Date: 12/04/2008 http://africa.reuters.com/business/news/usnBAN755458.html "Biofuels demand and crude oil prices are unique here (now)," he added, referring to the practice of growing crops to manufacture alternative energy in response to record crude oil prices now edging close to a landmark $100 per barrel.... This relatively insignificant increase in production, coupled with already very low carryover stocks, has resulted in an extremely tight global market situation," the report said. http://ago.mobile.globeandmail.com/generated/archive/RTGAM/html/20080410/wfood0411.html "Unlike past food crises, solved largely by throwing aid at hungry stomachs and boosting agricultural productivity, this one won't go away quickly, experts say. Prices are soaring and stand every chance of staying high because this crisis is different." ..."The UN has predicted that climate change could reduce production in developing countries by 9 to 21 per cent by 2080 and that sub-Saharan Africa could lose more than 30 per cent of its main crop, maize. " ... "'I can say with some degree of confidence that if governments and international development agencies do not put in place a concerted effort quickly, then we are looking at a very serious problem,' Mr. Nwanze said." http://countervalue.com/food-crisis-un-warns-of-global-unrest "'We are seeing food on the shelves but people being unable to afford it.'"... [The UN World Food Programme] "has launched an appeal to boost its aid budget from $2.9bn to $3.4bn (£1.5bn to £1.7bn) to meet higher prices, which officials say are jeopardising the programme’s ability to continue feeding 73 million people worldwide.'" ... "Robert Zoellick, president of the World Bank, said 'many more people will suffer and starve' unless the US, Europe, Japan and other rich countries provide funds.'" ... "In the UK, Professor John Beddington, the new chief scientific adviser to the government, used his first speech last month to warn the effects of the food crisis would bite more quickly than climate change." http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/7324596.stm "The price of the staple crop has risen by as much as 70% during the last year, according to the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), with increases accelerating in recent weeks." http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/India_sparks_wheat_price_rise/articleshow/2349047.cms "The wheat crisis, in addition to similar squeeze in food products such as corn and milk in some countries, is so severe that the UN has warned of impending food-related social tensions and political upheaval." ... "The wheat crisis, in addition to similar squeeze in food products such as corn and milk in some countries, is so severe that the UN has warned of impending food-related social tensions and political upheaval." http://timestranscript.canadaeast.com/rss/article/211818 "He said the price of bread, pasta and anything else has seen a steady increase in recent months and the prices are expected to continue rising for the next two years." ... "'Over the last three years, we have seen global consumption exceed production and we're getting to the point where global stocks are going to become extremely tight -- the tightest they've been since the late 1970s.'" http://www.abc.net.au/news/tag/agricultural-prices "UNICEF has warned the increase in food prices is leading to not only to empty stomachs but also empty classrooms in poor countries, as parents send their children to work rather than school." http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/IRIN/212c442f2bfba14a75281deef12e46e9.htm "Shifts in rainfall patterns could affect crops, particularly rice, in many countries in the region, said the FAO report, which has singled out Yemen as being particularly at risk because of its endemic poverty, rapidly growing population and acute water shortages."..."'In principle, increasing food insecurity can trigger resource-based conflict - be it agricultural or be it food,' Kilmann said. Recent incidents in Egypt highlight the vulnerability of the Middle East region to the vagaries of reduced agricultural production and the rise in food prices...." http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/americas/03/24/food.ap "'The Chinese middle class is starting to change the traditional thought process of beef as a luxury,' said Kevin Timberlake, who manages the U.S.-based Western Cattle Company feedlot in China's Inner Mongolia." ... "'We need a response on a large scale, either the regional or international level,' said Brian Halweil of the environmental research organization Worldwatch Institute. 'All countries are tied enough to the world food markets that this is a global crisis.'" http://www.domain-b.com/economy/general/20080410_economic_stability.html "'A steep rise in food prices will make inflation control more difficult and can thereby hurt the cause of macro economic stability,' Manmohan Singh said at Global Agro Industries Forum." ... "The FAO ... has called an emergency meeting of heads of state during June 3-5 to discuss the overall situation, including impact of climate change." “One study has estimated that U.K. imports of food products and animal feed involved transport used 1.6 billion liters for shipping, resulting in 4.1 million tons of carbon dioxide emissions.” ... "He puts the blame for this trend on ethanol production in the United States. 