Food crisis?! What food crisis? Cargill cashes in.

Food price crisis, what crisis? 'Cargill, the world’s largest agricultural commodities trader, announced on Wednesday that its profits had tripled year-on-year in the second quarter of its fiscal year, as the company profited from supply disruptions in the global food chain and rising prices’. (Source: From Poverty to Power)

Post filed under: "corruption", "food scammers", "Right Wing", "Flaud US Foreign Policy", "F**k the Poor", "How to mix aid and business to your financial benefit" and "Money First, Ethics Later".

I wonder what the quarterly report of Monsanto looks like.

More about Cargill on The Road.

And for once I will not link back to the source of the picture, as they don't deserve to be linked back to.

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Living in Italy - Part 15: What makes food in Italy taste so good?

In principle, this could be the shortest blogpost I ever wrote:

Question: "What makes food in Italy taste so good?" Answer: "The ingredients"

Here is the longer version:

In a world where as a consumer, we want to have any type of vegetable or fruit in the shop, at any time during the year, we gradually slide into the habit of eating "plastic". There is no other word for a fruit or vegetable which was picked while unripe, only growing to its mature size (and of course its perfect look) while transported in an under-cooled container.

I remember the perfect December strawberries at breakfast in New York: shiny bright red on the outside, and white on the inside. Nothing but water. No taste whatsoever.
Same - or even more so - in Dubai, where fresh vegetables were almost non-existent. As local living habits were on the route to become North American, so were the eating habits. In the supermarkets, it all looked perfect: apples, asparagus, berries, oranges. Big sizes too. But taste like water.

And on top of that, upon popular demand by the consumer, fruits and veggies can not go off fast. We should be able to keep them in the fridge for three weeks at least... Plastic goes for ever, no? God knows what they treat veggies with to keep "fresh" for a month.

Not so in Italy. In general, you can only buy fruits and vegetables which are in season. The taste is like I have never experienced before. But you have to use it within the next days, as they go off in no time.

Look at this freshly picked Tuscan tomato a friend brought from her garden. See its colour, its firmness?


Freshly picked, it made a lovely meal by itself. But, amongst the two dozen tomatoes, there was one unripe tomato. Still firm green. Just for the curiosity, I left it on the cupboard for four weeks. When eventually it was ripe, it looked perfect, just like the others, but tasted like nothing. Why? It did not ripen in the sun, on its vine as the other tomatoes did. It grew to maturity on my cupboard.

Look at this salsa I made: the only ingredient were freshly picked Tuscan tomatoes. I added some herbs and let it all broil for two hours. Look at the intensity of the colour, look how firm it is. If I'd do this with Belgian tomatoes, it would be all watery with only a hint of red.

And that is one of the reason I love to live in Italy.

More about Living in Italy on The Road

Top picture courtesy Nanaimo Info Blog

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Malawi: Teaching a person to fish

The food crisis is adding to the misery of countries already crippled by other burdens like drought and HIV.

In Malawi people are turning to fish farming, not only for food and income but also as a way to cope with the challenges of HIV — in particular the orphans from AIDS.

This video takes a look at the World Fish Center's work with partners to reduce poverty and hunger in Africa through fish farming.



Discovered via CGIAR's ICTKM blog

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The last Bush act: banning French cheese

I can not resist this piece of gourmet -slash- political news. One of -what must be- Bush's last acts of.. whashalwecalit.. idiocracy? This must have been part of his war on terror cheese.

The United States, it turns out, has declared war on Roquefort cheese.

In its final days, the Bush administration imposed a 300 percent duty on Roquefort, in effect closing off the U.S. market. Americans, it declared, will no longer get to taste the creamy concoction that, in its authentic, most glorious form, comes with an odor of wet sheep and veins of blue mold that go perfectly with rye bread and coarse red wine.

The measure, announced Jan. 13 by U.S. Trade Representative Susan C. Schwab as she headed out the door, was designed as retaliation for a European Union ban on imports of U.S. beef containing hormones. Tit for tat, and all perfectly legal under World Trade Organization rules, U.S. officials explained. (Full)

Shall we add this to the to-do list of Obama: reinstate the stinky trade relations with France?

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Therapeutic Soup: zuppa di zucca

Whenever it all gets too much, I make soup.

Input: a couple of kilogrammes of zucca (pumpkin), pomodori (tomatoes), porri (leek), cipolle (red onion), carote (carrots), peperoni (bell peppers) etc..



One of the outputs:



I have enough zuppa di zucca (pumpkin soup), zuppa di porri (leek soup) and minestrone (mixed vegetable) to last for a couple of weeks. Think we're having "a soup-only dinner", to raise funds for our social project.

PS: and for the connoisseurs of my soups: Yep, as per traditions, all of the soups had "balls" !

