Food prices to double by 2030

Originally posted by guessing
www.news.com.au...]

Solutions envisaged by Oxfam focus on cutting out waste, especially of water, and curbing agriculture and biofuel subsidies in rich countries.

I agree with them about one thing, biofuel subsidies are insane and need to stop.

They don't put much emphasis on increasing oil prices but that will be a major factor in food costs, think about it. Energy is used to pump the irrigation water, make the fertilizer, to run the planting and harvesting equipment, to refrigerate the foods, and to transport them. When energy costs co up, food costs will go up, because part of the food cost we pay is related to energy.

Oxfam is a good outfit by the way, I've donated a lot of money to their cause over the years, though I'm not sure I agree 100% with all their claims in this particular case.

Food reserves had been allowed to collapse to historic lows," it said.

That's another valid point. The lower the reserves, the more any shock will cause wild price escalation due to shortages. So bumping the reserves closer to previous levels might not be such a bad idea.

And as someone said, if we'd stop overpopulating the planet, that would help ease the pressure too. We can't keep doubling our population like we have been, and expect to not have a crisis. The Earth is not infinite in resources.

reply to post by guessing


isnt that called inflation ?

Pop quiz... how much was a candy bar, a loaf of bread, a pound of ground beef and a head of lettuce 20 years ago?

They have already doubled since then...

Think about it once.

reply to post by guessing


I simply think this is just someone doing the math and saying "hey due to the fact that EVERYTHING goes up in price *For items and that means pay goes up this happens every year* and by 2030 itll have gone up enough that food will be 2x the price!" -.- over hyping something that dose not need to be.

reply to post by guessing


Double by 2030? A lot has already doubled or close to here in Norway. Things that used to cost 30 kroner now costs 50 kroner etc. It's going up and up and up. I know several families who are stressing out due to a limited income who have had problems buying groceries before. This isn't helping.

Originally posted by Frontkjemper
reply to post by guessing

 

Double by 2030? A lot has already doubled or close to here in Norway. Things that used to cost 30 kroner now costs 50 kroner etc. It's going up and up and up. I know several families who are stressing out due to a limited income who have had problems buying groceries before. This isn't helping.

And here I am in the United States with no kroner at all!!!

I have noticed a recent spike in grocery prices thought. That seems more significant than a worry about them doubling over the course of 20 years.

reply to post by YourPopRock

Heck yes. One of the staple foods of the poor here, those little packs of Ramen noodles, used to be 8 for a dollar in 2008. Then they shot up to 5 for a dollar at one store, and 4 for a dollar at another store, which is effectively almost double, in only one year, during the food crisis. And the prices never went back down after the crisis was over. So that one item effectively doubled in one year at my local stores!

reply to post by guessing
Agreed, and how about the story yesterday on yahoo of the $200,000 gold plated BBQ..... sad way to try to impress..........

There is no food shortage!

There is no population issue!

There is a logistics and waste problem. Half of all food production GLOBALLY is wasted.

This is from 2008:
Half of All Food Produced is Wasted

In poorer countries, a majority of uneaten food is lost before it has a chance to be consumed. Depending on the crop, an estimated 15 to 35 percent of food may be lost in the field. Another 10 to15 percent is discarded during processing, transport and storage, the brief states.

In richer countries, production is more efficient but waste is greater, the report says. "People toss the food they buy and all the resources used to grow, ship and produce the food along with it."

reply to post by peck420


You know what really bakes my noodle when it comes to food waste.... There are many places like restaurants, gas stations with a little buffet thing, fast food joints etc. that end up with all sorts of extra left over food at the end of the day that they can neither sell nor serve to paying customers (because it's more than an hour old etc..).. however this food is still perfectly edible....

Corporate policy (in the food industry) is to throw it away instead of giving it away.. Now that my friends is the ultimate form of wasteful.

This actually sounds about right,as a guess anyhow.
I say that because I think most food,along with other things like fuel/household bills have doubled in price since about 1990.
At least that's what it seems like in the UK.

The megacorps have to grow continually,or they will be swallowed up by other megacorps.
So to keep making the bigger profits,prices must go up.
That's one reason stuff goes up all the time IMO.

Sucks doesn't it?

Originally posted by Silcone Synapse
This actually sounds about right,as a guess anyhow.
I say that because I think most food,along with other things like fuel/household bills have doubled in price since about 1990.
At least that's what it seems like in the UK

If incomes doubled over the same time, then there's no real change. That's inflation.

Even though actual food prices went up, I think real food prices (adjusted for inflation, income, etc) have gone down. But if fuel prices skyrocket, for sure real food prices will go back up.

What economists look at is what percentage of the household income goes toward food, as a measure over time of whether food prices are going up or down relative to family income.

www.ag.ndsu.edu...

American spending patterns have changed a lot in the last 50 years. Food expenditures used to consume nearly one-third of family income. The federal poverty guidelines were established in 1963 and used the cost of food as the basis for determining poverty thresholds. Poverty thresholds were established at three times the cost of the U.S. Department of Agriculture's economy food plan. Today food expenditures are roughly 12 percent to 14 percent of the family income.

So you could say that food has actually become cheaper relative to household income even as food prices went up due to inflation, food prices just didn't rise as fast as income did.

And in America health insurance prices will triple!

HAHAHA, how about food prices double in 6 months is more like it after QE2 ends in 30 days and QE3 starts

Surely this is down to speculation on foods by the markets than a real lack of food, just another way for the bankers to screw us over.

I've posted before about food prices going up nearly 50% in 2 or 3 years in the uk, but they are clever clever people doing the selling. Smaller portions or packets same price as the old bigger ones, staples like bread and milk which are linked to inflation, not too sure about any others are kept pretty stable, but the rest of our shopping doesn't even show as being more expensive than last year because its not linked and that's where the biggest hikes in prices are.

The housing market crash did a lot to balance the figures though because house prices droppped a fair whack just as energy and food prices started going through the roof and as they are linked together for an overall inflationary figure.
That was really lucky for our government wasn't it. Much more likely IMO it was part of a really shrewd plan.

If the food waste was regulated and not thrown out, haded out to people who were starving, this would destroy a lot of industry that rely on people starving.

Unicef comes to mind.

Pharma companies

reply to post by guessing


I been noticing the cost of food rising every year for the last 6 years... i notice it mostly with bread, milk, cheese, chocolate, cakes.... yeh it just keeps rising!! I also recently noticed it with boneless chicken (wow, that has gone up big time) mind you i think it depends on which supermarket you buy from coz its cheaper on some products in Tescos than it is in Co-Op or Sainsbury's for example....

Overall it is ridiculous that by 2020 we will be paying £2 for a loaf of bread (maybe even more than that)...

I'm not too sure on the status of wages compared to costs though so can't really say if people will be starving due to increases over the next 39 years.... there should be another solution by then anyway instead of this Society we live in at present!!!

Nonono they have it the wrong way round - there is enough food to feed everyone and enough land to produce much more on. Population control/climate control are just bunched together and thrown into that convenient argument.

No, the real problem is worsening currencies, growing greedy monopolies (shutting down mid-small farmers) and OIL costs. Food is useless if it can't be transported, and transportation is very expensive and becoming more so constantly.

If people weren't so greedy, we would be fine.

Is this inflation adjusted? If not then its really nothing to much to really worry about. The actual cost in today's Dollar is not much more.

I think food prices will double in a coulpe of years not By 2030. i think as oil and gas prices keep climbing we are in for a heavier shopping bill sooner rather than later.

Stock up on non perishables for the long term, and that may ease the problem. Start growning anything that can be eaten. This will also assist