King Arthur flour gone woke

[Neb]

It is supposed to be planted in the fall. You can drive around in the spring and see fields starting to green up.
A number of years ago, someone in one of these groups talked about growing wheat for food and how difficult it is. You need a tractor, plow, rake, planter, and some way to harvest. Out west, it is a combine and those go for around a million dollars. You can also hire people who have all the equipment to do it for you for a share of the harvest. Fuel will be needed, as opposed to hand work.

Growing potatoes is a much easier crop for someone to plant and grow. Plowing a field again takes a tractor and plow. A rake helps to even out the soil. The potatoes can be hand planted and harvested, but this can be done with special equipment.

There is the suggestion to purchase and store wheat. It is easier now to buy it, as opposed to growing it.

Yes but...

The scenario of an interruption vs an outage makes the difference. I have outage covered so shooting at outage where I have to fill in the blank.

B

 

[Amish Heart]

Winter wheat where we live is planted in the fall. It comes up green a few inches before winter, then you don't really see it till spring. Harvested in early June here, then corn is planted right away. Usually feed corn, not sweet, although sweet corn is planted in home gardens, just not field planting around here. Corn is harvested when it's dry and humidity is right in the fall. Cows are then turned loose in the field to eat the stalks. Then cows removed, and winter wheat planted. Other crops in other fields are milo, sunflower, and soybean.

 

[SLADE]

Nutrition and ingredients are the same as Gold Medal flour.
I can tell you after my first week of culinary school and taste testing every ingredient in the raw state, there’s no difference.

In white flour thats true.
Mostly starch.

 

[Bacpacker]

Around here winter wheat is planted Sept and Oct. Harvested around July 4th. Not many grow spring wheat on this side of the state. I would guess itll be harvested in Sept Oct time frame.

I grew a 25x110' patch of winter wheat one year. Harvested with a scythe. It didn't have the catch basket on it so had to gather off the ground by hand. I still haven't came up with a good method to thresh the wheat. That would be the key. Combines do that part in a big production. There are several methods shown on you tube. I've just not taken the time to build anything.

Wife commented just last week I should grow wheat again. She didn't participate in the fun last time.

 

[Tommyice]

Around here winter wheat is planted Sept and Oct. Harvested around July 4th. Not many grow spring wheat on this side of the state. I would guess itll be harvested in Sept Oct time frame.

I grew a 25x110' patch of winter wheat one year. Harvested with a scythe. It didn't have the catch basket on it so had to gather off the ground by hand. I still haven't came up with a good method to thresh the wheat. That would be the key. Combines do that part in a big production. There are several methods shown on you tube. I've just not taken the time to build anything.

Wife commented just last week I should grow wheat again. She didn't participate in the fun last time.

Have you seen this one for growing to threshing?


And this homemade thresher looks interesting. Definately needs some refinement

 

[Bacpacker]

Thats pretty cool design

 

[Mountain trapper]

Around here winter wheat is planted Sept and Oct. Harvested around July 4th. Not many grow spring wheat on this side of the state. I would guess itll be harvested in Sept Oct time frame.

I grew a 25x110' patch of winter wheat one year. Harvested with a scythe. It didn't have the catch basket on it so had to gather off the ground by hand. I still haven't came up with a good method to thresh the wheat. That would be the key. Combines do that part in a big production. There are several methods shown on you tube. I've just not taken the time to build anything.

Wife commented just last week I should grow wheat again. She didn't participate in the fun last time.

There is a company the manufactures or imports small combines made specifically for homesteaders or small producers. I've thought about buying one and using it for ourselves, then renting it out to other homesteaders.
I don't remember the name of the company right now, but anyone with internet should be able to locate it easy enough.

 

[Weedygarden]

It is great when people have the ingenuity to figure out how to do something like growing, harvesting and processing something like wheat to make food for themselves and their families.
I always think about the peasants, when the work was endless and when they gleaned fields for food. I think about that because I think we are headed back to those times of being peasants. Maybe our technology is advanced now, but that is only possible as long as there is fuel and power.

