If BRICs are Strong; How is Food & Fuel Sustained?

It depends on how well my family members can actually do the work.

 

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The major subsidy to trucks and cars was the Federal Hi-Way system constructed under old solider Ike when he was president. It was justified as a military need - to quickly move troops etc across the country. (Ike remembers all the US tanks that could not cross the weak bridges in WWII Europe, I guess.)

A measure of the value of this subsidy is the sales price when the government’s roads are sold to a private operator. That should be available in the annual reports (as the main asset) of companies like the NJ turnpike authority if anyone wants to look. I am sure it was large - so large that private industry did not build toll roads.

Even not much in the early days of the US. - I once read part of the Government's contract for constructing of "the national pike" as US40 was then called. Really interesting - told the width (for two wagons to pass) and that no tree stump could be left sticking up more than 10 inches in the road, as I recall.)

Really old contracts are interesting. When New England mills were water powered by their own dam, and had workers 10 hours a day, they feed the workers lunch. One contract stipulated that the lunch could not be Salmon more four days per week! (Show how the streams of New England have changed!)

 

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"...The {US farm} sectoral surge has been driven, in part, by external factors, as rapid growth in the developing world has increased consumer demand for meat and animal feed. Surging energy prices have also pushed up demand for biofuel, which in the United States consists mostly of ethanol derived from corn. This has driven prices to record levels, in nominal terms. Soybeans have rocketed from 8.50 dollars in August 2007 to 12.79 late last month; wheat, flax, corn and most other agricultural commodities have experienced similar rises. ...The US Department of Agriculture believes that prices will come down, as farmers increase production and boost cultivation of high demand crops. Yet global consumption has exceeded wheat production for seven of the last eight years, and most other agricultural commodities evidence similar demand. ..."

FROM:
http://www.oxan.com/worldnextweek/2008-04-03/agriboom.aspx

Rice prices rose more than 10 per cent on Friday to a fresh all-time high as African countries joined south-east Asian importers in the race to head off social unrest by securing supplies from the handful of exporters still selling the grain in the international market.

The rise in prices – 50 per cent in two weeks – threatens upheaval and has resulted in riots and soldiers overseeing supplies in some emerging countries, where the grain is a staple food for about 3bn people.

The increase also risks stoking further inflation in emerging countries, which have been suffering the impact of record oil prices and the rise in price of other agricultural commodities – including wheat, maize and vegetable oil – in the last year


EDITOR’S CHOICE {The following are links to other related FT (of India) articles - available at link below.}
In depth: Rising cost of food - Nov-28
Manila aims to halt rice imports - Apr-10
Hunger for rice gives sellers the upper hand - Apr-10
Revolt against Egyptian state’s low-pay deal - Apr-10
Editorial comment Restocking the empty global larder - Apr-09
Food inflation threatens progress on poverty - Apr-09 ..."

FROM:
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/4813b3c4-0250-11dd-9388-000077b07658.html?nclick_check=1

Although the G8 and World Bank just concluded an emergency meeting on the problem of soaring food prices, not all political leaders at the meeting are unhappy with the rise in food prices. Brazil's president, Lula, said it was a "cause for joy." (Brazil is not a member of the G8 = G7 + Russia, but should be. Lula was and "invited observer" I think.)

Interestingly Lula was NOT thinking about the great economic gain of Brazil's exporting farmers, but the laborers of many lands, including Brazil. I.e. they are for the first time, in many cases, with bellies full and eating more meat etc. Lula knows what it is like to be poor and hungry first hand. His parents are both literate and he got his first pair of shoes at age 12! He is a natural born leader, founded the main labor organization in Brazil.* He is without much formal education, speaks only Portuguese, often incorrectly, but is very smart. He has about doubled the purchasing power of the two lower economic groups in Brazil. (There are five A thru E.) In contrast the purchasing power of Joe American has been decreasing under GWB. The Brazilian internal market demand is growing so rapidly that is almost certain the Brazilian central bank will RAISE the basic interest rate to 11.5% next week to slow the booming economy.(Brazil already has the highest real rates in the world, as Inflation is still only about 4% or less.) In a recent meeting Brazil and India discussed what they could do to help the US out of its financial troubles! :bugeye: :shrug:

World Bank president (Robet Zoellich) states that globally food prices are up 83% on average in last 3 years. Rice is up 150% in last 12 months. Wheat is up 120% in last 12 months, causing the price of bread to double. Argentina, a major exporter of wheat, has just recently put a large tax / tariff on the export of wheat in effort to hold the price of bread inflation down. (Force growers to supply the domestic market.) Thialand amd others (see next post) has done the same with rice. – I think Thailand was the world’s largest exporter. Poor in parts of the world need more than they can earn just to eat, now.

