Food Crisis Worsens

posted by Peter Rothberg on 04/30/2008 @ 11:20pm

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Comments (21)

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Watch this appeal from Zainab Bangura, foreign minister of Sierra Leone, for international support in confronting the global food crisis.

You may have noticed food costing more when you shop lately. That's because we're plunging headlong into a world food crisis. Rocketing prices are affecting billions of people and triggering food riots around the world. In Sierra Leone alone the price of a bag of rice has doubled, making it virtually unaffordable for 90 percent of the country's citizens. Fears of inflation stalk the whole world with starvation a real possibility for many people around the globe.

Avaaz.org has launched a campaign to support Bangura's call to petition UN, EU and G8 leaders "to address the world food crisis by mobilizing emergency funding to prevent starvation, removing perverse incentives to turn food into biofuels and managing financial speculation, and to tackle the underlying causes by ending harmful trade policies and investing massively in sustainable agricultural productivity in developing nations."

Click here to add your name to the food crisis petition.

Comments (21)

Peter - name added to petition (no not "Zero"). Do you have any information on the real underpinnings of the crisis? It's not just trade policies - there hasn't been any quantum leap change in those recently - or biofuels in place of grain. My understanding is that high energy prices are impacting production and transportation, and that the cost of base materials that produce modern fertilizers and high-yield crops have also gone up in price. This crisis snuck up on everyone it seems. Why is it really happening?

Posted by Zero at 04/30/2008 @ 11:49pm
It is amazing how fast things can go downhill. I have a bad feeling things may not get better anytime soon. Mr. Nichols's post on a strategic grain reserve has the potential to buffer this sort of thing in the far future if the logistics can be efficiently achieved on such a massive scale. A faster and more realistic step to achieve the goal of decreasing the price of grains would require the cost of diesel to be cut by at least half, and I don't see that happening either, so I guess it's fourth and long and we punt.

Posted by Benchrest at 05/01/2008 @ 12:39am
"...and investing massively...in developing nations."

PETER....come on. ANY chance of that, now, after all the OTHER times, such things have been called for?

Posted by Mask at 05/01/2008 @ 08:44am
Why is it really happening?

Posted by Zero

well,

oil's priced in dollars. grains are priced in dollars. the dollar is sinking.

22 trillion in debt. an unpaid for war. trade imbalance. an ever expanding volume of rubber dollars. negative savings rate.

and guzzlehol. stupid, stupid, guzzlehol. drives up the price of corn. more farmers plant corn, so less of everything else.

and so, while you need more dollars to buy food, the real price is also going up because of demand.

Thursday, May 1, 2008 9:04:48 AM

Posted by frosty zoom at 05/01/2008 @ 09:00am
now, please, back to rev. wright.

Thursday, May 1, 2008 9:05:58 AM

Posted by frosty zoom at 05/01/2008 @ 09:01am
It is a global issue and every country, especially the global powers should take an action.

http://www.thefaithdebate.com http://www.thefaithdebate.com http://www.thefaithdebate.com

Posted by live_life at 05/01/2008 @ 10:08am
You can blame the food shortage and price spike on the environuts who lobbied for biofuels.

Posted by ACook at 05/01/2008 @ 1:18pm
Posted by ACook at 05/1/2008

I must agree. After finally hearing the truth about the manufacture of biofuels and the negative impact they have on food supply. There has to be another way besides ethanol made from corn.

Posted by k330k at 05/01/2008 @ 2:37pm
in the old days, wind mills were for grinding grain, bush is evil, thus he hates other countries, poor people, wind, the environment...it is all makes sense now....congress, stop ethanol subsidies now, vote for more subsidies from oil windfalls to support solar/wind....we are now down to less than 5% of installed wind capacity in the world....further reducing our energy independence..mccain's home state of AZ is the only state to actually vote down subsidies for wind/solar...go to awea.org to see how your senators voted....

Posted by jrs112 at 05/01/2008 @ 3:49pm
* Grain to feed the new demand for pork in China;

* Grain to feed cattle to make beef to make burgers;

* Grain for the great biofuels con

No grain for the poor - they can't PAY for it.

And PLEASE IMPROVE THE COMMENT INTERFACE!!!

Posted by mikecope at 05/01/2008 @ 4:12pm
There has to be another way besides ethanol made from corn.

Posted by k330k

walk.

Thursday, May 1, 2008 9:27:46 PM

Posted by frosty zoom at 05/01/2008 @ 9:23pm
Projections point to US consumption of 90% of their own corn by 2012 - yes, due to biofuels. While as an environmental scientist and educator I appreciate the "not a fossil fuel" aspect of biofuels, I do cringe at fueling cars versus starvation elsewhere. Of course, as alluded to, the real problem isn't so much the "environuts" as the fact we feed 80% of our grain production to make meat. (A loss of 90% of the captured solar energy that the grain represents.)

...and buy a bicycle!

Posted by leftofcenter at 05/02/2008 @ 8:02pm
ah, the stupidity of meat production......

Posted by frosty zoom at 05/03/2008 @ 12:39am
FZ: I live in the midwest and marvel at the sheer strength of spandex every time I go to an "all-you-can-eat" establishment. It seems many take the sign as a challenge. And I still think that liposuction-based biodiesel would be a valid energy source here in the nation of the bloated overconsumer...

Posted by leftofcenter at 05/03/2008 @ 07:28am
There has to be another way besides ethanol made from corn.

Posted by k330k

Yes, actually ethanol can be made from sugarcane, which is much more efficient than using corn.

http://yaleglobal.yale.edu/display.article?id=6817

Posted by RichardMoneybags at 05/03/2008 @ 10:25am
Posted by RichardMoneybags at 05/3/2008

Beta-max vs VHS.

Posted by Benchrest at 05/03/2008 @ 11:21am
And I still think that liposuction-based biodiesel would be a valid energy source here in the nation of the bloated overconsumer...

Posted by leftofcenter

blubbahol.........

Posted by frosty zoom at 05/03/2008 @ 8:59pm
The food structure production has always been oriented for the west countries' consumption and demand basket.

There is a lot of different ways of producing (specially most important grains and proteins) much more cheaply but the countries that would like it, do not have money and technology to develop them.

Western countries should promote these kind of technologies by direct investment in Africa, Asia and Latin America and stop selling our models of consumption.

Posted by Frank42 at 05/03/2008 @ 10:38pm
blubbahol.........

Posted by frosty zoom at 05/3/2008

LOL ... and I'm only half-joking

Posted by leftofcenter at 05/03/2008 @ 11:00pm
While food prices have increased in the United States recently, I do not think Americans are going to start caring about this issue until something drastic happens. When it comes to sustainability issues I believe our country is often reactive instead of proactive. As such, Americans as a whole are not going to be motivated until something significant happens. This may involve the media bombarding them with footage of children starving, or it may involve more Americans having to make the choice between a mortgage payment or groceries.

What is even more unfortunate is that the it would not take a significant effort or sacrifice on an individual basis in order to change the structure of the food industry in this country. Most communities have access to locally grown, organic food. However, these options are often over looked because of their moderate markups and limited distribution systems. While the government's solution may be to throw money at the problem, I think the real solution will require a bottom up approach.

Posted by willis_06 at 05/05/2008 @ 12:47am
<i>You can blame the food shortage and price spike on the environuts who lobbied for biofuels.

Posted by ACook at 05/1/2008 | ignore this person</i>

Actually, agribusinesses have been lobbying for ethanol for years. I can remember ADM's commercials on the Sunday public affairs programs when I still considered them worth watching.

Posted by Jefferson_Locke at 05/05/2008 @ 11:24am