 

[LadyLocust]

That's so annoying. I have used their flour but will no longer. I went to the website to tell them my opinion and the link that says email/chat does not have an email option and the chat is off. Why do companies fall for the woke nonsense?

They are the woke nonsense.

 

[Canon29]

Time to buy a mill I guess...

 

[Woody]

Why do companies fall for the woke nonsense?

We have an investor on this site who will invest in anything they can make a buck on, including woke companies, so they might have a better answer for you than I do.

As I understand what has been happening it is all about investor money and corporate earnings and bonuses. I was in corporate finance when I was cube farm boy, so understand from the individual company/investor angle.

I would hope most folks know by now, that the stock market and stock prices have absolutely nothing to do with how any company is doing – Nothing at all and yeah, back a late as the 1950 and 1960 it did have to do with company performance. Take “Big Blue” (IBM). The company was innovative and catered to large companies with their products, so their stock was almost always slowly rising. It was an excellent long term investment. Rarely did their stock go down, and if it did it was very little and very short term. That is what the stock market originated as, a sign of company performance.

Remember the Dot com fiasco? People invested a lot of money in the “Dot coms” who had no product and most of them never showed any kind of profit. Well, they did ‘profit’ from investor money. But the investors made huge profits ‘betting’ or buying and selling those stocks. Along rose the ‘big investment firms’ who bought and sold large quantities of those stocks and made a lot of money. The ‘stock market’ went from an individual companies performance, to individual stock performance regardless of the company behind that stock.

If you follow the MSM news on the DOW, S&P, NASDAQ and all those, you will see HUGE and I mean astronomical jumps! This has nothing to do with reality and you will hear the commentators mention it. “Stocks fell 10,000 points due to concern about.. blah blah bah…” “Concern about”? So, nothing happened, but stocks fell because of maybe? No individual company performance made it happen, it happened because of investor money. Some investors made money betting the stock market would go down, some made money betting it would go up. But the big firms like Blackrock and Vanguard all make money regardless of if it goes up or down.. or stays the same!

Yes, it is convoluted and rigged against the common investor unless you pay one of the large firms to ‘make you money’ or you follow along and bet WITH the big firms, not against them. Well, you can also bet against them and make money!

So, back to the woke stuff. Since the likes of Blackrock controls the stock market, they control what goes on. Currently, they want woke, so woke is what makes money. King Arthur can lose tons of money from sales, but the company will still make money from investors! Their stock will still rise because investors will trade the stock. They may sell no flour in the next year and have to send all their warehouse stockpiles to the dump, but the company will still make money! It will make money until the likes of blackrock move to another company. Then, the stock price will fall and blackrock will still make money off that because even though they caused it, they bet the stock price would go down.

Oh, and furthermore… lol!! If the large firms break a company like King Arthur: drive their stock to nothing, they will sell the company off. One of their buddies will buy it and sell off what is profitable and scrap the rest. The company folds, or just incorporates into another company, changes names and puts out the exact same product. And you want to hear the funny part? Those large firms all make money doing this. The one that sold the company makes money and the one that bought the company makes money. The ones who lose out are the small investors and the people who were working for that company. The workers lose their jobs and any investment, like a retirement, in that company. The small investors were blindsided and lose. The big companies who orchestrated it all, make the profits!

And… They will move to the next stock or company. Wash, rinse, repeat.

As a dear departed friend once said:

“It is a big club, and you ain’t in it”

 

[Canon29]

We have an investor on this site who will invest in anything they can make a buck on, including woke companies, so they might have a better answer for you than I do.

As I understand what has been happening it is all about investor money and corporate earnings and bonuses. I was in corporate finance when I was cube farm boy, so understand from the individual company/investor angle.

