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Chickens come home to roostGreat news! The bakers in New York are converting their yards into wheat fields as the rhetoric continues about the high cost of food. I find it tremendously amazing how many pundits have started to point fingers at the farmer for "deciding to plant acres into fuel crops instead of food crops." The average citizen hears and accepts that line without one notion that the farmer does not decide what the final destination of their grain will be. We simply plant what we believe will grow best on our fields and generate the best return. But back to my original premise, if more Americans--bakers or simply consumers--would plant wheat, corn or canola instead of bluegrass and flowers, we would have less of a disconnect with our customers. From Michigan to Malaysia, we see a plethora of news articles trying to find the cause of soaring food prices. I am no food scientist nor have I played one on TV but you don't need to be a food or rocket scientist to figure out that $120 crude oil is going to have financial repercussions on a global population that is so dependent upon the stuff. One man within the ranks of agriculture who found a mainstream outlet willing to print the real story about the farmers' effect on food prices is the current President of the Utah Farm Bureau, Leland Hogan. Today I take my hat off to Mr. Hogan because he saw an opportunity to tell the real story about food production and the Salt Lake Tribune was willing to print it. In his editorial Hogan reminds readers that: In reality transporting, processing and packaging food and agricultural products cost significantly more today than in recent years. Meanwhile, the farmer's share of the retail food dollar has continued to hover between 20-25 cents since the 1970s. One must only look at the cost of raw agricultural products compared to food that has been further processed. For example, today farmers receive $5.50 per bushel of corn and average 7.9 cents for the corn in each box of Corn Flakes. When Corn Flakes cost approximately $3.30 for an 18-ounce box at the grocery store, this translates into the farmer getting about 2 percent of the retail price. The same can be seen with a loaf of bread that costs $1.78. As of the end of the first quarter of 2008, farmers received 16 cents for the wheat used to produce a typical 20-ounce loaf of bread, which translates into the farmer receiving 9 percent of the retail price for that loaf. I suspect that the yards converted into wheat fields will be short-lived but certainly it will present us with an opportunity to bring a greater level of understanding to the entire food system about what it takes to get wheat from the soil to the food counter. It is not as easy as planting the seeds and being guaranteed a crop to harvest. You have to deal with the attitudes of Mother Nature and all of her whims, not to mention the number of neighborhood pets that might find a way to regularly apply organic nutrients to the wheat crop without a nutrient management plan in place. I find it frustrating at some level that agriculture never seems to get due credit for our contributions to the economy of this nation. At a time when every Tom and Dick and Harry analyst wants to talk about the current recession, I haven't heard two words outside of agricultural media about the value of the weak American dollar and what would have happened had it not been for our nation exporting nearly $100 billion in agricultural products in 2007. American agriculture has been the untold savior of the U.S. economy to this point in 2008. With all of that said, I still see 2008 as the most dynamic year during my lifetime in agriculture. Yes, crop values are high. Yes, we continue to export all farm products at record levels but let's not forget that many livestock producers are simply trying to find a way to see the light at the end of the tunnel. The bottom line is quite simply that high energy costs are leading to higher food costs. We are forced to send our young soldiers around the globe to protect our energy supplies. I hope our elected officials are insightful enough to recognize the error of their ways, which has lead to the current energy dependent situation. More importantly I hope that we do not allow ourselves to follow the same path for food production and become dependent on others for our food. When the chickens leave our soil, they will not come home again to roost. Editor's note: Trent Loos is a sixth generation United States farmer, host of the daily radio show, Loos Tales, and founder of Faces of Agriculture, a non-profit organization putting the human element back into the production of food. Get more information at www.FacesOfAg.com, or e-mail Trent at trent@loostales.com. 5/12/08 Date: 5/8/08
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