WILMINGTON -- Milk prices are going up and it's costing more than ever for dairy products.
Prices are not only affecting consumers, they're also affecting businesses that have to feed hundreds of people to make a profit.
Every day hungry patrons flood downtown pizzeria Slice of Life.
The busiest shift is the eight a.m.-three p.m. shift, and the busier the better.
On any given day employees cook up more than 100 pizzas.
Despite the dollars they see coming in, there's plenty of dough going out, as costs of ingredients, like cheese, go up.
Slice of Life manager Craig Funk said, "Our cheese has definitely gone up and so have some of our other dairy products, like our milk and half-and-half has gone up."
Funk traces the increase back to fuel prices. Corn has become a hot commodity for ethanol production. Because farmers are paying more for corn to feed their livestock, they have to increase the price of milk in order to make money.
Consumer Dave Reinoehl said, "It's costing a lot more. It's probably not going to change the way I buy groceries, but it will change some of the other things that I do."
Consumer Kim Rosabal said, "My husband doesn't actually understand how much because he doesn't do the shopping. So, I actually have to do more to try and fit more into our foods."
As for Slice of Life, employees say business continues to boom despite having to raise the price of a pie.
Funk said, "We stay busy. Morning, noon and night we have a steady business."
And their thoughts on whether the rising costs will affect profits?
Funk said, "I really don't see that being a problem."
Employees at other local markets say they're trying to hold off on raising prices on dairy products as long as possible.
Soy Milk
I am happy we recently started drinking Soy Milk. We buy it at Sams, 3 cartons in a package. It is a lot cheaper than milk, is healthier, and will last much longer in the fridge. It doesn't taste as good as milk, but it tastes good enough to satisfy me.
Biodiesel
The price of soybeans has more than doubled, in the midwest, since the biodiesel plant's started to come on line. Aren't you "tree-huggers" extatic that you stopped the drilling in Alaska, and have prevented the building or replacement of any refineries since 1976?
Yes excited!
Yes I'm excited, but I realize that Bio-fuels are not the final complete answer. They may burn somewhat cleaner and reduce our imports of foreign oil, but they do not leave us pollutant free.
No new refineries for crude oils has only managed to slow the polluting output of our nation. Had we let Bush build all of the refineries he wanted, then we wouldn't be able to see down the street from the pollution. We are already the worst polluting country on the face of the earth and the last one to do anything about it. We have to change Big Oil and the Republican way of doing things. You can find the truth on the Huffington Post!
Cascade effect
The problem is that eventually, the price of soy products will also start to climb. Corn is the hot commodity right now, and as corn prices continue to increase, soy will eventually become relatively affordable as a bulk feed grain. Just as we now have multiple parties bidding on a barrel of oil and a bushel of corn, more demand on any stable supply causes price increases.
We are not going to see any relief from fuel induced inflation until two things happen: Americans get real about conservation and cut back on their discretionary oil consumption, and we start looking for new sources of oil in politically sanctified locations such as ANWR and the littoral waters of the East Coast.
Production platforms on the horizon off Wrightsville Beach don't seem too bad when you consider the "Mad Max" alternative that our grandchildren may be facing.