I would hope most folks know by now, that the stock market and stock prices have absolutely nothing to do with how any company is doing – Nothing at all and yeah, back a late as the 1950 and 1960 it did have to do with company performance. Take “Big Blue” (IBM). The company was innovative and catered to large companies with their products, so their stock was almost always slowly rising. It was an excellent long term investment. Rarely did their stock go down, and if it did it was very little and very short term. That is what the stock market originated as, a sign of company performance.

Remember the Dot com fiasco? People invested a lot of money in the “Dot coms” who had no product and most of them never showed any kind of profit. Well, they did ‘profit’ from investor money. But the investors made huge profits ‘betting’ or buying and selling those stocks. Along rose the ‘big investment firms’ who bought and sold large quantities of those stocks and made a lot of money. The ‘stock market’ went from an individual companies performance, to individual stock performance regardless of the company behind that stock.

If you follow the MSM news on the DOW, S&P, NASDAQ and all those, you will see HUGE and I mean astronomical jumps! This has nothing to do with reality and you will hear the commentators mention it. “Stocks fell 10,000 points due to concern about.. blah blah bah…” “Concern about”? So, nothing happened, but stocks fell because of maybe? No individual company performance made it happen, it happened because of investor money. Some investors made money betting the stock market would go down, some made money betting it would go up. But the big firms like Blackrock and Vanguard all make money regardless of if it goes up or down.. or stays the same!

Yes, it is convoluted and rigged against the common investor unless you pay one of the large firms to ‘make you money’ or you follow along and bet WITH the big firms, not against them. Well, you can also bet against them and make money!

So, back to the woke stuff. Since the likes of Blackrock controls the stock market, they control what goes on. Currently, they want woke, so woke is what makes money. King Arthur can lose tons of money from sales, but the company will still make money from investors! Their stock will still rise because investors will trade the stock. They may sell no flour in the next year and have to send all their warehouse stockpiles to the dump, but the company will still make money! It will make money until the likes of blackrock move to another company. Then, the stock price will fall and blackrock will still make money off that because even though they caused it, they bet the stock price would go down.

Oh, and furthermore… lol!! If the large firms break a company like King Arthur: drive their stock to nothing, they will sell the company off. One of their buddies will buy it and sell off what is profitable and scrap the rest. The company folds, or just incorporates into another company, changes names and puts out the exact same product. And you want to hear the funny part? Those large firms all make money doing this. The one that sold the company makes money and the one that bought the company makes money. The ones who lose out are the small investors and the people who were working for that company. The workers lose their jobs and any investment, like a retirement, in that company. The small investors were blindsided and lose. The big companies who orchestrated it all, make the profits!

And… They will move to the next stock or company. Wash, rinse, repeat.

As a dear departed friend once said:

“It is a big club, and you ain’t in it”

Love this post- but I'm not completely sure it applies to this flour company because it's a not a publicly traded company. From what I can find in a cursory search its run as an ESOP.

So how does wokeness factor into that? They went esop to maintain their values and they still went woke- perhaps it's just that the company leadership really is that dumb...

In my experience, successfully companies become complacent and as they grow and leadership becomes weak as the founders/hard-core businessmen retire. Eventually it's the talkers and not the doers who promote- and they in turn promote others like themselves (cause talkin' is all they know) until management is made up of a bunch of charlatans who have no idea what they are doing- then they go hiring some liberal arts grad in an attempt to "modernize" thinking they are evolving with the times and because upper management has no idea how to run a company anymore they embrace the woke crap and tank the brand.

Basically, the whole "The squeaky wheel gets the grease" thing eventually leads to this kind of dumb bologna.

I cannot say this for sure happened with King Arthur flower but it has all the hallmarks- look at the position they created, "corporate social responsibility manager" and she's the brains behind this new direction I'm sure. I'm sure her resume is as hollow as her head but the corporate folks who read it probably had no idea that the last 3 companies or whatever she worked for last are in the gutter. Those people are like parasites.

