The food shortages - and riots - we are seeing are the direct result of governments mandating and subsidizing biofuels. Farm land is being taken out of food and feed production and put in to fuel production. This is why food prices have been rising here. IMHO, it is immoral to take farm land out of food and feed production and put in to fuel production.

Ethanol is crap as a fuel. At best its energy quantity vs production energy requirements are a wash. It contains less energy per gallon than gasoline and vehicles equipped to operate on E85 will see a 15%-25% drop in fuel mileage. It attracts water and ethanol-gasoline blends disassociate in the presence of water, so it has to be shipped by rail or truck.

Biodiesel is a better fuel, containing nearly the same energy content per gallon as petroleum-based diesel. That said, my moral objection to growing crops for fuel and not food still stands.

Even using waste biomass to create it, ethanol is a loser as a wide-use fuel vehicle. Biodiesel produced from waste vegetable oil is a good thing (again, IMHO). If I had a diesel vehicle, I would be looking for a local restaurant or two to talk to about their waste oil.

I would add it is just as immoral to pay people not to grow a crop either, vis-a-vis the good ole CRP program. There are plenty of good alternatives to soils management that don't require leaving a field vacant for a decade or more.

Now come on your telling me that the idea of paying farmers not to grow crops judt so we can import the same thing at twice the price is bad, surely not. If any one is confused read with a heavy sarcastic tone.

Yes, CRP is a joke, just as ethanol is. The problem is politicians don't want to do anything to sound or look like they are Anti-Farmer...

The price gouging we are seeing at the pump is the same as we are beginning to see with other commodities... a lot of it can be attributed to the BS futures markets, wherein companies alter the prices to reflect the wealthy few who are manipulating the markets to line their pockets, and not because of basic supply and demand... this is why Exxon et al are making record profits.

I solidly suggest anyone who is interested or concerned about the current state of their food read The Omnivore's Dilemma by Micheal Pollan. Its a very well read book about how our food is grown and some of the political reasons for our current agricultural system. He does get a bit new agey toward the end when he talks about hunting for the first time, but overall the book is an excellent read.

Just rotate with the right sequence of crops. For example, if you grow something that takes nitrogen out of the soil for a few years, grow IIRC a legume like peanuts occasionally.

I've been stocking rice, dried beans, wheat and such ever since the end of a rough patch I went through in which my canned food stores were depleted. So now I've got a couple hundred pounds of each stored for an emergency.

What worries me is that all of this was purchased at either a big box store or supermarkets where I use discount customer cards. I don't think it would be hard for someone to do a search of the stores various databases and see that I've purchased a lot more than I could've consumed over the short period of time I've been buying these foods.

That reasoning is why I posted "I think it best not to try this website" when the thread came up about the website where you plug in what foods you have stored and the system tells you how many days you can survive within your home.

Those who through it, entered all kinds of figures into it and ended up with some very strange outputs. That increased my personal suspicions about the purpose of that website.

but, that's just me!!!

I can understand that, but a person can just go to the site and start plugging in numbers for fun that don't relate to what they actually have.

And while the people who may access a database showing what my food purchases are don't know that I still have the food for sure, they will know for sure that I made the purchases and they might come to my home and start asking questions for starters...

I'm paranoid too, I suppose. LOL

Just because we are paranoid don't mean they aint out to get us. Seriously though if you’re that paranoid about someone finding out what you are buying give a false address when you get a new card for a store. While it illegal to give a false name, it is not legal to give a false address unless it is for a fraudulent purpose, but just not wanting someone to know where you live or showing up at your door is not fraud.