More than half of the rise in the price of corn is due to the US diversion of it to alcohol production. There have been minor "tortilla riots" in Mexico. There is a serious food riot in Hattie now. It will be a few years before the poor in US cities riot for food - but you are kidding yourselves, if you think that is not possible. Trucks transport the food 1500 miles. The US needs to export food for Balance of Payments reasons. The fertile mid west land is the only natural asset the US has. Industries and technical jobs with computers etc. can be done more cheaply elsewhere, and are leaving.
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*A "spell binding" orator, the even Obama could learn from.

 

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More from first Ref. of post 23:

"...Thai medium-quality rice, a global benchmark, traded at about $850 a tonne on Friday, up from $760 a tonne last week, while the price of less representative top-quality aromatic rice broke the $1,000-a-tonne level for the first time, traders said. They added that the grain was being sold to African destinations.

In Chicago, US rice futures hit an all-time high of $20.45 per 100 pounds.

Although only a small amount of the grain is traded internationally, the rise in Thai prices signals the trend for the global market and also for domestic prices in countries where local production is enough to meet demand.

The price jump came as leading exporting countries, including Vietnam, India, China and Egypt, banned foreign sales. Hanoi extended its ban for two extra months until June. ..."

Next thing you know the honey bee, pollinator of most food crops, will get sick.

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I can see a world food crisis being far more serious than the fuel crisis, simply because energy can take many forms.

Fertilizer production depends on natural gas, and gas reserves decline much faster after peaking than oil.

I imagine there are millions in the third world who eat little more than grain, and who survive only because grain remains within a narrow range of affordability.

Lots of people in europe and asia get along in walkable communities with nothing more than bicycles, but I can see people starting to grow more food in their backyards...potatoes, cabbage, carrots, tomatoes, snow peas, chicken coops???

 

Another way governments can free up more land for biofuels is to eliminate certain kinds of meat production...the obvious choice is HOGS.

Civilization can get along just fine without bacon and pork chops.

 

Speak for yourself! I love bacon!

What the government needs to do is less, not more. They need to stop subsidizing and mandating corn ethanol which is a colossal waste and is driving up food prices all over the world. They also need to get rid of the tariffs that prevent cheap Brazilian ethanol from being sold in the US.

 

Why on earth would you want to send tanker ships full of cash to Brazil when the money can stay at home...with Americans farmers growing sugar cane, sugar beets and Jatropha oil?

Much of the southern US is perfect for growing cane.

 

Fine. Grow it. But do it without subsidies.

 

The oil industry gets untold billions in subsidies.

Do you want those removed as well...so you can fill your SUV with $6.00/gal gas?

 

Yes. I want all subsidies removed.

 

I wonder if any of the candidates advocate this?

They all probably had to vow not to back in the influential Iowa primary.

 

It's a fatal flaw with democracy. Once a subsidy or government program is passed, it's damned near impossible to repeal it because the people that benefit from it will raise holy hell, while the harm it does is spread over the entire rest of the population. Yet all these programs add up to gigantic deficits and the eventual collapse of the currency.

 

But stationary heat engine solar for electrolysis is (transported either as electricity by wire or charged fuel cells, compressed air, batteries, flywheel stored, etc) - the deflection of solar to expensive panels only is a scam, although they do have their roles.

Private highways run on direct user tolls fail to price in externalized benefits of a road system - so they will always underserve the economy as a whole.

Government "subsidy" or support has been necessary for every major technological innovation in every industrial economy I can think of - the deficiencies of bad government do not obviate the necessity of good.

Cuba would be a natural first source of sugar cane ethanol - not sugar beets and the like in the US, which are worse than corn in net gain.