 

[Haertig]

We have an investor on this site who will invest in anything they can make a buck on, including woke companies,

You are conflating "investing" and "trading". Investing is long term, and is done because you think the company will make profits in the long term. Trading is (usually) short term. Typically only hours, but sometimes days. Going woke is probably not going to make a company money over time, so it would be an incredibly foolish thing to invest in IMHO. Others may disagree. However, going woke can make a company's stock volatile, and that volatility is what you are looking at for trading. For the trader, it doesn't matter if the volatility is good for the company (stock price going up) or bad for the company (stock price going down). You can make money either way. And the trader doesn't care what factor(s) caused the volatility. Well, that's not entirely true. If the volatility is caused by large investment firms buying or selling the companies stock, THAT you definitely care about. As a matter of fact, that is the primary thing that you are searching to uncover - and trying to ride on the coattails of - in some trading strategies.

There are a couple of ways you can respond to large investment firms manipulating the stock price of a company. You can sit there whining about it happening - something that you cannot change - and watch your poorly chosen investments go to crap and you to the poorhouse. Or you can acknowledge and accept that it happens, learn the fingerprints of it as they appear on stock charts, use that to direct your trading, and make a ton of money in the process.

You do have to research things when investing. But for the most part, investing is a passive money making operation. Trading is the opposite. It is a very active operation. The active part is when you are analyzing stock charts and setting up the trade. Once the trade triggers, in the strategy we use, you leave it alone until the next triggering event - take profit or your stopper hits (but there are other strategies besides the one we use). So you, as the trader, are not "active" once the trade has triggered. Not for that specific trade anyway, but you are usually active on other trades you are setting up.

FWIW, we have made a lot more money investing than trading. Because we have been investing for decades and decades, and have made good passive income from that. Trading for us is newer, and you do have to have a bigger pair of cajones to do it with larger sums of money. You can be advised on investing and if you have a good adviser you will make money, even if you are actually clueless about what you are doing. That is not true for trading.

 

[Woody]

You are conflating "investing" and "trading". Investing is long term, and is done because you think the company will make profits in the long term. Trading is (usually) short term. Typically only hours, but sometimes days.

Trading and investing were interchangeable to me as I am not knowledgeable of either. I was not specifying one or the other.

My, what I would call my portfolio or funds are with a small, independent upstate New York bank. I have no idea when they were founded, but my Grandfather did all his banking there. He did very well by their investments in his account after his retirement. My Father Also trusted them enough to have his funds invested through them and several of my siblings are now with them.

I have no idea if they trade or invest or a little of both.

 

[Caribou]

The wife and I decided to invest in stocks, ONCE. We found one with a history of seasonal cycles. We bought on a dip. It went lower so we bought more at this great opportunity. It took another dip and we hadn't learned yet. When they filed bankruptcy we lost around $10,000. Stupid is supposed to hurt.

 

[Supervisor42]

The wife and I decided to invest in stocks, ONCE. We found one with a history of seasonal cycles. We bought on a dip. It went lower so we bought more at this great opportunity. It took another dip and we hadn't learned yet. When they filed bankruptcy we lost around $10,000. Stupid is supposed to hurt.

Don't play the 'price is gonna go up' game.
I buy stocks that pay a fat cash dividend, in companies that people hate.
Just for @Haertig , I can't get the price of Western Union stock to go back down below $11.75 for months. I bought $5K of it a year ago for $10.55 and have been enjoying it's delicious fat dividends ever since. Should have bought twice as much

.
When was the last time you saw a stock with a 6.16 P/E ratio?
*This is not investment advice.
Specs:

• BETA 0.79
• REV. PER EMPLOYEE $493.29K
• P/E RATIO 6.16
• EPS $1.98
• YIELD 7.71%
• DIVIDEND $0.23
• EX-DIVIDEND DATE Dec 19, 2023

 

[Tim Horton]

I'm no expert, but I believe any company... No matter how it is owned... If it meets certain qualifications of things like ...gross income, net income, stock value, value of assets in buildings machines and such.. How much debt and so on makes it vulnerable to being ..raided.. I believe is the term, dismantled, and all sold off for a profit from its bits and pieces.. There is likely some conglomerate in the world that could do this to 3M, Boeing, you name it IF the figures are right...
My 5 cents of knowledge and opinion...