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News: Korea buys half of Madagascar's agricultural land.

I posted before about the new colonialism, when Western companies buy or lease large parts of arable land in Africa to grow food or biofuel for their own production.

Via For Those Who Want To KnowI just stumbled upon this article:

Daewoo Logistics of South Korea has secured a huge tract of farmland in Madagascar to grow food crops to send back to Seoul, in a deal said to be the largest of its kind.

The company leased 1.3m hectares of farmland - about half the size of Belgium - from Madagascar for 99 years. It planned to ship the corn and palm oil harvests back to South Korea. This deal will have half of Madagascar's arable land produce food for Korea. (Full)

The United Nations' Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) warned this year that the race by agricultural commodity-importing countries to secure farmland overseas risked creating a "neo-colonial" system. A warning in the wind it seems, as more and more agro-companies make new land deals in Africa and Asia. (More)

Daewoo Logistics is not the only one leasing land in Madagascar: D1 Oils plc, the UK based producer of biodiesel, uses about 17,000 hectares of existing Jatropha plantations for its biofuel production since years. In addition to the 37,000 hectares of plantations in Africa, India and The Philippines. In addition to approximately 6,000,000 hectares of land available to the company in different countries under option to contract. (Full)

As a note worth mentioning: In Madagascar, some 50 percent of children under three years of age suffer retarded growth due to a chronically inadequate diet. (Source)

Picture courtesy of Pernille (Louder than Swahili)

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News: When was the last time a UN agency got a "Business Innovation Award"?

The 2008 ICIS Award for "Best Business Innovation" was given to a joint initiative of the Dutch company DSM and the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP). Together, they developed "MixMe" powder sachets to provide people in developing countries with micronutrients that can be mixed with food at home.

The food enriching micronutrient powder "MixMe" will enable the World Food Programme, the UN's frontline agency for hunger solutions, to bring better food assistance to the hungry poor.

In addition to the almost one billion people who are hungry there are close to another billion of people in this world who seem not to suffer from hunger at first glance but are suffering from a deficiency in micronutrients (the so-called "hidden hunger"). These people appear to have enough to eat, but often eat mainly carbohydrate rich foods such as rice or maize which do not provide the essential vitamins and minerals (micronutrients) needed for good health and therefore they develop all kinds of diseases such as anemia and blindness.

The "MixMe" "home food fortification" is a novel approach to the enrichment of food with micronutrients.

This year alone, the "MixMe" sachets will reach over 250,000 people in Nepal, Kenya and Bangladesh. WFP and DSM plan to substantially increase the coverage area in the coming years to reach millions of people. (Full)

More posts on The Road about food aid and hunger.

Picture courtesy Christian Farnsworth (WFP)

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Picture of the day: Gustav and Hanna causing havoc in Haiti

A flood victim carries a box of high energy biscuits he received from the World Food Program in a shelter as he wades through muddy water after Tropical Storm Hanna hit Gonaives, Haiti.
Hanna has killed at least 137 people in Haiti. (Full)

Update Sept 6: Meanwhile, tropical storm Ike, currently located in the West Atlantic, has reached a category three storm and is expected to hit the northern areas of Dominican Republic and Haiti on 07 September before following towards Cuba and Bahamas.


More Pictures of the day. More posts about Haiti

Picture courtesy AP Photo/Ariana Cubillos

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News: Cutting agricultural aid research or how to dig your own grave...

Giving people fish or teaching them to fish?

A few years back, I had a meeting with Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, the Ruler of Dubai, Prime Minister and Vice President of the UAE.
I told him of the humanitarian work we did. He listened attentively, and kept a silence after my explanation. Then he said candidly: "You know, you are giving people fish, instead of teaching them how to fish. Give a person a fish and he will eat for a day, teach him how to fish and he will have food for the rest of his life!"

I was quick to respond: "Your Highness, when people are starving, they are not interested in being taught how to fish. If we give them fishlings for their pond, they will eat it, rather using them for breeding. Our organisation gives people the fish, so they are not starving anymore, and have the energy to be taught how to fish, and to fish themselves. Other organisations we work closely with, teach them how to fish, how to breed fishlings. After that, others come in and teach them not to overfish their pond, or even to market their excess harvest, set up funding mechanisms to sell their harvest beyond their own village. We all work hand in hand, each of us has its own role."


How true are we to our aid commitments?

This was then. But at this moment, there is a growing concern and dissatisfaction in the aid world. How well have we done in the past decades. Have we really followed our own reasonings and explanations..? Or were they mere justifications for our own existence?

The global food crisis hitting the poorest people first, is an objective proof we - the international aid community - have not done well enough. Have we - all of us - not concentrated too much on giving people fish, rather than teaching them how to be independent from foreign aid? How much of it could have been avoided? How can we learn from our lessons?

