Texas Economy

[greybeard]

Beer don't count in the 7%, does it? :lol:

Yes, it does. You even listed it...Falls under the 'staples' category.
(I miss drinking...)

 

[bball]

There are buy local - - feed those u love good food - - movements, but it does not seem to have effected Walmart and Amazon much. We direct sell a couple head a year. More is beyond my marketing skill.

There are a few trying to re emphasis the local coop system. I am a member of three, and the good old boys on the board are just not up to speed with global business. They can not compete with for profit BTOs who vertically integrate their own trucking and processing facilities and ...

The is constant effort to carve out non GMO/ natural / organic / grain free / free range / xxx marketing niches, but powerful lobbyists work the system and undermine consumer confidence. I think protecting niches this is part of the solution.

Old timy lay farming that re integrates livestock with limited cropping can be magic. I think moving away from the yield only focused chemical company recipe is part of the solution. We are seeing excellent results from regenerating soil, but do not have effective enterprise stacking, yet.

So several changes are needed. No silver bullet.

Man, i enjoy your posts Steve! Always some food for thought. Thanks.

 

[farmerjan]

Now that the kids are gone, I'd be surprised if my food bill was even 7%. Between my beef, and my neighbors garden, neither one of us spend very much at the grocery store. I get my eggs for free, and process a hog every year. We never buy meat or vegetables, only staples like coffee, sugar, flour, etc.

BUT; if you put the value on those items that you do not DIRECT purchase, then your food budget is more than 7%. You are writing off the cost of your beef through your cattle operation, the hog meat and the eggs have a value, do you buy the chicken and hog feed?
I spend about $100 a month on "groceries". That includes cat food for my "mousers", my "chocolate fix", plus whatever staples that I don't grow like you. I don't drink coffee, hot choc instead, or choc milk, and don't bake like I used to but there's always some things I need. I use very little of things like paper towels as I use dish cloths for alot of things;
What that is trying to show is that as a population in general, we do not "allot" much of our budget for food, like many countries do. Many here do not value "good food" as most of us farmers and ranchers and country people do, they just want it cheap, and then they want a "quick fix" for all the things that ails them instead of starting out healthy and trying to stay that way. I am probably spending 7% of my income in groceries/food and that includes buying some stuff on sale that I don't grow so I have it in storage. I get my milk from one of my cows, eggs from my chickens or a neighbors, beef from my own animals, venison and such. So I am right there with you on not spending alot but it all has value. If I lived in an apt., and had to buy all the things I get for "free", it would add up to more than 7% for sure. But then I want good food, not processed QUICK AND EASY stuff that is alot of empty calories.
Plus add in the benefit of the exercise to grow and harvest all these things, and look how much we are saving on a gym membership....

 

[HDRider]

I read it somewhere that most of the world spends 20 to 50% on food.
In the USA we average 7%.

Cheap food has been a goverment policy, but they have gone too far.

Need good food and profitable farmers too.

Amen to that.

 

[HDRider]

Now that the kids are gone, I'd be surprised if my food bill was even 7%. Between my beef, and my neighbors garden, neither one of us spend very much at the grocery store. I get my eggs for free, and process a hog every year. We never buy meat or vegetables, only staples like coffee, sugar, flour, etc.

BUT; if you put the value on those items that you do not DIRECT purchase, then your food budget is more than 7%. You are writing off the cost of your beef through your cattle operation, the hog meat and the eggs have a value, do you buy the chicken and hog feed?
I spend about $100 a month on "groceries". That includes cat food for my "mousers", my "chocolate fix", plus whatever staples that I don't grow like you. I don't drink coffee, hot choc instead, or choc milk, and don't bake like I used to but there's always some things I need. I use very little of things like paper towels as I use dish cloths for alot of things;
What that is trying to show is that as a population in general, we do not "allot" much of our budget for food, like many countries do. Many here do not value "good food" as most of us farmers and ranchers and country people do, they just want it cheap, and then they want a "quick fix" for all the things that ails them instead of starting out healthy and trying to stay that way. I am probably spending 7% of my income in groceries/food and that includes buying some stuff on sale that I don't grow so I have it in storage. I get my milk from one of my cows, eggs from my chickens or a neighbors, beef from my own animals, venison and such. So I am right there with you on not spending alot but it all has value. If I lived in an apt., and had to buy all the things I get for "free", it would add up to more than 7% for sure. But then I want good food, not processed QUICK AND EASY stuff that is alot of empty calories.
Plus add in the benefit of the exercise to grow and harvest all these things, and look how much we are saving on a gym membership....

Very impressive, admirable.

 

[Bestoutwest]

I maybe prejudice I believe if push come to shove we can still kick all of ems azz. All it takes is a few nukes to get through and some of our larger cities will be in rubles though.

The problem is that both countries have more than enough nuclear weapons to kill all living organisms, save microbes and cockroaches. You hit them with a few, you can bet they're not going to sit back and say "Ok, we'll lay down." Not with Vladimir Putin in there.

Can y'all imagine how much it would cost the government if the price of food went up. Go to the grocery store and watch how many people use some type of government assistance to pay for thier groceries. Then start figuring all the other food programs the government pays for. They are better off keeping prices low by supplementing farmers and ranchers.

If we only allowed folks to buy real food instead of soda and chips on food stamps. That's one of my biggest concerns with the Democrats getting in. And you think that the farm lobbies are going to say anything about it? Nope, too much corn tied up in the soda and candies, and too many potatoes tied up in chips (just as examples. We could go on and on where crops go).

 

[jehosofat]

Now that the kids are gone, I'd be surprised if my food bill was even 7%. Between my beef, and my neighbors garden, neither one of us spend very much at the grocery store. I get my eggs for free, and process a hog every year. We never buy meat or vegetables, only staples like coffee, sugar, flour, etc.

BUT; if you put the value on those items that you do not DIRECT purchase, then your food budget is more than 7%

You can't say that 'cause you don't know what our income is, wife and I both have town jobs. I guarantee it ain't 7%

 

[farmerjan]

Now that the kids are gone, I'd be surprised if my food bill was even 7%. Between my beef, and my neighbors garden, neither one of us spend very much at the grocery store. I get my eggs for free, and process a hog every year. We never buy meat or vegetables, only staples like coffee, sugar, flour, etc.

BUT; if you put the value on those items that you do not DIRECT purchase, then your food budget is more than 7%

You can't say that 'cause you don't know what our income is, wife and I both have town jobs. I guarantee it ain't 7%

Okay, I stand corrected. Kudos to you for having very lucrative town jobs.

 

[jehosofat]

BUT; if you put the value on those items that you do not DIRECT purchase, then your food budget is more than 7%

You can't say that 'cause you don't know what our income is, wife and I both have town jobs. I guarantee it ain't 7%

Okay, I stand corrected. Kudos to you for having very lucrative town jobs.

I don't know about the Kudos, we only work about 20 out of every 24 hours. Don't have time to eat much. :lol: :lol: :lol: