Nugget, "Half a world away in US cornfields, farmers are dictating the escalating cost of our weekly grocery shop." Just one item I know, but Corn is a good example of the insanity of the Global Warming. Some bright spark says "let's make alcohol out of corn and stick it in our cars". So off they go and vastly increase the demand for corn without increasing the supply. Guess what? the price of corn goes through the roof! Then there is the little matter of the population explosion. We recently passed the SEVEN billion mark, and are now heading for 8 billion in about 10+ years, probably by about 2022. It has been 11 years since we hit 6 billion, and the 'doubling time ' is actually getting shorter as the years pass. ....and the UN says we will be at 9 billion in another 39 years!!!!!! The 'demand' for food is fast outstripping supply, mostly in the poor countries and continents, and the campaign against GM foods continues, even though the scientists can double the grains on an ear of wheat easily I believe. Mother Nature will solve the problem! OC
PS, In my lifetime, since 1939, I have seen the world's population increase from TWO billion to SEVEN billion. The population of Australia from 8 million to 22 million. The population of Melbourne from 1 million to over 4 million. The flow of 'refugees' into Australia will increase from 7000 a year to 700,000 in the foreseeable future. OC
Everyone complains when food prices goes up yet cheer when the price of shelter goes up. Both are neccessary for survival yet one of those neccesityies is used as speculation. Can you imagine if food market was run the same way as housing? It's sick. Just a thought in regards to prices rises over basic necessities in general. One is bad and the other good. Go figure.
Partly true but really the fault lies with the corn lobbyists pushing the use of corn for ethanol when there are better sources with higher levels of ethanol generation than corn.
Exactly, it's just that no one wants to pay for the research to get 2nd and 3rd gen biofuels up and running. Much cheaper to just buy corn intended for eating in 3rd world countries and make E10 petrol. 1st gen : Made from sugar filled food sources, eg. corn 2nd gen: Made from agricultural waste, eg wood chips http://articles.cnn.com/2008-08-12/tech/bug.diesel_1_diesel-fuel-corn-ethanol-coli?_s=PM:TECH 3rd gen: Made from bacterial waste using sunlight and CO2 http://inhabitat.com/liquid-energy-...-that-turn-sun-and-co2-into-fuel/joule-final/ http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/02/28/joule-unlimited-diesel-fuel_n_829057.html
I read when the greenies first suggested corn as a source of alcohol, that to divert ALL of the USA land to growing corn, would not supply enough to replace petrol in their cars. I rather think that situation would apply to any source for ethanol. "wood chips"??? ask komrade bob brown about that idea! ....and I don't think it was the corn lobby/industry that first suggested the corn idea. OC
And yet the original push for corn alcohol in the US had nothing at all to do with global warming - it was designed to get rid of the corn surplus with the added benefits of increased energy security and better air quality in some major cities. Can't blame the greenies for that one I'm afraid. http://articles.chicagotribune.com/...0580_1_ethanol-gasohol-fuel-economy-standards
haha nears $200... who ever was writing that report is living in la la land. Its way above $200, more like $300+
Coles and Woolworths, The Duopoly are pushing food and fuel prices up in this country. Shopping there is not a good idea IMHO. Labour's insane and convoluted new labour laws are also to blame, rather than improving things for workers they are causing business and hence workers costs to increase and reducing their hours as businesses struggle and cut staff.
It's probably is $200 but they forgot to factor in the %20 pack shrinkage to the total . Coles and Wollie's should have been broken up long ago, farmer sells to them at the market for $1 you can bet you'll buy it back at $10.
Depends on how large your family is as well. For my tiny sized family our expenditure on groceries a week would be roughly $150. All the meat, fish and veggies are bought from the local stores, not Coles. Only time for Coles is when they have significant discounts on groceries. Saves a lot of money.
watch Food Inc dvd for a very, very interesting take on food, corn etc. Challenge anyone to say that it did not change their thoughts on food. Another in similar vein is Food Matters. Worth the watch.
I LOL too when I saw that today,bet they'll allready have plans in place to get it back out of our pockets by next week some time.
Our food costs less than $200 a week. It has to, because we don't have that much! The average household's weekly food spend? What's a food spend? If they said "the cost to feed the average family", or "average families food budget" that would be quite different. What it costs to feed the average family depends entirely on whether they cook from scratch, buy in bulk, or live near ample supplies, as opposed to rural and remote areas.
I was thinking the same thing My boys would leave home if i budgeted down to $200 a week and their only 5 and 12..Hang on i'd leave home if my budget was $200/week REDBACK