While the international focus is on the global food crisis, it is the right time to highlight the importance of not only concentrating on short term solutions. Short term solutions for hunger are like drops of water on a hot plate. Let's give people fish, but also concentrate on "teaching them how to fish".

In the context of the global food crisis, this means concentrating not only on emergency food aid, but also on achieving sustainable food security and reducing poverty in developing countries through non-for-profit and transparent scientific research in the fields of agriculture, forestry, fisheries, policy, and environment.
I explicitly exclude the agricultural research done by the likes of Monsanto and Cargill, international commercial giants who only aim at increasing their profit margin, often to the detriment of the farmers in poorer countries.

Let's rather have a look at the benevolent work of organisations like the CGIAR, the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research.


Agricultural aid research, a proven success.

The CGIAR has a proven success track record (Source):

- Successful biological control of the cassava mealybug and green mite, both devastating pests of a root crop that is vital for food security in sub-Saharan Africa. The economic benefits of this work are estimated at more than $4 billion.
- Increasing smallholder dairy production in Kenya improving childhood nutrition while generating jobs. This award-winning project with smallholder dairies has contributed up to 80 percent of the milk products sold in the country.
- New rice varieties for Africa, which combine the high yields of Asian rice with African rice’s resistance to local pests and diseases. Currently sown on 200,000 hectares in upland areas, they are helping reduce national rice import bills and generating higher incomes in rural communities.
- An agroforestry system called “fertilizer tree fallows,” which renews soil fertility in Southern Africa, adopted by than 66,000 farmers in Zambia.
- Widespread adoption of resource-conserving “zero-till” technology in the vital rice-wheat systems of South Asia. Employed by close to a half million farmers on more than 3.2 million hectares, this technology has generated benefits estimated at US$147 million through higher crop yields, lower production costs and savings in water and energy.
- A flood-tolerant version of a rice variety grown on six million hectares in Bangladesh. The new variety enables farmers to obtain yields two to three times those of the non-tolerant version under prolonged submergence of rice crops, a situation that will become more common as a result of climate change.
- A new method for detecting and reducing by 100% aflatoxin, a deadly poison that infects crops, making them unfit for local consumption or export benefiting farmers throughout sub-Saharan Africa.
- More than 50 varieties of recently developed drought-tolerant maize varieties being grown on a total of about one million hectares across eastern and southern Africa
- A simple methodology for integrating agriculture with aquaculture to bolster income and food supplies in areas of southern Africa where the agricultural labor force has been devastated by HIV/AIDS, doubling the income of 1,200 households in Malawi.
- Etcetera, etcetera, etcetera....


Digging our own grave.

All good news. Except that the focus on emergency food aid seems to have drawn worldwide attention - and funding - away from long term agricultural research. Proof of the matter is that while U.S. President George W. Bush recently ordered up $200 million in emergency food aid, with a follow-up of another $755 million, the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) is cutting as much as 75% of their funding to the CGIAR (See Science Magazine). USAID's support to the CGIAR in 2006 was $56 million or about 12% of the CGIAR’s core budget.

And USAID is not the only one to blame. Look at this graph illustrating the worldwide trend of foreign aid (which excludes relief aid - as the graph would then look even worse!) going up, versus the downward trend of in agricultural aid.

Here is another interesting graph, comparing the annual budget of the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI), one of the CGIAR's research centers, and the global rice stock pile volume, using the latter as a measure for consumption versus demand on rice. Now is there not a strange correlation to be noticed? This can not be coincidence.



How a small bug illustrates a worldwide problem

Talking about the IRRI, here is an example of how, by cutting back transparent and not-for-profit agricultural research is as bad as digging one's own grave:

The brown plant hopper, an insect no bigger than a gnat, is multiplying by the billions and chewing through rice paddies in East Asia, threatening the diets of many poor people. China, the world’s biggest rice producer, announced on May 7 that it was struggling to control the rapid spread of the insects there. A plant hopper outbreak can destroy 20 percent of a harvest.

The damage to rice crops, occurring at a time of scarcity and high prices, could have been prevented. Researchers at the International Rice Research Institute say that they know how to create rice varieties resistant to the insects but that budget cuts have prevented them from doing so. (Full)


Learning from the past

In the 1960s, population growth was far outrunning food production, threatening famine in many poor countries. Wealthier nations joined forces with the poor countries to improve crop yields. Yields soared, and by the 1980s, the threat of starvation had receded in most of the world. With Europe and the United States offering their farmers heavy subsidies that encouraged production, grain became abundant worldwide, and prices fell.

