Continuing on Jills thread about rising dog food costs....not to depress everyone, but for 2012-2013 they are going to keep going up, for us and for the dogs.

Farmers get a lot of flack about receiving subsidies and blame for things, I thought I'd send some links as to why costs are going up and to make everyone think about WHERE their food (both ingredients for dog food and our food) are going to have to come from some day. It's something to be concerned about.

Here is a link to why costs are going up, the excerpt I have below is from that link:

Four Reasons for Long-term Food Price Inflation
Grocery prices have risen 2-3% each year between 1990-2011. There are four global policy shifts that are causing this inflation in world food prices.

First, the U.S. government subsidizes corn production that is used for bio-fuels. This takes corn out of the food supply, raising prices.

Second, the World Trade Organization (WTO) limits the amount of corn and wheat that the U.S. and European Union (EU) can subsidize and store in stockpiles. This reduces the cushion available to add to the food supply when there are shortages, thus adding to food price volatility.

Third, as more people around the world are growing more affluent, they eat more meat. Grains are going to feed the animals that provide meat, further reducing the supply and increasing price volatility.

Fourth, higher oil prices lead to higher food prices. Food is transported great distances, especially if imported. Higher oil and gas prices increase shipping costs, which translates into higher food prices.

Full article: http://useconomy.about.com/od/inflationfaq/f/Why-Are-Food-Prices-So-High.htm

FIFTH Reason? Drought. See this:

http://www.cattlenetwork.com/e-newsletters/drovers-daily/Meat-and-dairy-to-drive-record-food-prices-in-2013-170762516.html

So, why should you be concerned? If you notice a price change in your dogs food? See if the company has sourced ingredients from someplace different. Everyone wants cheap food.....companies are going to try and keep it cheap, thus use alternative sources, either imports or cheap ingredient substitutes. So...remember the Diamond food fiasco? Something to keep an eye on...

Hope this interests somebody...

Sue Puff

Sue....tks for the info. Because of the increase in the cost of food, housing, etc......many people are having to make choices between feeding themselves and what kind of food their pets get or if they can even afford to feed their pets.....explains why many shelters are getting full & fuller with pets that are surrendered due to economic considerations.......

Thanks Sue Puff, this should interest everyone, because it will affect everyone. What a shame the government limits how much grain we can stockpile, that's like shooting ourselves in our own feet. Yikes!

Sue great post with links to educate!
as individuals it is up to us to stockpile food and supplies for our pets and families. so many people are use to buying only when needed assuming it will always be there. Be prepared....

there are always other options out there, we are ranchers that raise 100% grassfed Angus, we are not dealing with the grain issues so our cost is kept considerably less than the grocery stores and much better quality meat!
We have customers buying bulk for family and dogs. Many will purchase the offal and organs to add to the dogs dry diets.

And wait until you see the inflationary effect of Bernanke's Quantitative Easing III policy. Hold onto your hats!

Thanks Sue. It seems like things are spinning out of control. We can't be sure about things we used to be able to depend on. This is a scary world. I worry about where the people in Washington are taking us. Next year I plan to expand my vegetable garden. A freezer in on my list as well. Maybe it would make a good Christmas present.

I sure wish we had gotten a freezer a month or so ago. With all the sell off of beef and swine earlier in the year when the farmers could no longer afford grain and hay prices, beef and pork was very cheap. If we had a freezer, we could have bought up some beef at a very affordable price. As it stands now, the price now for that same cut of meat has nearly doubled and it will just keep going up. I heard on the news that we will be facing shortages of bacon and pork next year too.

I also heard that it was cheaper to send hay to China on outbound empty cargo containers than it was to truck it across the country because of high fuel costs. This drives up hay prices and leads to shortages in the mid-west.

And printing more money will not be helpful, it will only drive up inflation which makes the dollar weaker in world markets and buy a lot less here.

I'm glad I keep my dog numbers down. I'm also glad they do well on the food I feed them and they only eat 3-4 cups/day.

It might be cheaper to send hay to China, but there is hardly any hay. That's one of the problems....I know a lot of you don't understand, but the drought has been horrible!!!! Unless you've witnessed it. I know you sympathize, but I'm not sure you understand. A round bale of hay 750-1000 lbs. is at least 100 bucks here in central Tx. We have about 25 cows....they will eat that in less than 24 hrs.... We grow our own hay...thank goodness and are able to bale it...it cost at least $25 dollars to get someone to bale it...maybe more...and another $5 a bale to get someone to haul it. We spent about $2000 dollars to fertilize the hay. that adds about another $20 a bale. I'm not including fuel or repairs...the swather broke that was $1600 dollars...fuel pump on the tractor went out another $800. We bought breeders cubes today $60 for 6 bags...it used to be about $6 a bag. Cows eat a bag in about 10 mins. The drought is awful....We are very fortunate that we did make hay. We have some hay to feed the cows during the winter. But we are very small operators....the big ranches out in West Tx.......no idea what they will do. That is where the worst drought is....beef prices...will be awful...feed prices will skyrocket. Dog food prices are already out of sight....they are going to be even worse.

Great post, Sue! This is something that we should all be concerned about. Thanks for posting.