 

[shanrose]

I have good results using Wegman's brand all purpose, bread and whole wheat flour. King Arthur was a bit on the expensive side and now they they have gone woke, I will never buy it again.
These companies use the phrase "...our commitment to fostering a more inclusive..." Yet they are EXCLUDING a whole group of people based strictly on skin color. Didn't that used to be the definition of RACIST?

White Bakers Banned From Competition​

The King Arthur Baking Company is hosting a competition for bakeries and the winner gets a lot of dough.
It’s called “Baking Pitchfest 2024.”
Winners get mentorship from other bakers and financial support for their bakeries.
It sounds like a great opportunity for the pastry and pie crowd. But there’s just one catch. No white people are allowed to enter the competition.

Only bakeries that are owned by persons of color are allowed to participate.

“Baking Pitchfest 2024 is more than a competition; it’s a platform for empowering People of Color to break barriers and redefine the narrative in baking,” Kathleen Casanova told Baking Business.

That’s because King Arthur is trying to foster inclusivity and creativity by providing equitable opportunities for people of color.

“Pitchfest 2024 is a testament to our commitment to fostering a more inclusive baking community and empowering creative POC leaders in the industry,” said Molly Lawrence, the company’s corporate social responsibility manager.
[More at link]
https://www.toddstarnes.com/business/white-bakers-banned-from-competition/

This is just terrible and I will not purchase their items. We have mixed races in our family but this anti-white sentiment is so pronounced it's gotten ugly: it's to cause division between the races where none exists.

 

[jishinsjourney]

Ugh.

King Arthur makes the gluten-free flour that my husband can actually safely eat.

I would rather not give them money now, but if my choice is that or no baked goods at all, I’m pretty torn. I’ve tried DIYing GF flour and have yet to be pleased with the results.

 

[Haertig]

I would rather not give them money now, but if my choice is that or no baked goods at all, I’m pretty torn.

Well, you can think about it this way: These companies are not doing this to support wokeness. They could not care less about black people or trannies or whatever group they appear to be supporting. These companies are chasing profit. That's it. Their secret is out! They mistakenly think that going woke will increase their profits. That's all there is to it. The people who are hurt the worst are the black people and trannies that actually think the company cares about them.

So if you need their product, just try to think of them as a financially stupid company. Not a woke company. So you might not want to invest your money in their stock, that's for sure - but you could probably get by with buying a bag or two of flour every now and then. You just have to force yourself to think that buying a bag of flour is not a sign that you support its producer. Sometimes you just need some flour. You're not supporting anybody's "profit-motivated stupid decision to go woke" by buying it. If there is a different non-woke supplier that is a viable option for what you need to buy, sure use them instead. "The only game in town" for your product will not be that forever, so switch once you have another option.

 

[Caribou]

Ugh.

King Arthur makes the gluten-free flour that my husband can actually safely eat.

I would rather not give them money now, but if my choice is that or no baked goods at all, I’m pretty torn. I’ve tried DIYing GF flour and have yet to be pleased with the results.

I can avoid King Arthur with no problem. If the health and well being of family were an issue that would change my actions.

 

[shanrose]

I think that people need to speak up. I'm older and unused to all this "woke" stuff. I had to fill out an online form from my doctor and they asked really weird questions about one's sexual preference, what sex you identify as, what pronoun you want to be used, etc. When I saw the doctor I told her that they shouldn't make patients fill that out. I don't have anything against someone who wants to do whatever but the rest of us should be thought of us well.

 

[Midge608]

Ugh.

King Arthur makes the gluten-free flour that my husband can actually safely eat.

I would rather not give them money now, but if my choice is that or no baked goods at all, I’m pretty torn. I’ve tried DIYing GF flour and have yet to be pleased with the results.