Many poor countries, instead of developing their own agriculture, turned to the world market to buy cheap rice and wheat. In 1986, Agriculture Secretary John Block called the idea of developing countries feeding themselves “an anachronism from a bygone era,” saying they should "just buy American". (Full)

And this attitude got the world into the mess it is in today: a demand (the world population) outgrowing the supply (food production)... The below graph clearly illustrates this trend (the food production - in purple- is represented by the total production of grain in the world).



Bottomline. And how you can help.

We need to push the international community for long-term agricultural research aiming solely at making developing countries food self-sufficient, without any commercial interests at heart, if we want to resolve this food crisis and avoid it from ever happening again.

Here is one way how you can help: sign the petition urging USAID to maintain its support for the CGIAR's food research centers.

Maybe, just maybe, we will be in time to turn this food crisis, into an opportunity, and really teach people how to fish, rather than just giving them fish to eat. Maybe, just maybe queues for food hand-outs in developing countries could be a thing of a past.



More articles on The Road about the global food crisis

With thanks to "the other E" for the inspiration!
Graphs courtesy New York Times and planettoughts.org.
Pictures courtesy Luis Liwanag (The New York Times), EPA (Al Jazeera), Crispin Hughes (WFP), CGIAR and Pavel Rahman (AP Photo)

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News: Who profits from the global food crisis?

The prices of wheat, corn and rice have soared over the past year driving the world's poor – who already spend about 80 per cent of their income on food – into hunger and destitution.

While the poor are getting poorer, the rich are getting richer:

Monsanto last month reported a doubling of its 3 months' net income over the same period in 2007, from $543m (£275m) to $1.12bn. Its profits increased from $1.44bn to $2.22bn.

Cargill's net earnings soared by 86 per cent from $553m to $1.030bn over the same three months.

Archer Daniels Midland, one of the world's largest agricultural processors of soy, corn and wheat, increased its net earnings by 42 per cent in the first three months of this year from $363m to $517m. The operating profit of its grains merchandising and handling operations jumped 16-fold from $21m to $341m.

The Mosaic Company, one of the world's largest fertiliser companies, saw its income for the three months ending 29 February rise more than 12-fold, from $42.2m to $520.8m.

Index-fund investment in grain and meat has increased almost fivefold to over $47bn in the past year, concludes AgResource Co, a Chicago-based research firm. (Full)

More posts on The Road about the global food crisis.

Picture courtesy Emilio Morenatti (AP)

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Rumble: When you think of Venice: Food...

Many visitors to Italy will appreciate the food. Not the usual spaghetti or pizza, but the real Italian food: Italy excels in simple but real tasty food. I sell my soul for the sea food, prosciutto (raw ham), the cheeses,...

Visiting Venice last weekend, reminded me that this town has its own traditions. Some of it, is embraced into Italian traditions, like tiramisu (which was 'born' in this region). Some say "gelato", Italian ice cream is better in Venice than anywhere else in Italy:

.

But the pastry shops, while not as abundant as those in Vienna, in the quality, taste and variety, are not to be found anywhere else in Italy:



View the slideshow of all my Venice pictures.
Check out other posts on the Road about Venice.

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News: UN calls impact of biofuel on food crisis "criminal"

Jean Ziegler, the United Nations special rapporteur on the right to food, said the United States and the European Union have taken a "criminal path" by contributing to an explosive rise in global food prices by using food crops to produce biofuels.

Ziegler stated that last year the United States used a third of its corn crop to create biofuels, while the European Union is planning to have 10 percent of its petrol supplied by biofuels. He called for a five-year moratorium on the production of biofuels.

Ziegler also said that speculation on international markets is behind 30 percent of the increase in food prices. (Full)

US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice admitted that setting aside farmland to produce biofuels like ethanol may be partly to blame for driving up world food prices. "There has been apparently some effect, unintended consequence from the alternative fuels effort". (Full)

Meanwhile President Bush President George Bush confirms he is deeply concerned about high food prices but believes ethanol production is responsible for only a small part of food inflation. "And the truth of the matter is, it's in our national interest that we - our farmers - grow energy, as opposed to us purchasing energy from parts of the world that are unstable or may not like us." (Full) (Ed: Oil first, food second?)

More posts on The Road about biofuel and the global food crisis.

Picture courtesy FAO, cartoon courtesy Carlson / Milwaukee Journal Sentinel / Universal Press Syndicate

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News: The Global Food Crisis Map

Der Spiegel published a good overview of the current food crisis, depicting the raising food prices, and the countries limiting food exports, and where all of this sparked unrest. (click on the picture for a higher resolution)

There are however some "food unrest" locations which were forgotten: Morocco, Philippines, Bangladesh, Jordan, Mexico... Paints an even worse picture.


More articles on the Road about the global food crisis.

Picture courtesy Der Spiegel.

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News: The World According to Monsanto: The Horror of Commercial GM Crops.

