Agro Commodities & Agricultural Produts

7 Responses

1. scrapy Said,

   The answer lies in who is buying, what gov. regulations apply and sanctions; not to mention prices and back scratching(support of group).The humanitarian answer would send grain to where it is most needed but for various reasons it might not get there.

   Posted on March 5th, 2011 at 5:41 am

2. Liza Said,

   You have to take into consideration shipping costs, duties, embargos, quality of grain after it is shipped to these places, competitive suppliers. All these factors will affect the cost of the product, making it too expensive to purchase grain from the U.S. If there was a way to lower all of these extraneous costs so that the final selling price could be more competitive with other suppliers who are closer to these locations, then it would have been done. No company will sell grain, or anything for that matter, unless the profit margins are good.

   Posted on March 5th, 2011 at 6:10 am

3. B in clt Said,

   China once had a strict policy of self sufficiency in terms of consuming grain grown domestically vs. importing from outside sources.

   Trade of grain happens throughout the world and is imported/daily on may exchanges (i.e. Chicago Board of Trade CBOT). The only limitations are from organizations such as the World Trade Organization (WTO) limiting and/or regulating world trade, agreements between certain countries (i.e. NAFTA agreement), or government agencies that have strict quality control guidelines for foodstuff (i.e. Food and Drug Administration FDA).

   Posted on March 5th, 2011 at 6:13 am

4. sdvwallingford Said,

   There are a number of barriers in the receiving countries.

   First off, China has very strict protection against any permanent imports of almost any kind. According to NPR, most companies in China may only import raw materials that are certified to be remanufactured into finished products and then re-exported within a certain amount of time. Items for consumption within China are almost all strictly of Chinese origin.

   Many developing countries and much of Europe have strict protections against American agricultural products because of the prevalence of Genetic Modification, such as splicing a corn gene so it will generate more starch or grow faster. This is for a number of reasons: 1-Once a genetically modified plant in introduced into an ecosystem it will begin to naturally modify all of the plants around it through spores or cross polination, and no one knows how that will work out after several generations, and then the farmers around there cannot certify themselves as non GM producers. 2-Many of the GM crops require specialty fertilizers and pesticides that are made specifically for that plant and are protected by international patents, so once a farmer overseas starts to use that plant seed he becomes a hostage to the company that marketed it – according to C-SPAN there is a growing number of small farmers around the world who have lost their land because they become bankrupt just trying to pay for the chemicals and the rates of landless farmers committing suicide in India is growing very quickly. 3-Because US agriculture is so heavily subsidized, protection is the only way foreign governments can keep their own farmers from being driven out of business, and then the country would be at the mercy of foreign producers forever.

   It is a good question, but sadly it does not have either a short or happy answer. Sorry.

   Posted on March 5th, 2011 at 6:35 am

5. mweller1956 Said,

   American farmers have been selling grain overseas since President Nixon made the first big grain deal with the Soviet Union in the early 70′s. China is now being opened up to all sorts of American goods including grain. Who profits the most by this? The huge agricultural companies, who continue to take over small family farms.

   Posted on March 5th, 2011 at 6:58 am

6. freetyme813 Said,

   Jesus Christ folks- This is the reason for evaluating teachers and dumping the sh*ty ones.

   If I EVER hear you p*ssing and moaning about teachers being underpaid, overworked, unappreciated, blah,blah,blah…..

   I will send a copy of this post to your principal and maybe he will bring you to the office and beat your *ss with a paddle, just hope it doesn’t give you a f*cking brain injury.

   ALSO – Note the source for sdvwallingford, the ultra liberal NPR (Not Particularly Responsible) I guess we can add intelligent to that as well & C-SPAN (Communist,Secret, Alternative Propaganda Network)

   Posted on March 5th, 2011 at 7:08 am

7. natural_born_killer1986 Said,

   Because we are 2 nervous of helping other countries in fear of a major backfire doing bad instead of good!

   Posted on March 5th, 2011 at 8:00 am

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