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Wheat prices........


chefpeon

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So I don't know about the rest of you who are in the pastry and baking end of it professionally,

but where I work the price of flour is just eating us alive.

My boss is sort of freaking out.

Most of our business is in organic artisan bread. Regular flour is expensive, but organic flour is REALLY expensive. My boss has already reduced the amount of organic loaves we make, and we are now making more non-organic loaves. People will only pay so much for a loaf of bread, so we can only raise prices so much......the rest, well, we have to "eat".

How is this price increase affecting the rest of you? What are you doing to deal with it? Are you freaking out? How can I make my boss calm the f*&K down? :wacko:

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The poor crops of wheat are world wide and may take two years to recover. When you consider the pressure on corn and soy as well, most of us will have to get used to higher prices.

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It hits us (the independent producers) first, then consumers will see rising prices in the "regular" goods like pizza (when cheese first went through the roof, most pizza joints tried to absorb the cost. But there's only so much you can handle); and with the poor economy most people are cutting back everywhere they can. Last week, there was an article on several online news outlets about people not doing take out pizza as much, and the article also mentioned the high price of hops affecting beer prices and liquor stores were seeing people buy less as a result of price increases.

I'm seeing a general decline in cakes - it's an indulgence that people can definitely rationalize away and buy something from the supermarket. But bread is another thing.

People will always buy bread, but will be forced to make a choice between organic or not. Maybe your boss would be willing to offer just a select three or four organic breads and do more with regular flour?

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Hi Annie,

Funny you should mention this. We've been freaking out too and have had to make changes. We deal with several suppliers and the wholesale price of flour -- organic and non-organic -- has doubled over the past year. There are also shortages, more out-of-stocks than usual. It's affected us in several ways:

(1) 25% increase in cost of bread delivered to our cafe from a local Italian bakery. We recently increased sandwich prices, so we'll have to "eat" the higher bread cost for awhile (no pun intended.)

(2) Our shop has a bulk baking section and we just discontinued carrying organic flour due to price increases. 50 lb. bags of organic artisan and whole wheat are running around $52 wholesale, up from $27 one year ago. My customers are more sensitive to price than the organic label, so I decided to substitute with non-organic flours. I substituted KA organic WW with Wheat Montana Prairie Gold. It's not organic, but is chemical and GMO-free and almost half the price.

(3) I supply ingredients to a farmer/friend of mine who bakes bread to sell at farmers markets. He uses KA Special bread flour. The supplier was totally out of stock last week and we spent Monday calling all distributors within 50 miles to get info on pricing and availability. Everyone was whining about flour prices. Luckily, our regular supplier got in a shipment from King Arthur on Monday, so we're all set for the next few weeks. The supplier told me there's a shortage of Gold Medal AP and limits are being placed on customers' orders.

So, tell your boss to relax. The only thing (s)he can do is raise prices, which everyone else is doing, make smaller loaves (see the shrinking mayonnaise jar thread), or use non-organic flour. Can you get locally produced/milled flour? If so, you can pitch the "local" theme rather than "organic." But if your customers demand organic, they will have to pay the price. Every product containing wheat is going up. :smile:

Ilene

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I've been agonizing over re-pricing my organic breads which we wholesale as well as sell in our store ... sourdough, so there's nothing in it but flour, water and salt. My flour costs for white and wholewheat are up 50 per cent since October, spelt is up 25 per cent and rye 20 per cent. We'll have to eat some of it ... I just can't imagine anyone paying $5.70 retail for a 24 oz loaf of french-style sourdough, no matter how good it is! If it gets worse, as is predicted, we will talk to our wholesale customers about making the loaves smaller. Right now, the rye, wholewheat and multi are 32-oz which is a nice size loaf. The troublesome ones are the spelt, Kamut and 100% rye which are also scaled at 32 oz. but don't rise nearly as much. Smaller of those would look pretty small. (Oddly, Kamut is still the same price as last fall.)