Reading through all the news about the global food crisis, I lacked one thing: the solution to this problem or even the slightest hint to one.

In many discussion fora and through comments on social bookmarking sites, it was often suggested that genetically modified (GM) crops, said to yield a higher production, and to be more pest-resistant, could mean the solution to world hunger.

I started to search around for more info on genetically modified organism (GMO) or genetically engineered organism (GEO), and came across several posts referring to a video called "The World According to Monsanto" by a French independent filmmaker, Marie-Monique Robin.
The movie researches the credibility of (or rather lack thereof) US based Monsanto, one of the biggest chemical companies in the world and the provider of the seed technology for 90 percent of the world’s genetically engineered (GE) crops.

Here is what Greenpeace has to say about the movie, and the company:

The story starts in the White House, where Monsanto often got its way by exerting disproportionate influence over policymakers via the “revolving door”.

One example is Michael Taylor, who worked for Monsanto as an attorney before being appointed as deputy commissioner of the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in 1991. While at the FDA, the authority that deals with all US food approvals, Taylor made crucial decisions that led to the approval of GE foods and crops. Then he returned to Monsanto, becoming the company’s vice president for public policy.
Thanks to these intimate links between Monsanto and government agencies, the US adopted GE foods and crops without proper testing, without consumer labeling and in spite of serious questions hanging over their safety.

Not coincidentally, Monsanto supplies 90 percent of the GE seeds used by the US market. Monsanto’s long arm stretched so far that, in the early nineties, the US Food and Drugs Agency even ignored warnings of their own scientists, who were cautioning that GE crops could cause negative health effects.

Other tactics the company uses to stifle concerns about their products include misleading advertising, bribery and concealing scientific evidence.

Monsanto's background
Monsanto was founded in 1901 as a chemical company. Its history is intimately linked to the production and promotion of highly toxic chemicals such as Agent Orange (used as a chemical weapon in the Vietnam war) and PCBs (widespread toxic pollutants).
Robin’s movie reveals that Monsanto already knew about the “systematic toxic effects” of PCBs for decades, but instructed its salespeople to stay silent because, “we can’t afford to lose one dollar.”

More recently Monsanto received a bad reputation for the promotion of growth hormones from GE organisms known as rBGH, which the company sells in the US under the brand name Posilac.
Monsanto claims that Posilac holds, “benefits to consumers”. The reality is that, rBGH growth hormones were banned in Europe and Canada after the authorities found out about the health risks resulting from drinking milk from cows treated with rBGH hormones.

Monsanto's way of "addressing" this problem was to sue the Oakhurst dairy company in the state of Maine (US) - attempting to force them, and other dairies, to stop labelling diary products “rBGH-free” and “rBST-free”.

Global reach, control
Over the last decade, Monsanto aggressively bought up over 50 seed companies around the globe. Seeds are the source of all food. Whoever owns the seeds, owns the food.
The process of genetic engineering allows companies, such as Monsanto, to claim patent rights over seeds. Ninety percent of all GE seeds planted in the world are patented by Monsanto and hence controlled by them. Patents on seeds give companies like Monsanto unprecedented power.

Monsanto prohibits farmers saving patented GE seeds from one crop to replant the next season, an age-old practice. To ensure that farmers do not reuse seeds, Monsanto created its own 'gene police', and encourages farmers to turn in their neighbors.

Even farmers that do not use GE seeds are not safe. According to an investigative report by the Centre for Food Safety (CFS) farmers have even been sued for patent infringement after their field was contaminated by pollen or seed from someone else’s GE crop.

But Monsanto’s influence doesn't stop at the US border. “The world according to Monsanto”, documents the devastating impact of Monsanto's malpractices around the world. Among others, it includes the real-life stories of cotton farmers in India that ended up in hopeless debts after using Monsanto genetically engineered (so called Bt) cotton, and of a family in Paraguay, South America whose dreams have turned to nightmares after their farm became surrounded by fields planted with Monsanto’s GE soya.

A much needed expose
Monsanto wouldn’t address these issues on camera for Robin, instead referring to the "Monsanto Pledge" posted on their website (which we debunk here).

The movie was shown for the first time on ARTE TV (in German and French) on Tuesday 11 March. You can order a DVD of it (in English, French and Spanish) here.

I went out to look for the video on the Internet, and came across many dead links. It looks like the video was uploaded to many video and file sharing sites, but later revoked. I did find an upload which had the movie broken down in 12 parts. I show the first one, and the links to the following ones on Youtube.

Update 9-Sept-2010:
I have updated the links again as YouTube keeps on removing the links, so here is...

the The World According to Monsanto - series.

(after part 1, it will autostart the 2nd).

