Food imports 'to top $1 trillion'

Food imports 'to top $1 trillion'

news.bbc.co.uk

The most economically vulnerable countries will bear the biggest burden, the report said, with costs rising 40%.

But the FAO said there were signs that some food prices were starting to fall.

However, it said prices were "unlikely" to return to the low levels of previous years - largely because of the higher costs associated with food production, primarily fuel.

(visit the link for the full news article)


Related News Links:
allafrica.com

I think all of us who buy food saw this comeing. It has been in the MSM news some what, namely dealing with rice, from what I have seen. But every market catagory has been going up in price. When people can not feed them selves it is going to lead to civil un rest. Economicaly deprived countries will be the first affected. However, any modern nation with a populas to feed will be seeing the results.

news.bbc.co.uk
(visit the link for the full news article)

The only solution to food shortages is self sufficiency via farming revolutions.

Once a nation can feed and supply itself, it can grow in other ways.

Relying on imports for food (staples) is a doomed position, especially in times of hardship.

reply to post by 44soulslayer


Soulslayer,
I do agree with what your saying. I just do also want to point out that the cost of producing the food is increasing. Even nations who produce enuff to feed them selves will be feeling this.

reply to post by 44soulslayer


I recently read an article about the relationship between food and oil. It pointed out the fact that our global food production is 40% higher than it should be due to fertilizers, which are petroleum based. The world population has increased due to the increases of global food production. Many areas with large numbers of people only exist because they can import their food. They could never become self sufficient because they allowed their population to grow beyond what they could self sustain.

Many people will have to starve for all nations to become self sufficient.

reply to post by Karlhungis


Karlhungis
yes you hit a very big point there. However to take it one step farther. Nitrogen rich fertilizers and machines have made global population much higher. Petroleum based fertilizers and fuels did that. Now every few weeks you hear one of two things, the economy is growing so OPEC cuts production, or last time I heard the economy is shrinking, so OPEC cuts production. Oil is at record levels every day, well guess what its not just the evil Americans who will be hurt in all of this, it will be many nations in the world, and not just economies. People will be starving, and there will be civil unrest and riots.
So do you think OPEC is even going to care?

OPEC will start to care when they start losing money. But with prices the way that they are now, I think that it will be a while before they show any signs of caring.

With all do respect, I think its going to take opec loosing a big majority of money before they even start to care. I think it will take there citizens dieing because they can't feed them selves before opec will decide its better to let the oil flow. Even then I'm not to sure.

A good article for everyone to read, thanks for sharing. I thought I'd throw in a link to a related thread regarding food shortages.

Food, The New Oil ???