Sizzling Commodities Market Putting the Heat On Farmers
Charleston Gazette › April 21, 2008
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Summary
NEW ORLEANS - Farming has always been a risky business, at the mercy of bad weather, wars and drought. Now farmers' profits face a new and surprising enemy: speculators that some believe are driving prices up so fast that growers are getting locked out of top dollar for their crops.
Shoppers are feeling it, too, as investors pump billions of dollars into agricultural commodities and, insiders say, help push up the price of the most basic of foodstuffs, a loaf of bread.See the full content of this document
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Sizzling Commodities Market Putting the Heat On Farmers
"It's been very stressful for all of us to manage marketing this crop," said George LaCour, a grain farmer near Morganza in southeast Louisiana.
LaCour sold more than half his 2008 crop before planting it, hoping to cash in on soaring prices. Selling the rest will have to wait until after the harvest si...See the full content of this document
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