
Well if, all goes that high this winter. Well there are about 15 chickens in the back yard, and some ducks and a turkey. I say that is about 10 chickens to many every year. Besides, every winter the coyotes or bob cats get some, also probably a mountain lion out there as well. Last year had 5 ducks, and by February, there were 0 ducks left.

But in all, unless the world goes full SHTF I think, maybe just store up on some potatoes before it gets cold. Usually rarely get any snow here, and it does not get that cold, but last year was the first year in a while, that it snowed for more then 2 days straight, and the snow stayed on the ground for over a week.

For the past 15 years, it would snow a day or two, and be mostly slush and gone in another day or two.

originally posted by: BrianFlanders
I keep hearing this kind of thing. Alarmists telling me that food prices are gonna skyrocket very soon. I just haven't seen it. I've been hearing this for more than a year and the prices I pay for food (in general) have not gone up much at all in that time. I have not seen any empty shelves or drastically higher prices on anything.

Food prices are tied more to the strength of the dollar than to actual food crops.

a reply to: anonentity

A little fake news on harvest numbers equals trillions in profits.

originally posted by: dogstar23

originally posted by: BrianFlanders
I keep hearing this kind of thing. Alarmists telling me that food prices are gonna skyrocket very soon. I just haven't seen it. I've been hearing this for more than a year and the prices I pay for food (in general) have not gone up much at all in that time. I have not seen any empty shelves or drastically higher prices on anything.

Exactly....

Food prices are tied more to the strength of the dollar than to actual food crops.

It's not a supply and demand market anymore. Speculation rules the day in the commodities market. They don't call them pork bellies for nothing.

a reply to: anonentity

That's not how it works. Farmers are not dependent on seeds from this years crops to grow next years crops. Farms rarely gather seeds as they often use specialized seeds developed by companies who hybridized seeds.

Due to how genetics work, second generation seeds are not beneficial to use as the qualities they capitalized to grow certain types of crops successfully are not found in the next generation, and there use would more than likely result in total failure or crops unusable.

There are specialized farms that are run by seed companies that provide the specialized seeds each year. Those seeds are genetically engineered in a variety of ways, like disease resistant, special hybrids crossed with other varieties which harvest the best qualities from each to produce new and hardiest of plants.

Farmers are not prevented from reusing seeds but...seeds work better when they are all uniform in size. When seeds are bought they normally are. When seeds are not uniform it can result in double planting and other problems that cost the farmer money, every expense on a farm is a loss in profit. It's also necessary to clean seeds, debris from the plants often get mixed in with harvested seed and that's another labor intensive and big expense, much cheaper to purchase seed ready for use.

Seeds are hybrids to create specialized plants for a particular type of soil, sandy, dry, and even herbicide resistant. Farming is much more scientific than it used to be. So lack of seed will not be an issue. As for prices, it's been a rough season and prices will climb as a result. Prices are established along the world wide market so it usually balances out and we dont notice as much. And crops are often bought and sold before being planted so farmers prices are established, it's the futures traders who manipulate prices

They do not depend on harvesting the seeds from each crop and instead rely on seeds from the specialized seed companies. In fact, many seeds are patented and farmers are not allowed by contract to harvest any seeds. Not always due to genetically modified reasons, but because those seeds are inferior to the varieties of crops the farmers intend t grow.

Harvest is down here in Southwest Michigan and the weathers to blame. And the weather is to blame. And the weather is to blame.

One of the joys of farming. Next year there might be too much to store thats the nature of farming.

The potato's this year have been crappy the ones I've been buying from the supermarket all have black spots inside of them I have to cut out haven't baked a potato this year because of it .

our sweet potatoes are growing gang busters...

but every White Potato I planted went to potato heaven, some 12 tries over the spring-summer-fall months

I have a mind to do indoor plants this winter --> white potato plants in soil filled plastic bags, in 5 gallon pails
our 4th bedroom dedicated to Vertical Farming plants

I will not be skunked, even though I eat sweet potatoes, after having just yams available to eat gets me taste-bud reflexed


ETA: I wonder if the Grand Solar Minimum and the elevated cosmic ray intrusions are causing or contributing to this White Potato Plant genocide

specifically the 'Golden' Potatoes that are shish-ka-bob sized & cost close to $4 for a sports cap sized gunny sack full (~20 mini spuds)

originally posted by: dfnj2015
a reply to: anonentity

A little fake news on harvest numbers equals trillions in profits.

I just looked at Wheat prices and info. The flour we use is going to be harder to get locally probably, it was last time there was a reduction in production. Ten to fifteen percent reduction in North Dakota, which will mean a rise in price for their products. Not really a big jump in price, but we are at the end of the rainbow here, so I just went out and bought four bags to increase stock till it blows over.

Around here there will not be a major change in Potato prices other than usual price fluctuation we experience in the yearly cycle. But there will be a shortage and some higher prices in the west it appears. Europe is going to experience a pretty bad shortage of wheat this year from what I read and that will mean higher bread prices there

It was a bad spring and fall in some of the states, overall I think ten percent of the grains got left in the fields this year with three states being hit the worst.

Not really fake news, there is some basis to be aware of this if you do a lot of baking. futures on Wheat are going to be up, possibly five or six percent. It appears that the only place that is going to be hit hard is Europe.

About twice a year I check into futures and read the news on grains and stuff like coffee. I have seen wide price swings in the past and have learned to stock up beforehand, especially with coffee. Coffee doubles in price every so often, We stock about eight to ten cans, enough for about seven months or more. We haven't paid more than five bucks a can for years, buying it when it goes on sale. We were down to two cans one time a few years back, then it got reasonable again and we raised our stocks back up again. Coffee is the most important thing we stock, and prices fluctuate widely

Whooda thunk it.

The weather is giving farmers a hard time.

Yeah must be global warming.

Don’t know much about potatoes but with wheat it’s grown all over the place, there’s so much surplus it’s not funny, the bad reports are just another way of artificially increasing prices, just like in the corn industry. Both are subsidized by tax payers.

a reply to: anonentity

Think i read something about a 3rd of the world's pigs are at risk or possibly going to die down to swine flu.

Bacon flavored crisps are going to be expensive.

a reply to: andy06shake

Bet that's chemo bacon that they are sprayed with.

a reply to: anonentity

I don't imagine they make many bacon crisps with real bacon. LoL

Unless its "pork scratchings" of course, and even a close approximation of a crisp.