I use primarily Rogers and Nunweiller flours which are western Canadian millers, along with some from a very small local miller. I used to buy Dawn flours sometimes to support another of our suppliers and I like it (our Dawn flour is milled in Saskatoon, Sask.), but it's now $14/20 kg more than Rogers. The sun has set on Dawn for me.

We also do non-organic breads, sweet goods, sandwiches and pizzas at our store ... they're hit by the hikes in non-O flour (almost 50 per cent) as well as dairy (western Canadian farmers are trying to catch up to the east), canola oil and eggs, not to mention the propane for the ovens.

No supply problems so far.

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I just can't imagine anyone paying $5.70 retail for a 24 oz loaf of french-style sourdough, no matter how good it is!

This amazes me!

I think good bread is one of the best bargains in the world. $5.75 for a 24 oz loaf seems reasonable. If it's great bread, then it's a great deal.

When I get great bread for $4 a loaf at local bakeries or at whole foods, I wonder how they do it. I have no trouble spending more than that. I make bread from time to time at home, and would have to value my time at pennies per hour to have good bread for cheaper.

Maybe it will take some PR to wake people up to the realities of food costs?

Notes from the underbelly

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We also do non-organic breads, sweet goods, sandwiches and pizzas at our store ... they're hit by the hikes in non-O flour (almost 50 per cent) as well as dairy (western Canadian farmers are trying to catch up to the east), canola oil and eggs, not to mention the propane for the ovens.

Glad to see I'm not the only one noticing propane prices. I'm still in a state of shock from my last invoice, over $4.00/gallon (compared to 85 cents a few years ago.)

Ilene

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Maybe it will take some PR to wake people up to the realities of food costs?

Well, the news, both local and national, have been running stories about wheat prices and what it means to the common consumer. Just last night our local news ran a story about pizza places raising prices, because I guess cheese is really expensive right now too. Plus if it's delivery pizza, you also have to pay for the gas in the trucks that bring it to you......

We've already been making changes to the bread sizes.......and going to more non-organic flours for our breads. Sort of sad really, because the whole organic thing was sort of our niche to fill in this corner of the world. I haven't experienced any shortages yet, luckily....except for some reason I can't get my supplier to get me my gianduja that I've tried to get for three weeks now. :angry:

There is a local miller here near Bellingham, but their prices are even higher than the stuff we get from the organic supplier in Portland. We'd love to tout local flour......but financially can't do it at this point.

Yeah, we're all in the same boat.....I'm just still so flabbergasted.......I never thought I'd see wheat get this high in such a short period of time.....

We run on propane too......so yeah, there's THAT on top of everything else....... :sad:

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Wheat and dairy prices are skyrocketing due to the fact that former wheat farmers are now planting corn to produce ethanol. Thus wheat farmers have more demand for their product and the price is increasing rapidly. Dairy is soaring because grain that was once grown for feed now goes to the large ethanol producers.

All this profit is going to the large agri-businesses like ADM and Monsanto with the help of US subsidy policies spelled out in the Farm Bill. The reauthorization of the farm bill increases the amount of subsidy going to large corporate farming and squeezes the family farmer even more.

There are also sweet deals for John Deere to increase production of large corn combines.

Here is the problem shown pictorially:

Hungry Mouths to Feed

All this and it costs as much or more in fossil fuel expenditure to produce the ethanol than it saves at the gas pump or when CO2 emissions are factored in.

When an acre of land produces 14 gallons of ethanol from corn and 48 gallons from sweet sorghum (which seeds itself, improves the soil, does not need irrigation, fertilizers, pesticides or special harvesting machinery) it's hard to understand the thinking behind this issue. The only reason I, and others, can come up with is the money and protection the government offers large corn growers in the form of subsidies.

The new farm bill only reinforces these policies. If you care about this at all, write, email or call your congressman and push him to reform the Farm Bill to benefit hungry people and family farmers.

This article is also interesting to locovores:

Forbidden Fruits and Vegetables

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We'll have to eat some of it ... I just can't imagine anyone paying $5.70 retail for a 24 oz loaf of french-style sourdough, no matter how good it is!

