mirkwood
04-09-2008, 12:07 AM
http://desertsaintsmagazine.com/2008/04/01/what%e2%80%99s-the-deal-with-wheat/
What?s the Deal with Wheat?
By Danielle Ellis
The Home Storage Centers (canneries) around the west all recently started running out of wheat, as did supermarkets, grain dealers and bulk warehouse stores. (The Home Storage Centers will be restocked, but the supplies of stores are more uncertain.) People have begun snapping up whatever storable food they can find, and at any price. What is going on?
The Problems
Crops are off all over the world, for many reasons. Chief among them are severe drought and other unfavorable weather, such as late frosts or rain coming at the wrong times. Prices are rising due to crop losses, increased fuel costs to transport the crops, and government intervention in the form of tariffs on imports and exports. This is more of a problem because U.S. crops have been sold off to the last bushel, so that the U.S. is now a net importer of wheat.
In addition, the problems in the financial markets have sent investors looking for a safe place to put their money, which has driven up the cost of commodities like wheat. The dropping value of the dollar has also added to the price increases in food commodities.
Finally, the alternative fuel industry is using up substantial amounts of worldwide grain stocks for the production of fuel, despite global food shortages. (The grain it takes to feed a person for one year is what it takes to make one SUV gas tank full of fuel.) Selling grain for fuel also increases grain costs because grain prices are now tied to fuel markets, instead of keeping them tied to food markets.
We Have Been Warned
President Hinckley warned us of Joseph?s dream three times over the past ten years. Pharoah?s dream in ancient Egypt was interpreted by Joseph to indicate that there were to be seven years of plenty, to be followed by seven years of famine. President Hinckley quoted from Genesis 41, ?What God is about to do he sheweth unto Pharaoh.? And God will shortly bring it to pass.? We might well add, ?What God is about to do he sheweth unto his living prophet,? and it is now coming to pass.
President Hinckley continued, ?We have witnessed in recent weeks wide and fearsome swings in the markets of the world. The economy is a fragile thing. A stumble in the economy in Jakarta or Moscow can immediately affect the entire world. It can eventually reach down to each of us as individuals. There is a portent of stormy weather ahead to which we had better give heed.? (?To the Boys and to the Men,? Ensign, November 1998).
As I write this, I am scanning headlines: riots over food, people being killed in bread lines, army trucks guarding wheat trucks. Global financial woes are spreading as well. The famine is already becoming ?sore? in some corners of the earth. Will it spread to us? Three warnings from the Lord?s prophet, seer and revelator in general conference tells me the answer is ?yes.?
Joseph?s Parallel
We find some interesting parallels if we follow the story of the famine in Egypt. First, the famine ?began to come, according as Joseph has said: and the dearth was in all lands; but in all Egypt there was bread? (Gen 41:54, emphasis added).
Interestingly, the Book of Mormon also recorded a famine during a time of great wickedness.
?For the earth was smitten that it was dry, and did not yield forth grain in the season of grain; and the whole earth was smitten? (Helaman 11: 6, emphasis added).
As the famine progressed, the people came to Joseph to buy corn. As conditions worsened, the money ?failed? in Egypt and Canaan (Gen 47: 15). The people traded their cattle, flocks and herds in exchange for bread. This is another relevant parallel to our day. Finally, with nothing left to sell, ?the people said unto Joseph, ?buy us and our land for bread, and we and our land will be servants unto Pharoah? (v. 19).
?Then Joseph said unto the people, Behold, I have bought you this day? (v. 23, emphasis added). Joseph?s statement reflects a temporal redemption that is echoed by our Savior, who has ?bought? our spiritual safety with His redeeming blood. Thus we loop back from a temporal problem to an eternal solution.
?All is Safely Gathered In?
The welfare arm of the Church has gone to great effort to provide a means whereby we may lay provisions up in store to help our families in the days ahead. While prices may rise, and items may go out of stock, those who keep working diligently and prayerfully towards a supply of food for their families will find help from the Lord.
Our God is a God of miracles, and those who turn to Him, repent, and seek to follow Him with full purpose of heart will be blessed. Remember the parable of the laborers, given by the Savior in Matthew 20: 1-16. Those who come unto the Master at the eleventh hour can gain the same reward as those who came in the first hour.
The Savior rewards in obedience to eternal laws. So if we want to eat during the days of famine, we must be prepared by having food tucked away, with faith in the Lord?s ultimate ability to be our Living Water, our Bread of Life, our Good Shepherd and our salvation. We must heed this counsel to be entitled to have our food multiplied should we need it.
We do not know the day or the hour of the trials that are coming, but the scriptures are filled with examples of the Lord caring for His people during temporal trials. He loves us. He wants to save each one of us. I pray that we will each do our part so that when the day comes, we may hear His voice, and heed His call to gather unto Him ?as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings? (D&C 10:65).