'Thirty percent of next year's grain harvest in the U.S. will go straight to an ethanol distillery,' Howden writes." http://www.globalexchange.org/update/5463.html "The rise comes as the UN's World Food Programme warns that it will have to start cutting rations or feeding fewer people if it does not get more money to cope with the higher cost of food." ... "Increasing wealth in China and India, for example, has led to consumers eating more meat, which means more grain is needed to feed farm animals." http://www.globalpolicy.org/secgen/ban/2008/0312foodcrisis.htm "This year, the World Food Program plans to feed 73 million people globally, including as many as 3 million people each day in Darfur. To do so, the program requires an additional $500 million simply to cover the rise in food costs. " ... "Roughly a third of the world's food shortages could be alleviated to a significant degree by improving local agricultural distribution networks and helping to better connect small farmers to markets." http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2008/apr/06/food.foodanddrink "In the Philippines, where the National Bureau of Investigation has been called in to raid traders suspected of hoarding rice to push up the prices, activists have warned of the risk of food riots." ... "Juan José Daboub said governments needed to take steps to protect the poor and also ensure that long-term solutions were found to relieve shortages. 'In virtually every East Asian country, high food prices are raising headline inflation and contributing to a significant decline in the real income of the poor, most of whom spend a big chunk of their income on food.'" http://www.heatisonline.org/contentserver/objecthandlers/index.cfm?ID=6849&Method=Full "Much of the blame has been put on the transfer of land and grains to the production of biofuel. But its impact has been outweighed by the sharp growth in demand from a new middle class in China and India for meat and other foods, which were previously viewed as luxuries. 'The fundamental cause is high income growth,' said Joachim von Braun, the head of the International Food Policy Research Institute. 'I estimate this is half the story. The biofuels is another 30%. Then there are weather-induced erratic changes which caused irritation in world food markets. These things have eaten into world levels of grain storage.'" "By September of this year, the cost of bread wheat (pre-milled flour) on international commodity markets had already risen year-on-year by 70 per cent. This record increase followed a 40 per cent year-on-year rise during 2006. According to the Irish Bread Bakers Association (IBBA), in the past six weeks, there has been a further 30 per cent rise, placing the cost of the commodity at an all-time high. The situation is by no means peculiar to Jamaica. " http://www.manilatimes.net/national/2008/apr/07/yehey/top_stories/20080407top1.html "According to the leading economic daily Bisnis Indonesia, the government has been worried that expanding price gap between domestic and global markets could encourage local rice producers to heavily sell to export markets." ... "Things are so tight in the Philippines that Agriculture Secretary Arthur Yap has asked people not to throw away leftover rice and urged fast-food restaurants, which normally give customers a cup of rice with meals, to offer a half-cup option to cut waste." http://www.saudi-us-relations.org/articles/2007/ioi/071011-jadwa-inflation.html "Structural shifts in patterns of consumption and use of agricultural products have been aggravated by temporary factors such as poor weather conditions to push up food prices throughout the world." ... "Use of crops for energy production: High oil prices, environmental concerns and the US government’s quest for energy independence have encouraged the development of alternative sources of energy, one of which is ethanol." http://www.stwr.net/content/view/980/36 "Developing countries shaping future of world agriculture trade." ... "Production and consumption of farm products are expanding faster in developing countries than in developed economies. But a new joint report by the OECD and FAO says productivity growth in the world's poorest nations is not keeping pace with the food needs of their rising populations." ... "The traditional main wheat exporters -- Argentina, Australia, Canada, the European Union and the United States -- are likely to maintain their dominant positions, but output from Ukraine and Kazakhstan is creating growing competition." "Professor Brooks said: 'Most of the previous Malthus-style predictions have been proven wrong by significant technological improvements in agricultural production. '" ... "' If climate change really sets in, said Professor Freebairn, 'it is going to require big changes in the way we organise food production'. But that was not necessarily a problem. 'The technological potential (of GM) is quite enormous (and) if food really went expensive we'd shift from resource-intensive meat products and become more fruit and vegetable types.'" http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20080329.wfood29/BNStory/International/home "Numerous countries, including Argentina and Vietnam, have capped or taxed exports of key farm products in a bid to quell domestic inflation, running the risk of violating international trade rules. To ease growing shortages, the Philippine government has asked fast-food restaurants to serve less rice with meals to ease shortages." ... “'We may quickly see a decline in [food] prices if we see a recession in the United States,' said Ms. Elliott of the Center for Global Development." http://www.wsws.org/articles/2008/feb2008/food-f25.shtml "Rather, a number of complex and interrelated forces are behind the development, all of which underscore the inability of capitalist markets and institutions to rationally plan and provide for human needs." ... "Since the eruption of the credit crisis, the grain market has assumed an increasingly volatile character, forcing up retail inflation and worsening the effects of economic downturn for the working class population." For a summary concept diagram derived from many of the links above please click on the following link: | ||||||