Made in Germany | Farmers ecstatic about higher grain prices

Consumers in Italy and Germany are complaining, but farmers are happy. Franz Lehner of Bavaria, for example. From his point of view, grain prices were rockbottom for years. Now they have risen to a level that makes working in the fields a pleasure.

His good fortune is double. The harvest in Lower Bavaria may have set records in 2007; and the price for good wheat has exploded. But farmers can't count on prices remaining high. "The agricultural market is highly speculative and increasingly unpredictable for farmers," says Franz-Xaver Hilmer of the Cooperative Bank in Straubing. But he predicts increased worldwide demand and even higher wheat prices in 2008. German farmers earn one-quarter of their money from exports. Some of Bavaria's wheat is shipped to Italy to make noodles. Current prices are good for farmers, but bad for pasta-lovers. Carmen Meyer reports directly from the farm.

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[canadamonster]

if wheat stayed with inflation wheat would be 20 to 30 dollars a bushel

[kensai7gr]

I'm pleased that farmers at last make some good gains, but hey, until when will these prices rise?

Paying for bread and pasta so much is a riot!

[charlessmyth]

A benter indicator of rising prices (inflation) is simply to compare the rise in the price of gold over the last nine months. Inflation is running in excess of 30%, which is close to your experience with spaghetti, darwyn 88.

[darwyn88]

6 months ago at our Aldi store in Minnesota 2# of spaghetti was 0.95. Now it is at 1.29. That's a 35.7% increase.