What?s the Deal with Wheat?
By Danielle Ellis
The Home Storage Centers (canneries) around the west all recently started running out of wheat, as did supermarkets, grain dealers and bulk warehouse stores. (The Home Storage Centers will be restocked, but the supplies of stores are more uncertain.) People have begun snapping up whatever storable food they can find, and at any price. What is going on?
The Problems
Crops are off all over the world, for many reasons. Chief among them are severe drought and other unfavorable weather, such as late frosts or rain coming at the wrong times. Prices are rising due to crop losses, increased fuel costs to transport the crops, and government intervention in the form of tariffs on imports and exports. This is more of a problem because U.S. crops have been sold off to the last bushel, so that the U.S. is now a net importer of wheat.
In addition, the problems in the financial markets have sent investors looking for a safe place to put their money, which has driven up the cost of commodities like wheat. The dropping value of the dollar has also added to the price increases in food commodities.
Finally, the alternative fuel industry is using up substantial amounts of worldwide grain stocks for the production of fuel, despite global food shortages. (The grain it takes to feed a person for one year is what it takes to make one SUV gas tank full of fuel.) Selling grain for fuel also increases grain costs because grain prices are now tied to fuel markets, instead of keeping them tied to food markets.
We Have Been Warned
President Hinckley warned us of Joseph?s dream three times over the past ten years. Pharoah?s dream in ancient Egypt was interpreted by Joseph to indicate that there were to be seven years of plenty, to be followed by seven years of famine. President Hinckley quoted from Genesis 41, ?What God is about to do he sheweth unto Pharaoh.? And God will shortly bring it to pass.? We might well add, ?What God is about to do he sheweth unto his living prophet,? and it is now coming to pass.
President Hinckley continued, ?We have witnessed in recent weeks wide and fearsome swings in the markets of the world. The economy is a fragile thing. A stumble in the economy in Jakarta or Moscow can immediately affect the entire world. It can eventually reach down to each of us as individuals. There is a portent of stormy weather ahead to which we had better give heed.? (?To the Boys and to the Men,? Ensign, November 1998).
As I write this, I am scanning headlines: riots over food, people being killed in bread lines, army trucks guarding wheat trucks. Global financial woes are spreading as well. The famine is already becoming ?sore? in some corners of the earth. Will it spread to us? Three warnings from the Lord?s prophet, seer and revelator in general conference tells me the answer is ?yes.?
Joseph?s Parallel
We find some interesting parallels if we follow the story of the famine in Egypt. First, the famine ?began to come, according as Joseph has said: and the dearth was in all lands; but in all Egypt there was bread? (Gen 41:54, emphasis added).
Interestingly, the Book of Mormon also recorded a famine during a time of great wickedness.
?For the earth was smitten that it was dry, and did not yield forth grain in the season of grain; and the whole earth was smitten? (Helaman 11: 6, emphasis added).
As the famine progressed, the people came to Joseph to buy corn. As conditions worsened, the money ?failed? in Egypt and Canaan (Gen 47: 15). The people traded their cattle, flocks and herds in exchange for bread. This is another relevant parallel to our day. Finally, with nothing left to sell, ?the people said unto Joseph, ?buy us and our land for bread, and we and our land will be servants unto Pharoah? (v. 19).
?Then Joseph said unto the people, Behold, I have bought you this day? (v. 23, emphasis added). Joseph?s statement reflects a temporal redemption that is echoed by our Savior, who has ?bought? our spiritual safety with His redeeming blood. Thus we loop back from a temporal problem to an eternal solution.
?All is Safely Gathered In?
The welfare arm of the Church has gone to great effort to provide a means whereby we may lay provisions up in store to help our families in the days ahead. While prices may rise, and items may go out of stock, those who keep working diligently and prayerfully towards a supply of food for their families will find help from the Lord.
Our God is a God of miracles, and those who turn to Him, repent, and seek to follow Him with full purpose of heart will be blessed. Remember the parable of the laborers, given by the Savior in Matthew 20: 1-16. Those who come unto the Master at the eleventh hour can gain the same reward as those who came in the first hour.
The Savior rewards in obedience to eternal laws. So if we want to eat during the days of famine, we must be prepared by having food tucked away, with faith in the Lord?s ultimate ability to be our Living Water, our Bread of Life, our Good Shepherd and our salvation. We must heed this counsel to be entitled to have our food multiplied should we need it.
We do not know the day or the hour of the trials that are coming, but the scriptures are filled with examples of the Lord caring for His people during temporal trials. He loves us. He wants to save each one of us. I pray that we will each do our part so that when the day comes, we may hear His voice, and heed His call to gather unto Him ?as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings? (D&C 10:65).