Have you ever been to Zingerman's( in Ann Arbor, MI)? The highest price bread they carry is about $14.00. Many of their loaves sell for over 5.50.

I first heard about the flour increase last November when I was there trying to buy their 3.50 monthly special bread. I was told by the salesguy that flour has increased drastically in price,so they werent doing a " Bread of the Month" special, etc. I then made my way to Great Harvest Bread Company and was told the same thing about flour. The supermarket price on flour had not yet increased so I stocked up on a few bags before returning to Ontario and am now baking my way thru "Artisan Bread in 5 Min a day". Btw, we have a local mill near London, ON and I've yet to see the price increase there. I've recently started a new job as a pastry chef and my employer uses this flour exclusively. I expect the price to increase any day now as I just saw a news story the other day about wheat shortages in Canada.

eta: I just checked the prices at Arva, and organic flour is 16.95 for 10kg(22lbs). Of course, shipping would probably be outrageously expensive!!

Edited by CaliPoutine (log)
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This is one of those stories that has only just filtered down to people like me, your average consumer. I started noticing this thread, and just today, after paying $15.30 for 18 bagels at my usual shop, I glanced up from my morning stupor and saw two things almost simultaneously: The store had removed all the prices from its price board, and they had posted a notice about the increase in flour prices, what it would mean for bagel prices, and what it would mean for availability--ie, the shop would no longer bake its more "exotic" flavors (no loss there!) like blueberry, presumably because those are the ones most often being tossed at the end of the day.

As a customer, I really appreciated that notice, and I'd imagine those of you in the artisanal/organic bread business have customers who feel the same way: It explains to us exactly why my 55 cent bagel is suddenly 85 cents, and their $4.50 loaf of bread has gone up to $6--not because you have a greedy landlord or owner or want to increase your profit margins, but because your most basic ingredient has gone through the roof. People who can't afford the higher prices sadly are going to stop buying anyway, but those who can will at least understand why, and maybe even feel compelled to help you through all this (while, of course, helping themselves to some tasty, high-quality stuff!). So, if you haven't already, you may want to think about following my little bagel store's lead.

Good luck. Sad news. And don't get me started on ethanol.

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It explains to us exactly why my 55 cent bagel is suddenly 85 cents, and their $4.50 loaf of bread has gone up to $6--not because you have a greedy landlord or owner or want to increase your profit margins, but because your most basic ingredient has gone through the roof.

Could someone offer a cost breakdown on a loaf of artisan bread? I'm not yet seeing why the increase in the price of wheat would cause such a large increase in the cost of the finished product. What percentage of the finished price are the raw ingredients?

Above, someone offered an example where the price of organic wheat flour has gone up from $.50 USD to $1 USD per pound. Guessing at numbers, this would mean that the ingredient costs for a bagel with 3 oz of flour would increase about 10 cents in price, and a 24 oz loaf of bread would go up about 75 cents.

While this is big jump, it's a lot lower than the numbers in the quote. I'd guess that there must be other things happening: increasing costs across the board, greater popularity of good bread, or just a drive for higher profit. Personally, I'm all for artisan bakers charging raising their prices to match the market demand.

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There was an article about this in the business section of our local paper, and there is at least one local bakery that is posting the price they are paying for flour, and updating the board as the prices change so that the customers can see that no, the bakery is not gouging them by raising prices, merely trying to stay in business.

Susan Fahning aka "snowangel"
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Could someone offer a cost breakdown on a loaf of artisan bread?  I'm not yet seeing why the increase in the price of wheat would cause such a large increase in the cost of the finished product.  What percentage of the finished price are the raw ingredients?

Above, someone offered an example where the price of organic wheat flour has gone up from $.50 USD to $1 USD per pound.  Guessing at numbers, this would mean that the ingredient costs for a bagel with 3 oz of flour would increase about 10 cents in price, and a 24 oz loaf of bread would go up about 75 cents. 

While this is  big jump, it's a lot lower than the numbers in the quote.  I'd guess that there must be other things happening:  increasing costs across the board, greater popularity of good bread, or just a drive for higher profit.  Personally, I'm all for artisan bakers charging raising their prices to match the market demand.

Several people upthread also noted that the cost of propane has also shot up. Many ovens are fueled by propane, which has, in some places, quadrupled in price. Quite probably shipping charges for the flour have increased as well due to rising fuel prices. I don't know if the price quotes above reflect that.

Just at the local grocery store, flour prices have, within the last two weeks, increased by 50%. Other items have gone up as well. It's going to hit everyone, and those at the bottom of the income scale will get hit the hardest.

On the bright side, my brothers have a small family farm that has lost money for 6 years in a row. This year they might turn a profit because they had some wheat stored from last season's harvest. They just sold a load of sprout-damaged wheat for double what they sold first-quality wheat for last fall. It's a crazy world.

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Well, I guess the good news is that The Seattle Times had a front page article about rising food costs, and the big part of that was about wheat and grain prices. It also pointed out that prices for almost everything....soybeans, corn, etc are way up too. Farmers are loving it.

The production of ethanol is part of it, but there are many other factors that are playing into the increased food prices also. Seems that demand for grain in third world countries is up, as is demand worldwide. Bad harvests have depleted stockpiles. A lot of people interviewed in the article had differences of opinion when it came to whether this was going to be a long term situation or not. It seems to me that high food prices will not go away soon. It will be interesting to see how it affects the economy as a whole.

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I can't imagine that the prices will go down once they've gone up (perhaps by a little, but not much). It's like the fuel surcharges that all of the shipping companies started using a few years ago. They added them as a temporary device to help with the high fuel prices. When the fuel prices fell, the fuel surcharges remained -- and have continued to rise since then, regardless of the price of fuel. So as a food retailer, a 64 oz. bottle of juice is costing me over $1 to ship (from Toronto to Winnipeg).

I've been ordering all of my Passover ingredients and products over the last couple of weeks and almost all of the flour/wheat based products have gone up in price and one of my suppliers sent out an email saying that this was just the beginning and to expect things like matzo to jump considerably. With the value of the Canadian dollar being much higher this year, most of us expected the price of these imports to go down, but in fact, they're going up because of the wheat prices.

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Interesting topic for sure. I happen to live in Eastern Washington and just South of my home are the rolling plains we call the "Palouse"-acres and acres of rolling wheat fields. I can only speak from the perspective of living among the wheat farmers and what I read in our local news.

Many of our farmers brought in large profits from our last harvest-the price per bushel of wheat was much larger in 06 and 07 than in previous years. But realize that some of these same farmers were practically broke for a number of years due to poor wheat prices.

Eastern Washington is dotted with small farming communities-many of them are on the brink of vanishing in bad farming years. Those same small farming communities are coming back as a result of better harvests and higher wheat prices in the past couple of years. Our paper, the Spokesman-Review, ran a series of articles this summer about farm families that are finally seeing some extra money coming into their homes and communities. Those stories read like a bit of American history-the rise and fall of small farming communities based on the fate or fortunes of the agricultural industry.

As some of you have said, any number of factors are affecting the price of wheat and that ultimately is affecting your bakeries and businesses, and ultimately the consumer. It isn't an easy situation to address.

What we are hearing locally is that some of the factors that caused a rise in wheat futures included bad weather in Russia that hurt their wheat crop as opposed to good weather and yield from our crops in Eastern Washington. As a result, we saw an increase in the price of the wheat that we export. Of course, the price of fuel for a farmer to gas up his tractors, trucks and combines has had a huge impact on the increase of the price of a bushel of wheat.

This is definately a tough situation for many, many people. While some are seeing a negative impact on the price of wheat, others, like the wheat farmers that live near my home, are seeing a positive impact as a result of the price of wheat. I thought you might find my perspective a bit different since I live among the farmers producing a large portion of America's wheat.

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Interesting topic for sure.  I happen to live in Eastern Washington and just South of my home are the rolling plains we call the "Palouse"-acres and acres of rolling wheat fields.  I can only speak from the perspective of living among the wheat farmers and what I read in our local news. 