You can also find the video on BitTorrent

After watching the video, I hope you will agree with me that commercially modified GM or GE crops are not the solution to world hunger nor the current food crisis, but probably the cause for much more damage than we can expect. Certainly when left in the hands of large corporations like Monsanto, and without proper government regulation and monitoring for the sake of profit.
I would say there are ways (either through natural selection or through gene manipulation) where we can change seeds to an extend they produce healthier plants and products, but then we should have different goals and means in mind:

• the purpose would be to help in the battle against world hunger, and towards a cleaner environment;
• the second generation of the seeds should be fertile, and free to use in the conventional way to increase the permanent independence of small farmers on the seed providers;
• the price should be regulated versus the standard seeds;
• proper and independent verification of the impact and risks on humans, plants and animals should be done by a panel of experts. The monitoring data should be made available for public scrutiny;
• there should be no intellectual property rights on the seeds;
• there should be no random hybrid offspring possible between natural and GM crops;
• ... any more ideas?

If you are in Europe, you can join Greenpeace's action against the introduction of the current commercial GM crops in Europe, by writing a postcard to Mr Stavros Dimas, the European Commissioner for the Environment.

Picture courtesy Greenpeace

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News: Like a Perfect Storm, the Global Food Crisis Now Heads For Canada, US.

Since several months, I have been reporting on the food crisis sparking hunger and riots in different parts of the globe.

Like in a perfect storm, different factors contributed to a disaster scenario: increased fuel prices, an artificial push for biofuel crops, adverse weather phenomena, changing food habits, increased demand and financial speculation on the futures markets (see this summary)

As expected, the storm first hit the poorest countries, where food constitutes easily 40% of a family's budget. But now the bad weather has reached closer to home: the US and Canada.

While the first news articles only started to appear one or two days ago, and the symptoms are still scattered and early to detect, it does ring an alarm bell. An overview of what I have picked up so far:

In the US, rationing of some food commodities seems to be just around the corner:

- At the Costco in San Francisco, rice is all the rage. Not long after the 10 a.m. opening on Apr. 24, the warehouse was well on its way to selling out the day's supply of Thai jasmine rice. Within an hour, customers cleared three pallets loaded with 50-lb. bags of Super Lucky Elephant brand jasmine rice from Thailand. (More)

- In a dramatic development for U.S. consumers this month, shoppers and Asian and Indian restaurant owners started panic-buying two of the highest-premium varieties of rice—Thai jasmine and Indian basmati. That led many grocers to run out of the rice, and warehouse clubs including Costco and Sam's Club imposed limits on how much rice shoppers can buy. (More)

- The world's largest retailer, Wal-Mart, is restricting sales of rice. Sam's Club, Wal-Mart's cash-and-carry division, says customers can buy a maximum of four bags per visit. The prices of soybeans, corn and wheat have also soared and are currently near their all-time peaks.(More)

- The owner of one restaurant in Oakland told a local television station that the price of a typical sack of rice had risen from $20 to $40 in a matter of weeks. A Vietnamese restaurant owner said his stockpiles were dwindling - and that the price of some vegetables had also risen by as much as 50%. (More)

- Major retailers in New York, in areas of New England, and on the West Coast are limiting purchases of flour, rice, and cooking oil as demand outstrips supply. There are also anecdotal reports that some consumers are hoarding grain stocks. An employee at the Costco store in Queens said there were no restrictions on rice buying, but limits were being imposed on purchases of oil and flour. (More)

- "It's fascinating; I don't recall anything like this in modern food-retailing and supermarket history in the U.S.," said Benjamin Senauer, co-director of the University of Minnesota's Food Industry Center. "You have to go back to World War II to see this." (More)

- Ken Jarosch, president of the Chicago Area Retail Bakers Association and owner of a bakery in Elk Grove Village, said white rye flour, used to make rye, pumpernickel and marble bread, is in short supply, as is gluten flour, a binding ingredient. (More)

In Canada, news bulletins headlines shout "Food panic hits Canadian stores" and "Food inflation the 'monster' around Canada's corner":

- Bruce Cran, president of the Consumers Association of Canada said he was getting calls in British Columbia that store shelves were being emptied of rice by panicked buyers. (More)

- Maple Leaf Foods Inc., one of Canada's largest food processors, reported a loss on Thursday due to soaring costs for grain used in its bakeries and hog barns. (More)

- David Wilkes, a spokesperson for The Canadian Council of Grocery Distributors, couldn't say how much Canadians can expect to see prices jump on grain staples such as rice and flour, he said the prices will begin to steadily climb. "I do believe that these changes are with us to stay." (More)

- Soaring fuel and grain prices have some economic researchers warning of catastrophic food inflation and political unrest within a year, the likes of which hasn't been seen in Canada since the 1970s. (More)

- However, rising food and energy costs will push overall inflation to more than double the March rate by next year, Toronto-based CIBC World Markets Inc. predicted in its most recent quarterly forecast. (More)

- "Canadians aren't experiencing the same price hikes as the rest of the world. Having said that, it is coming," said David Wilkes, the council's senior vice-president of trade and development. (More)


More articles on the Road about the global food crisis.

