The July rise in wheat prices, the fastest in 51 years, indicates that shortages in agriculture are coming, Jim Rogers, chairman of Rogers Holdings, told CNBC.com Tuesday.
Wheat prices in Europe hit their highest level in two years, rising almost 50 percent since late June as Russia's wheat crop was affected by drought.
"That's the straw that broke the camel's back," Rogers, who has been warning about shortages coming in the agriculture sector for a while, said in a telephone interview.
"We're going to have much, much higher prices over the next few years," Rogers, a hedge-fund pioneer who started the Quantum Fund with George Soros in the 1970s, added.
Investors finally began to realize that prices for agricultural commodities have been too low for too long because of subsidies and other factors, which made agriculture an unattractive area for workers, he explained.
"Be prepared, if you have a sugar bowl home go fill it up because it's going to be more expensive," he said.
"Anybody who's got potentially good agriculture land and good weather" is likely to emerge a winner out of this situation because prices of nearly all agricultural commodities are set for steep rises, Rogers said.
"Prices aren't high enough and most people don't believe it," he said. "Unless prices are high you're not going to attract people in the business. Eventually people will go into farming again but it's going to take a while."
Shortages in agriculture are likely to add to problems created by governments who printed money to spend their way out of the financial crisis, according to Rogers.
You could always tell when the grain crops failed in the "old Soviet Union" by reading Pravda. When the headline read... "20 delicious recipes for Rutabagas", you knew the grain crop was going to be terrible.
In Russia, farmers would sell off chicken and beef that were usually grain fed ahead of grain price increases, leading to a temporary reduced price for chicken & beef, then shortages.
The modern conservative is engaged in one of man's oldest exercises in moral philosophy; that is, the search for a superior moral justification for selfishness. John Kenneth Galbraith
I would have never guessed you studied Communist Soviet Union.
I'm sorry Cicero... I didn't know that you never went to high school. I studied the Soviet Union and most other countries wayyyy back when I was a teen in a Catholic school. I've also read about world events since then.
Did you not have an opportunity to go to school??? or did you go and just not pay attention?
There are adult education classes that will let you get an education, (even study foreign countries history) available locally.
The modern conservative is engaged in one of man's oldest exercises in moral philosophy; that is, the search for a superior moral justification for selfishness. John Kenneth Galbraith
Of course- Catholic School. Where instead of teaching the rosary and St. Thomas Aquinas, you learn about "social justice" and Karl Marx. That makes sense, of course.
"While Foreign Terrorists were plotting to murder and maim using homemade bombs in Boston, Democrap officials in Washington DC, Albany and here were busy watching ME and other law abiding American Citizens who are gun owners and taxpayers, in an effort to blame the nation's lack of security on US so that they could have a political scapegoat."
Of course- Catholic School. Where instead of teaching the rosary and St. Thomas Aquinas, you learn about "social justice" and Karl Marx. That makes sense, of course.
YEA Graham... When I was in school, we learned about all countries and their history. We learned about communism, Marxism, capitalism, fascism, The history of Great Britain, China, Russia... most of Europe, Asia, Africa, N&S America...Didn't you? The Civil War. WW1 & 2. Korea...Didn't you? We learned different economic systems, different family and government systems. Didn't you?
I went to a Catholic school and had a Catholic religion class every year... EXCEPT our senior year when we were taught 'comparative religion, which teaches all major religions of the world. Are you that ignorant of other religions?
This entire Mosque issue has NOTHING to do with religion or terrorists or the WTC. THE ISSUE IS ABOUT THE NOVEMBER ELECTIONS AND EVERYONE KNOWS IT!
The modern conservative is engaged in one of man's oldest exercises in moral philosophy; that is, the search for a superior moral justification for selfishness. John Kenneth Galbraith