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Warning of Recurring Food Crises
Soaring and volatile food prices have experts warning of recurring food crises, putting poor people – especially women and children – at risk.
Similar conditions existed during the 2007/2008 food crisis, when high prices and shortages ignited unrest in many countries around the world.
IFPRI, the International Food Policy Research Institute, is calling for urgent action to prevent a repeat of the crisis. Director-General Shenggen Fen says, “Many food items have become more expensive…since last May or June. Wheat prices have almost doubled. The maize price has also increased substantially. Many meat products, dairy products have also increased substantially.”
While the situation is not as serious as the food crisis three years ago, Fen says, “If we don’t take urgent actions, food prices will continue to rise and the poor people will suffer.”
What’s triggering the price hikes? Read more…
Fresh produce prices to double or triple following freak freezes – is Earth in a magnetic pole shift?
In an article posted on January 3 of this year, I predicted a rise in food prices resulting from freak weather events (http://www.naturalnews.com/030903_p…). Here’s what I said in that article:
By the end of 2012, I predict significant food supply disruptions in North America, brought about either by radical weather affecting crop yields or perhaps the invasion of disease indirectly caused by the over-use of pesticides or GMOs. The number of people in America struggling to feed themselves and their families will rise along with food prices. …Expect to see food prices climb with alarming speed over the next two years. While food won’t disappear, it will become significantly more expensive, causing more people to shift to subsidized foods (corn, sugar, etc.) which also happen to be some of the worst foods for your health.
Now there’s news from Mexico that the fresh produce normally shipped to U.S. grocery stores has been largely destroyed by the freak cold weather snap that struck the continental United States over the past 10 days. As a result, prices on cucumbers, zucchini, peppers, tomatoes and asparagus are set to double or triple starting right now.
Even worse, it looks like the supply of many of these items will be completely wiped out. You won’t be able to buy them, in other words, at any price!
This is the fallout from the worst freeze event recorded in Read more…
The Food Bubble is About to Burst
We’re fast draining the fresh water resources our farms rely on, warns Lester Brown, president of the Earth Policy Institute
What is a food bubble?
That’s when food production is inflated through the unsustainable use of water and land. It’s the water bubble we need to worry about now. The World Bank says that 15 per cent of Indians (175 million people) are fed by grain produced through over-pumping – when water is pumped out of aquifers faster than they can be replenished. In China, the figure could be 130 million.
Has this bubble already burst anywhere?
Saudi Arabia made itself self-sufficient in wheat by using water from a fossil aquifer, which doesn’t refill. It has harvested close to 3 million tonnes a year, but in Read more…
South African Corn Rises as Dry Weather Stresses Argentina Crop
Corn in South Africa advanced as dry weather continues to stress crops in Argentina, the world’s largest shipper of the grain after the U.S., raising concerns that global stockpiles may be depleted.
White corn for March delivery, the most active contract on the South African Futures Exchange, gained 28 rand, or 2.2 percent, to close trade at 1,328 rand ($194) a metric ton. Meal made from the grain is the country’s staple food.
Argentina will continue to have a rainfall deficit in the seven days from yesterday, Telvent DTN Inc. said in a forecast. The lack of rain, combined with above-normal temperatures, will stress pollinating corn and developing soybeans, it said.
Yellow corn for March delivery advanced 36 rand, or 2.6 percent, to 1,442 rand a ton. The grain is used mainly as animal feed in South Africa.
Wheat for March delivery fell 1 rand to 2,888 rand a ton.
Gains or losses for the most active contracts of three additional crops today were as follows. All prices are in rand and the crops are sold per ton:
Today’s Price Previous Close % Change Sunflowers 4,219 4,186 +0.8 Soybeans 3,320 3,270 +1.5 Sorghum 1,500 1,500 0.0
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