Picture courtesy Justin Sullivan (Getty)

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Picture of the day: Pakistan food queues

People queueing for food at the entrance of a shop near Islamabad. The cost of food and fuel increased significantly in Pakistan, forcing more and more people to turn to public aid.

Check for more "Pictures of the Day" and other posts about the global food crisis on The Road.

Picture courtesy AP/Morenatti, Source: Le Figaro

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News: The world in pictures: Food Riots

In case you think the raising food prices are not really a problem... Here are the pictures from just the last few weeks:

Food riots in Haiti



Food protests in Mexico



Food riots in India



Food riots in Argentina



Food riots in Egypt



Food riots in Mozambique



Food riots in Bangladesh



Food protest in the Philippines
Pictures courtesy AFP, Reuters, Daniel Garcia (AFP-Getty Images), Al Jazeera, BBC.

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News: After "War on Terror" and "War for Oil" comes "War for Food"?

In the past months, I have been posting regularly about the global food crisis:
- Oil, Biofuel, World Hunger and Crimes Against Humanity.
- The Global Food Crisis: A Perfect Storm
- The Food Crisis: A Global Overview

Those of you who have been following this blog for a while know I work for a humanitarian agency, so automatically my view of news articles is biased: scanning news bulletins I am rather sensitive to possible lurking crisis, be it armed conflicts, natural disasters or plain economic issues that could cause humanitarian problems. Plus of course, this is our job, this is what we do for a living: trying to spot, mitigate and react to humanitarian crisis in the making or unfolding.

On top of this, working for a food aid agency, the issue of raising food prices, the dilemma of biofuel production versus food production, changing weather patterns decreasing the food production are automatically issues which catch my eyes faster.

So I have been asking myself the question: "Is the global food crisis really that big an issue, or is it blown out of proportion by the media, amplified by my built-in sensitivity to food aid issues?".

Over the past weeks, I have been scanning the media rigorously. A few months ago, I set up a Pageflakes newsfeed tool which takes RSS feeds from about 100 news sources: Western and non-Western media, citizen journalism and social bookmarking sites. My Pageflakes tool gives me, in three screens, at a glance, an overview of ten news posts per news site, resulting in about 1,000 article headlines which are automatically updated as new headlines are released.
Scanning those articles, I can state objectively: the "food crisis" issue has been popping up more regularly, and it is not part of my imagination.

The worrying factor is also a trend I have seen: Starting from "early warning" signs from humanitarian agencies, more and more reports come up about food riots in different countries, to -and that is what is really worrying me- articles that predict the potential global food supply shortages or inaccessibility of food (due to the sharply inflated prices), might lead governments to act in a drastic way.
Government steps being taken are to close their borders for food exports, containing food prices by extensive subsidies, or cancelling these due to the long term unsustainability, and bilateral agreements between countries to 'ensure a secure food supply'... Worrying. Reminds me of the same measures countries take to secure the supply of oil resources.

Now the apotheose of it all, and what causes me nightmares is the more frequent recurring link being made between food shortages (and all the related issues like global warming decreasing food production, biofuel consuming food, etc..), security and armed conflicts. And it not merely in titles like "Food Fights", but also in contents. Some examples:

• "[...] farmers [in Sudan] continue to expand. Their expansion is arguably the real root cause of the current conflict [in Darfur]" (Article: Climate change is not an excuse for genocide.)
• "The long-term consequences of neglecting environmental deterioration, water shortages, and increased competition over scarce resources will lead to greater conflict and instability. Reducing the risk of food-related conflict will require a comprehensive plan that targets the environment and ensures an equitable distribution of resources." (Article: Rising food prices threaten global security. )
• "Rising food prices could spark worldwide unrest and threaten political stability, the UN's top humanitarian official warned yesterday after two days of rioting in Egypt over the doubling of prices of basic foods in a year and protests in other parts of the world." (Article: Food price rises threaten global security)
• "Resource based conflicts are not new: they are literally as old as the hills. But in climate change we have a new and potentially disastrous dynamic." (Article: Climate change and security)
• "If one country after the other adopts a 'starve-your-neighbor' policy, then eventually you trade smaller shares of total world production of agricultural products, and that in turn makes the prices more volatile" (Article: Tensions rise as world faces short rations)
• "The headlines of the past month suggest that skyrocketing food prices are threatening the stability of a growing number of governments around the world." (Article: How Hunger Could Topple Regimes)
• "Governments are racing to strike secretive barter and bilateral agreements with food-exporting countries to secure scarce supplies as the price of agricultural commodities jump to record highs." (Article: Nations make secret deals over grain)
• "What is emerging in the crisis over food prices is a tumultuous manifestation of a breakdown of the global capitalist order." (Article: Amid mounting food crisis, governments fear revolution of the hungry)

And then you might think I am going completely nutter to quote Nostradamus: "Famine and fighting will set in. Countries will fight with each other over surplus food: India and China will march to seize the corn and wheat fields of Russia and eastern Europe."