I have to eat gluten free and have for about 9 years now. I feel the same way about King Arthur. I was disappointed. I will tell you the best GF flour you can by but it is expensive is Caputo from Italy. I save money by mixing 1/2 and 1/2 of Caputo and either Bobs Red Mill or King Arthur (if I have to).

 

[jishinsjourney]

I have to eat gluten free and have for about 9 years now. I feel the same way about King Arthur. I was disappointed. I will tell you the best GF flour you can by but it is expensive is Caputo from Italy. I save money by mixing 1/2 and 1/2 of Caputo and either Bobs Red Mill or King Arthur (if I have to).

That’s helpful — I’ll check it out. It may or may not work, since he’s GF because of his diabetes, and some flours just don’t. But if it’s Italian, it’s gotta be tasty. I’m not biased.

 

[Proud Prepper]

None for me. It was always to expensive anyway.

 

[Tim Horton]

Do you suppose a lot of ...woke... is driven by investors ?? For instance if a retirement fund or other group that handles a lot of money says to a company you go ...inclusive... or our investors will sell of there shares in your company... If so.. I would seem a lot of company ..woke.. is driven from outside as well as internal feelings.. ??

Facts, details, experience, thoughts... ??

 

[Neb]

Do you suppose a lot of ...woke... is driven by investors ?? For instance if a retirement fund or other group that handles a lot of money says to a company you go ...inclusive... or our investors will sell of there shares in your company... If so.. I would seem a lot of company ..woke.. is driven from outside as well as internal feelings.. ??

Facts, details, experience, thoughts... ??

I will defer to the philosopher Dr Seuss



Ben

 

[DrHenley]

Do you suppose a lot of ...woke... is driven by investors ?? For instance if a retirement fund or other group that handles a lot of money says to a company you go ...inclusive... or our investors will sell of there shares in your company... If so.. I would seem a lot of company ..woke.. is driven from outside as well as internal feelings.. ??

Facts, details, experience, thoughts... ??

Yes...Blackrock is behind a lot of it.

 

[herbalnewbie]

I have good results using Wegman's brand all purpose, bread and whole wheat flour. King Arthur was a bit on the expensive side and now they they have gone woke, I will never buy it again.
These companies use the phrase "...our commitment to fostering a more inclusive..." Yet they are EXCLUDING a whole group of people based strictly on skin color. Didn't that used to be the definition of RACIST?

White Bakers Banned From Competition​

The King Arthur Baking Company is hosting a competition for bakeries and the winner gets a lot of dough.
It’s called “Baking Pitchfest 2024.”
Winners get mentorship from other bakers and financial support for their bakeries.
It sounds like a great opportunity for the pastry and pie crowd. But there’s just one catch. No white people are allowed to enter the competition.

Only bakeries that are owned by persons of color are allowed to participate.

“Baking Pitchfest 2024 is more than a competition; it’s a platform for empowering People of Color to break barriers and redefine the narrative in baking,” Kathleen Casanova told Baking Business.

That’s because King Arthur is trying to foster inclusivity and creativity by providing equitable opportunities for people of color.

“Pitchfest 2024 is a testament to our commitment to fostering a more inclusive baking community and empowering creative POC leaders in the industry,” said Molly Lawrence, the company’s corporate social responsibility manager.
[More at link]
https://www.toddstarnes.com/business/white-bakers-banned-from-competition/

Well, they've joined the banned list along with Nike, Starbucks, Target, and not that I bought it anyway but Budweiser. Someone with the money to do so should file a discrimination lawsuit against King Arthur. I really like their flour and their website too but good riddance.

 

[goshengirl]

I've been looking for a different bread flour ever since KA did this. I mean, clearly they don't want my business.

I've struggled with learning to bake a good loaf of bread, and I know it's a matter of practice. King Arthur has bread flour (higher protein %) with an organic option (not a perfect label, but it matters to me). I can find other bread flours and other organic flours, but not organic bread flours. It's frustrating.

Weedy, that Wheat Montana flour (Prairie Gold) is a favorite of the Amish around here.