What crop would that be that isn't already being grown? It is easy to throw around ideas about growing other crops, but the market is what decides what is grown. If wheat were at a high price, you can bet more acres would be put into wheat. Same for oats, barley, or any other crop. Look at the commodity exchange prices for various crops, compare the pricing over the last 20 years, then get back with us. And areas of the country dictate what crops can be raised. Ever notice how oranges and rice are not grown in S. Dakota? And one little factoid that many fail to see, is that a farmer must provide info to the government on what crops are being raised and how many acres are being used for each crop. The government can look at data from all the farmers and put the brakes on any farm from growing too much of one particular crop. The gooberment has as much to say about what is raised than any farmer does. Crop production plans must be submitted and government approvals obtained.
As for prices up at stores... let's see.. the dollar has lost about 30% of its value in the last 10 years, transportation costs are higher, government regulations from Obummercare to a host of other things have driven up cost to keep plants and stores open. And unlike grain which is a commodity traded on exchanges, food producers who make products for the retail market can set their own price for goods, and so also the retailer where you buy. As a truck owner, I am not going to haul someone's product for the same price I did 6 months ago. You want me to show up, you have to pay. Again, the market. I am not going to haul for John Cheapskate when I can haul for Daddy Warbucks. Meet the transport price, and you get the truck. Unfortunately, the consumer at the checkout line is the guy who gets the bill. Don't like it? Then remove the plethora of regulations that have been piled on the transport industry and created a situation where there is more freight than trucks to haul it, and to add insult, according to the American Trucking Association, a severe driver shortage that is only going to be worse in the near future. Pay and benefits will have to go up to attract and retain good drivers that can make it thru the vetting process of all the government regulatory maze. Again, the consumer will get the bill. Increasing more restrictive government regulations from CSA safety scores to tightening DOT physical requirements are restricting more potential drivers from staying in trucking and even doing it in the first place. And we haven't even touched on the fact that EPA regulatory requirements have increased the purchase price of trucks by over 30% in the last 10 years, over and above normal cost inflation that would have occurred anyway.
The closing beef price on the commodity exchange was $183 per hundred weight on the hoof. $1.83 a pound. Compare that to the price you pay for beef at the store or that burger at Wendy's and figure out where the money is going. It isn't going to the beef producer.
Truth be told, the reason food prices are considerably higher can be laid solidly on the back of Government currency manipulation and the heavy boot of massive regulation. And this is true of why people in other areas of the world starve... their government doesn't allow them access to reasonably priced food, not because of any shortages, ethanol production, etc.