Many of our farmers brought in large profits from our last harvest-the price per bushel of wheat was much larger in 06 and 07 than in previous years.  But realize that some of these same farmers were practically broke for a number of years due to poor wheat prices.

Eastern Washington is dotted with small farming communities-many of them are on the brink of vanishing in bad farming years.  Those same small farming communities are coming back as a result of better harvests and higher wheat prices in the past couple of years.  Our paper, the Spokesman-Review, ran a series of articles this summer about farm families that are finally seeing some extra money coming into their homes and communities. Those stories read like a bit of American history-the rise and fall of small farming communities based on the fate or fortunes of the agricultural industry.

As some of you have said, any number of factors are affecting the price of wheat and that ultimately is affecting your bakeries and businesses, and ultimately the consumer. It isn't an easy situation to address.

What we are hearing locally is that some of the factors that caused a rise in wheat futures included bad weather in Russia that hurt their wheat crop as opposed to good weather and yield from our crops in Eastern Washington.  As a result, we saw an increase in the price of the wheat that we export.  Of course, the price of fuel for a farmer to gas up his tractors, trucks and combines has had a huge impact on the increase of the price of a bushel of wheat.

This is definately a tough situation for many, many people.  While some are seeing a negative impact on the price of wheat, others, like the wheat farmers that live near my home, are seeing a positive impact as a result of the price of wheat.  I thought you might find my perspective a bit different since I live among the farmers producing a large portion of America's wheat.

Thank you for pointing out the other side of the coin. We farm wheat on our two farms. It's been quite a struggle for years. In fact, we switched to sunflowers and soybeans for a few years due to the declining wheat prices. We lost money when wheat was in the soil. Believe me, I feel for those affected by the higher costs, but don't forget how many years those with farms have struggled, too. And, it will turn around back the other way soon :wink:

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Interesting topic for sure.  I happen to live in Eastern Washington and just South of my home are the rolling plains we call the "Palouse"-acres and acres of rolling wheat fields.  I can only speak from the perspective of living among the wheat farmers and what I read in our local news. 

Many of our farmers brought in large profits from our last harvest-the price per bushel of wheat was much larger in 06 and 07 than in previous years.  But realize that some of these same farmers were practically broke for a number of years due to poor wheat prices.

Eastern Washington is dotted with small farming communities-many of them are on the brink of vanishing in bad farming years.  Those same small farming communities are coming back as a result of better harvests and higher wheat prices in the past couple of years.  Our paper, the Spokesman-Review, ran a series of articles this summer about farm families that are finally seeing some extra money coming into their homes and communities. Those stories read like a bit of American history-the rise and fall of small farming communities based on the fate or fortunes of the agricultural industry.

As some of you have said, any number of factors are affecting the price of wheat and that ultimately is affecting your bakeries and businesses, and ultimately the consumer. It isn't an easy situation to address.

What we are hearing locally is that some of the factors that caused a rise in wheat futures included bad weather in Russia that hurt their wheat crop as opposed to good weather and yield from our crops in Eastern Washington.  As a result, we saw an increase in the price of the wheat that we export.  Of course, the price of fuel for a farmer to gas up his tractors, trucks and combines has had a huge impact on the increase of the price of a bushel of wheat.

This is definately a tough situation for many, many people.  While some are seeing a negative impact on the price of wheat, others, like the wheat farmers that live near my home, are seeing a positive impact as a result of the price of wheat.  I thought you might find my perspective a bit different since I live among the farmers producing a large portion of America's wheat.

Thank you for pointing out the other side of the coin. We farm wheat on our two farms. It's been quite a struggle for years. In fact, we switched to sunflowers and soybeans for a few years due to the declining wheat prices. We lost money when wheat was in the soil. Believe me, I feel for those affected by the higher costs, but don't forget how many years those with farms have struggled, too. And, it will turn around back the other way soon :wink:

My family history in ranching and farming goes back to the 1860's in Oregon and Washington so I have a lot of history and tradition to draw from. I feel the pain of the people whose businesses use wheat products and for the consumer who buys the products, but it's important to also remember that the farmer is also affected when we discuss this issue.

