How does the end of the era of cheap food affect Maine? (apartment, buying a home)

[Coaster]

I saw this story this morning on my news feed (much more at the link):

End of cheap food era as grain prices stay high | Business | Reuters

End of cheap food era as grain prices stay high: Reuters poll
Fri Jan 28, 2011 9:06am EST

By KT Arasu

CHICAGO (Reuters) - U.S. grain prices should stay unrelentingly high this year, according to a Reuters poll, the latest sign that the era of cheap food has come to an end.

U.S. corn, soybeans and wheat prices -- which surged by as much has 50 percent last year and hit their highest levels since mid-2008 -- will dip by at most 5 percent by the end of 2011, according to the poll of 16 analysts.

Believe it or not, Maine was once part of the breadbasket for the eastern United States. Our oats, barley, and wheat supplied the big cities of the East Coast until the huge fields of the Midwest and cheap train transportation ended the market. (The flour mills of upstate New York were once famous.)

Aroostook County still has some small grain production -- Borealis Breads sources its wheat and oats from there -- but there hasn't been much incentive to expand grain plantings. Could current events change that?

[flycessna]

Maine is in a tough and precarious economic position... Some in Maine who could be considered minimalists will probably go business as usual but for most of Maine it will be difficult..

Maine already has some of the highest grocery bills of anywhere I have been so the idea that our era of cheap food is confusing to me.... I get extremely frustrated as to why it cost more here to do just about ANYTHING!! other then buying a home... and that of course is the tale of two Maines..

If our economy grows and Maine can grow with it then mayb we will be ok.. Otherwise I would expect to see a continued trend of people leaving the state for employment and better quality of life??

incidently... I love borealis bread!!

[Northern Maine Land Man]

Maine has a vigorous local food economy. Most is plain old home grown food. Most is not tied to such buzzwords as "natural', "organic", "GMO" or "free range". It's just home grown food. It's good for you and it supports Maine's economy. We buy Maine grown food as often as we can. There is a good chance that any brown eggs you buy are Maine eggs. My neighbor raises beef and some is pastured on my land. The only gardening we do is salad ingredients like radishes, chives and scallions. We will likely expand on that this year. Buy Maine food.

[Maineah]

We've done it before and we can certainly do it again. When our kids were little we raised a large percentage of our own food. We had a big garden which gave us all of the vegetables we could possibly use from mid summer until the following spring. We ate well too! The cellar was filled with turnip, squash, carrots, 400 pounds of potatoes, two freezers filled with corn, yellow beans, green beans, pole beans, peas, snap peas, broccoli ,beets, spinach, cauliflower, blueberries, raspberries, sliced apples for pies, pumpkin for pies, venison, partridge, fiddleheads, smelts, trout, shrimp, chickens and turkeys we raised ourselves. We put up jams, maple syrup, dilly beans,(great with beer!) tomato sauce, ketchup,three different types of cucumber pickles, pickled beets, dried our own herbs, made our own breads, and brewed our own beer! In spring it was fiddleheads and parsnips left to winter over,soon came the asparagus! We bought flour wholesale from a kitchen supplier. It's still the best way to buy it if you have an in. Everyone knows someone in the restaurant business. A 50 pound bag of flour would last my wife and I six months if I were making bread still and it costs less than $20.00 through the restaurant supplier.
Maine people find fending for themselves more of a personal challenge than a problem. We don't sit and wring our hands over the fact that Fruit Loops have gone up another $2.00 a box or Thomas' english muffins are now $3.00 a package. We just don't buy the Fruit Loops anymore and buy the Shaw's brand english muffins for $2.00.
Instead of Fruit Loops we feed the kids homemade pancakes with homemade maple syrup....they like pancakes better anyway. It's our way of thumbing our noses at the rising prices.
Inflation was a big deal in the 80's too and they said then the end of cheap food was at hand. It wasn't. My contention is that we have way too much variety now spread out over hundreds of different stores. Many stores are specialty stores catering to certain ethnic groups and different socio-economic groups. (read way over priced here). When we were growing up there was one small IGA in town and people drove from miles around to buy groceries there once every two weeks or even once a month. Now people stop by Hannaford's twice a day to pick up lunch and something for dinner. As prices rise and the traffic to the specialty stores dries up they will fold. That will make more food available to fewer stores and the prices will fall to get people to buy. The kiwis and star fruit will be gone but few will really miss them. Variety will become much less as trucking costs rise. Restaurants and fast food places will fold as people begin to cook their own food again out of necessity. There will be lots of changes long before the problems hit the home consumer hardest. You'll see it coming.

[Maine Writer]

Originally Posted by Northern Maine Land Man

Maine has a vigorous local food economy. Most is plain old home grown food. Most is not tied to such buzzwords as "natural', "organic", "GMO" or "free range". It's just home grown food. It's good for you and it supports Maine's economy. We buy Maine grown food as often as we can. There is a good chance that any brown eggs you buy are Maine eggs. My neighbor raises beef and some is pastured on my land. The only gardening we do is salad ingredients like radishes, chives and scallions. We will likely expand on that this year. Buy Maine food.

I doubt you're going to find GMO as a buzzword promoting Maine grown food. GMO stands for Genetically Modified Organism. It's not in the same class as natural, organic or free range. There are GMO crops (canola and feed corn are examples) in Maine but they aren't foods grown by gardeners and won't be found in a farmers market or farm stand.

[OutDoorNut]

Originally Posted by Coaster

I saw this story this morning on my news feed (much more at the link):

End of cheap food era as grain prices stay high | Business | Reuters



Believe it or not, Maine was once part of the breadbasket for the eastern United States. Our oats, barley, and wheat supplied the big cities of the East Coast until the huge fields of the Midwest and cheap train transportation ended the market. (The flour mills of upstate New York were once famous.)

Aroostook County still has some small grain production -- Borealis Breads sources its wheat and oats from there -- but there hasn't been much incentive to expand grain plantings. Could current events change that?

It might be a lot easier and practical to grow food to provide a living--than to grow crops to earn a living.

These people claimed to have succeeded working at it only 4 hours a day (I've spent as much time just commuting to my office): Amazon.com: The Good Life: Helen and Scott Nearing's Sixty Years of Self-Sufficient Living (9780805209709): Scott Nearing, Helen Nearing: Books




.

[Northern Maine Land Man]

I know what GMO means. I see "non-GMO" on roadside signs. I just mentioned GMO as a buzzword, not something to be touted as an advantage. There are many GMO seeds promoted in seed catalogs for the home gardener.

As to the Nearings, lots of summer people have gardens and when they leave for the winter they give away their excess food. I guess their New York apartment didn't have room to accommodate a bountiful harvest.

[Maine Writer]

Originally Posted by Northern Maine Land Man

I know what GMO means. I see "non-GMO" on roadside signs. I just mentioned GMO as a buzzword, not something to be touted as an advantage. There are many GMO seeds promoted in seed catalogs for the home gardener.

Can you name them? Hybrids don't count, they're not GMO.

[Northern Maine Land Man]

By brand name? I don't have a seed catalog at hand, but disease resistant corn is the best example I can think of. There are lots of them.

[Maine Writer]

Corn - Johnny's Selected Seeds

https://www.superseeds.com/products.php?cat=64

These are two Maine businesses.