So tell me: am I a doomsday preacher or are we really heading for a period of armed conflicts, not as part of the "War on Terror", or the "War for Oil", but a "War for Food"?

Update April 23 2008:
- "The World Bank now believes that some 33 countries are in danger of being destabilised by food price inflation" (Article)
- "Climate change could cause global conflicts as large as the two world wars but lasting for centuries unless the problem is controlled, a leading defence think tank has warned." (Article)

Pictures courtesy Daniel Garcia (AFP-Getty Images) and WFP

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News: Back to Soylent Green? Food for Thought...

While on holiday, I can not but read the news headlines. And get worried:

March 28:
Al Jazeera - Asian rice crisis starts to bite (Full)

March 30:
Reuters - Tensions rise as world faces short rations (Full)

March 31:
The Wall Street Journal - Rice Hoarding Pressures Supplies (Full)
The Guardian - Farmers fall prey to rice rustlers as price of staple crop rockets (Full)
International Herald Tribune - World food prices soar as Asia consumes more (Full)

April 1:
The Wall Street Journal - Fewer Acres of Corn Likely To Keep Prices High (Full)
Los Angeles Times - A 'perfect storm' of hunger (Full)
Financial Times - Rush to restrict trade in basic foods (Full)
Financial Times - Struggle to keep food supplies at home (Full)
Reuters - Costly food? Investors only partly to blame (Full)
The Daily Star (Egypt) - Egyptian government moves to tackle rising costs of key staples (Full)
BBC News - (Food)Riots prompt Ivory Coast tax cuts (Full)

April 2 2022:
The World Today - Soylent Green feeds half of the world....

As a 13 year old, I got sleepless nights after watching "Soylent Green" a movie set in the year 2022, depicting a dark future: The water and soil have been poisoned and airborne pollution has produced a year-round heatwave from the greenhouse effect. Most housing is dilapidated and overcrowded, and impoverished homeless people fill the streets. Food as we know it today –including fruit, vegetables, and meat– is a rare and expensive commodity. Half of the world's population survives on processed rations produced by the massive Soylent Corporation, which just started marketing its newest product: Soylent Green. Soylent Green is a small green wafer advertised as produced from "high-energy plankton". In the movie, the main character, Robert Thorn (Charlton Heston) is a New York City police detective who investigates the murder of a Soylent Green executive. Through an intriguing plot, Thorn discovers the Soylent Green is not made from plankton, but from human corpses. Cannibalism seemed to be the only way the world's (over-)population apparently could still feed itself....

How far are we today from the different world problems highlighted in Soylent Green? Overpopulation, global warming, increasing food shortages... How far are we for Soylent Green biscuits to be the only solution for the world to feed itself?

Check out this post, describing the different factors of the global food crisis (facts-not fiction, today-not 2022!)

Picture courtesy Wikipedia

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News: One tank of biofuel could feed one person for one year.

To fuel our discussion about "The Global Food Crisis- A Perfect Storm", here is an interesting article about the efficiency of biofuel. Or rather the lack thereof:

Corn is being diverted from human consumption, kicking off a domino effect of problems tied to food prices. It starts with ethanol produced from corn, which optimists hope will help solve the U.S. reliance on foreign oil, as well as provide a fuel that burns cleaner. "The U.S. is now using more corn for the production of ethanol than the entire [food] crop in Canada". And it is going to get bigger. In 2000, world production of ethanol totalled 20 billion litres. In 2007, world production climbed to 60 billion litres. In the month of January 2008 alone, six billion new litres of ethanol were produced in the United States. Scores of ethanol plants are under construction and as a result, it is predicted that the United States will produce 52 billion litres of the fuel in 2008. When all the plants are running, the United States could produce twice as much corn for ethanol as Canada's total crop production -- wheat, barley, canola, everything. This has huge implications for global food supplies. The amount of corn it takes to produce 75 litres of ethanol -roughly a tank of fuel- is enough corn to feed one person on a 2,000-calorie-a-day diet for a year.

Update April 26: Check out this interesting article about the dilemma of biofuel versus food production.

Source: Canada.com through The Road Daily. Picture courtesy Mark Steil/MPR

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