We sold one of our family farms in Oregon last year. It had been in our family since 1863. Wheat was a staple crop on that farm for decades until the price dropped in the 1980's and we had to replace a wheat field with mint. Mint wasn't a crop normally grown in that part of the country, but we didn't have a choice. The price we could get for mint oil was much higher than the price of wheat. In simple terms-the price of bread was cheap at the time while the American taste for peppermint candy was rising, making mint oil for candy a more profitable commodity.

Like consumers, farmers struggle with the issue of high prices and low prices and have to adapt or else they are forced out of farming.

We have family members in the beef industry in Eastern Oregon and Eastern Washington and right now they are enjoying the high prices for cattle-but the downside for them right now is the high cost of feed and the fuel it takes to bring the feed to the cattle and the fuel it takes to bring the cattle to market. Difficult economic times for the food industry.

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Interesting topic for sure.  I happen to live in Eastern Washington and just South of my home are the rolling plains we call the "Palouse"-acres and acres of rolling wheat fields.  I can only speak from the perspective of living among the wheat farmers and what I read in our local news. 

Many of our farmers brought in large profits from our last harvest-the price per bushel of wheat was much larger in 06 and 07 than in previous years.  But realize that some of these same farmers were practically broke for a number of years due to poor wheat prices.

Eastern Washington is dotted with small farming communities-many of them are on the brink of vanishing in bad farming years.  Those same small farming communities are coming back as a result of better harvests and higher wheat prices in the past couple of years.  Our paper, the Spokesman-Review, ran a series of articles this summer about farm families that are finally seeing some extra money coming into their homes and communities. Those stories read like a bit of American history-the rise and fall of small farming communities based on the fate or fortunes of the agricultural industry.

As some of you have said, any number of factors are affecting the price of wheat and that ultimately is affecting your bakeries and businesses, and ultimately the consumer. It isn't an easy situation to address.

What we are hearing locally is that some of the factors that caused a rise in wheat futures included bad weather in Russia that hurt their wheat crop as opposed to good weather and yield from our crops in Eastern Washington.  As a result, we saw an increase in the price of the wheat that we export.  Of course, the price of fuel for a farmer to gas up his tractors, trucks and combines has had a huge impact on the increase of the price of a bushel of wheat.

This is definately a tough situation for many, many people.  While some are seeing a negative impact on the price of wheat, others, like the wheat farmers that live near my home, are seeing a positive impact as a result of the price of wheat.  I thought you might find my perspective a bit different since I live among the farmers producing a large portion of America's wheat.

Thank you for pointing out the other side of the coin. We farm wheat on our two farms. It's been quite a struggle for years. In fact, we switched to sunflowers and soybeans for a few years due to the declining wheat prices. We lost money when wheat was in the soil. Believe me, I feel for those affected by the higher costs, but don't forget how many years those with farms have struggled, too. And, it will turn around back the other way soon :wink:

My family history in ranching and farming goes back to the 1860's in Oregon and Washington so I have a lot of history and tradition to draw from. I feel the pain of the people whose businesses use wheat products and for the consumer who buys the products, but it's important to also remember that the farmer is also affected when we discuss this issue.

We sold one of our family farms in Oregon last year. It had been in our family since 1863. Wheat was a staple crop on that farm for decades until the price dropped in the 1980's and we had to replace a wheat field with mint. Mint wasn't a crop normally grown in that part of the country, but we didn't have a choice. The price we could get for mint oil was much higher than the price of wheat. In simple terms-the price of bread was cheap at the time while the American taste for peppermint candy was rising, making mint oil for candy a more profitable commodity.

Like consumers, farmers struggle with the issue of high prices and low prices and have to adapt or else they are forced out of farming.