 

No need to import from Cuba when sugar cane already grows in southern states like Florida and Louisiana. Hotter more southern climates arent necessary.

http://img359.imageshack.us/my.php?image=sugarcaneforsugarharvesme8.gif

Sugar beets also have a significantly higher net gain than corn, making it the best choice for colder climates in the States.

http://www.cleanhouston.org/energy/features/ethanol2.htm

"Sugarcane, at 1:8, yields about eight units of energy for every one unit invested to grow harvest and convert the cane into ethanol.

Sugar beets yield nearly two units of energy for every one unit that is used to grow and convert the crop into ethanol. Corn lies near the very bottom of the list at 1:1.4"

 

I too like solar thermal production of electricity as it can be more than twice as efficient as solar cells. - Use less than half the area for collecting the same energy and uses much less expensive materials, IF done as I disclosed in a US patent many years ago. (My patent expired many years ago, while oil energy was still cheap. -I was far too advanced for my time* to gain commercial interest in it.) Here is an old "promo" I made:

Because solar energy is a spectrum of different energy photons and only those with energy equal to the band gap of the material used in photovoltaic cell can be efficiently converted in electricity, the net conversion efficiency is in practice less than half what is potentially available via thermal conversion, despite the Carnot cycle limits on thermal conversion.

You may doubt this statement as normally if the absorber is hot enough (near material limits) to allow high thermal conversion efficiency, then the re-radiation losses from the absorber are also very large. US patent 4033118 (mass flow solar absorber) teaches a possible solution to this fundamental problem.

A brief summary of the invention:
Concentrated sunlight enters the open end of a glass tube, which has a reflective coating on the outer surface. As it “mirrors” along the axis deeper into the tube, a small fraction of the energy is deposited on the wall with each reflection. A second, externally-insulated, co-axial, metal tube surrounds this inner one, forming an annulus between the two tubes in which the “working fluid” flows. At the entrance end the working fluid is relatively cool, but as it too travels farther from the entrance it becomes hotter from the energy being deposited on the inner tube wall. Deep in this tubular structure the glass grades into quartz, which can resist the high temperatures better than glass.
The interior deep insides the inner tube is of course filled with intense IR radiation but little of it can escape by “mirroring” its way back to the entrance. I.e. the glass wall does not let it “see” the mirror surface but absorbs the IR for transfer to the working fluid. Thus, a very high temperature, with very little re-radiation losses is achieved economically.
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*Being able to see what is coming even decades in advance was a problem for me in this case. I acted too soon, but I was afraid someone else might patent my invention.

P.S. The above may seem to be "off thread," but I continued to think, as I have for 30+ years, that my invention is a very important means for the world to have both sustainable food and fuel at affordable cost.

 

Yes. Why should every US family of four send more than 100 dollars* to the rich owners of agri-business every year? Especially now that is is getting easier and more profitable to export food too:

"...India removed a 36 percent import tariff on wheat flour, and Indonesia eliminated duties on wheat and soybeans. Peru jettisoned tariffs on wheat and corn. Turkey cut import taxes on wheat to 8 percent from 130 percent and on barley to zero from 100 percent. Mongolia scrapped its value-added tax on imported wheat and flour. Burkina Faso suspended import taxes on four food staples in February after riots in the West African nation over price increases. And Brazil may remove its 10 percent tax on wheat imports. In all, at least 24 nations have reduced duties and value-added taxes, according to an April 9 World Bank report. ..."

From:
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=admKeNIaN5pw&refer=home

Also, the IMF has estimated that more than half of the price increase in US corn is due to the corn to alcohol program. I add: this does not include the cost added by speculators buying , hoarding, (including the farmers delaying sales) etc. for future sales.

For more details, see two of my posts in old thread "How DUMB can US Voters be? (Which unfortunately did not met its objective of Blocking GWB's second election.):
http://www.sciforums.com/showpost.php?p=1680973&postcount=93
http://www.sciforums.com/showpost.php?p=1633387&postcount=85

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*Farm subsides totaled >8 billion, 300 million Americans. 4x8000/300 = $106/ family. If the related subsidies like $0.54 on each gallon of alcohol and the adminstrative cost of these damaging programs are included it comes to more than 50 cents every day! More than the cost of their newspaper etc.

 

If interested in an idea for the sustainable production of both food and energy (especially if you know a little chemistry) please look at:

http://www.sciforums.com/showpost.php?p=1820031&postcount=1