We have family members in the beef industry in Eastern Oregon and Eastern Washington and right now they are enjoying the high prices for cattle-but the downside for them right now is the high cost of feed and the fuel it takes to bring the feed to the cattle and the fuel it takes to bring the cattle to market. Difficult economic times for the food industry.

Very interesting, David. I didn't know there was such a thing as mint fields! I'm wondering what you use to harvest that. Some sort of combine similar to one used on wheat?

Another thing to add is the STUNNING cost of fertilizers and fuel. These costs have tripled for us in the last few years. I about fell over when I opened our last anhydrous ammonia bill. It's mind boggling to know how much diesel it takes to run our irrigation systems, too.

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Yes, they harvest the mint with a sort of combine/cutter. It's not nearly as big and imposing as a combine for wheat since mint is a much more delicate crop than wheat. After my Grandparents died about 25 years ago we leased our ranch to a farmer and he was the one who we contracted to put in the mint. I don't know the exact variety of mint, but I do know it was spearmint, which has a very concentrated mint flavor in the oil. The mint oil is used for everything from candy to chewing gum.

We also took out another field of wheat about 10 years ago when the price was depressed and we put in garlic for seed. In other words, garlic that is used for seeds to plant more garlic. Pretty odd when traditional farms in Prineville, Oregon went from growing wheat, alfalfa and potatoes to growing mint and garlic.

(On a side note, we raised Angus cattle years ago, years ago, before there was this silly talk of "certified Angus beef." We laugh now, because our cattle were always "certified." I guess it wasn't until a few years ago that the beef marketing folk realized calling something "certified" meant it was "better." I thought it was pretty darn good back then!)

I have to agree with what others have said about the price of flour in this discussion. While the per bushel price of wheat will rise and fall as it always has, the big drivers of cost to the consumer, like fuel, apparently will never come back down to a reasonable level. We can adapt the types of flour we use in our bakeries and take a harder look at the breads we buy in the market so we get the best deal. But in the end, I think we will all have to accept that our flour prices will continue to be high.

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Sorry that I kind of hijacked this thread. Maybe we need a separate farming topic for me LOL!

I agree. Prices are going to be high until fuel goes down, and I don't see that happening.

BUT, if other countries that we supply wheat to get the needed rain etc. to make their crops more productive, then we could see a dip.

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Whenever I drive from Seattle to Pullman, I love the smell as I go past the mint fields. And I think it is great that the local wheat farmers are enjoying some increased profits. I like to point out that there is more to Washington than making jetliners and writing software.

Regards,

Michael Lloyd

Mill Creek, Washington USA

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You can't really compare wheat prices to oil/gas prices.

I believe wheat prices will eventually go back down. While they may not go down to their previous level, we won't be seeing the continued high price point we're seeing with fuel.

Why? Because there's far more competition in the growing of wheat than there is in the production of oil/gas. Competition leads to lower prices. There is no competition in the oil/gas field.

As an aside, speaking of smelling the fields as you drive by, in the autumn it's onion time around here. I happen to like the aroma but I can say that since I don't live next to them and only smell them as I drive out of town. A trivia note: Joseph Wambaugh's "The Onion Field" happened in an onion field here in the county.

 

“Peter: Oh my god, Brian, there's a message in my Alphabits. It says, 'Oooooo.'

Brian: Peter, those are Cheerios.”

– From Fox TV’s “Family Guy”

 

Tim Oliver

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You can't really compare wheat prices to oil/gas prices.

I believe wheat prices will eventually go back down. While they may not go down to their previous level, we won't be seeing the continued high price point we're seeing with fuel.

Why? Because there's far more competition in the growing of wheat than there is in the production of oil/gas. Competition leads to lower prices. There is no competition in the oil/gas field.

As an aside, speaking of smelling the fields as you drive by, in the autumn it's onion time around here. I happen to like the aroma but I can say that since I don't live next to them and only smell them as I drive out of town.  A trivia note: Joseph Wambaugh's "The Onion Field" happened in an onion field here in the county.

The fuel prices are a large part of what is keeping the grain prices up, though. When you factor in diesel used in irrigation, trucking and farming itself, it really adds up.

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