World food stocks dwindling, UN warns

World food stocks dwindling, UN warns

www.iht.com

ROME: In an "unforeseen and unprecedented" shift, the world food supply is dwindling rapidly and food prices are soaring to historic levels, the top food and agriculture official of the United Nations warned Monday.

(visit the link for the full news article)

Don't know what to make of this. I have not seen this being reported on any major news outlets or nothing.

Sounds a bit to alarming, I wonder what kind of agenda is behind this, I mean is the UN you know.

www.iht.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

reply to post by Bunch


This is the first I have heard of this. This could be a disaster for the middle and lower classes. If their gas, electricity, food and mortgage/rent payments are all costing dramatically more money, they will be the ones most severly affected. I don't care how "safe and sound" Bush says the economy is. It may be safe and sound for him, but for the average man, it is in a frightening state.

It is kind of a nasty one two punch that happened. Lure the middle class into a higher mortgage, rapidly increasing housing costs, then pull the rug out from under them by driving up the costs of everything they need to live.

reply to post by Karlhungis


So I guess all that people that were making fun at Lou Dobbs when he was predicting that GW was going to destroy the middle class aren't laughing no more.

That's a great point you make, I would like to see how many people start applying for Welfare and such programs in the next couple of years. That would be a good indicator of how many people are going down the poverty line thanks to this administration.

I'm currently living in China (an Aussie expat) and there are some serious issues with food over here.

The new middle and lower middle class are starting to feel the pinch as pork the main meat that is consumed in China is very, very fast on the rise along with chicken, beef and milk.

This has been attributed to high grain prices as per the article.

Very serious issue indeed. I'm glad that I was born in the more wealthier of countries.

Nice Article.

Cheers

Saw a similar warning somewhere a month ago but then it was all blamed on bio-diesel fuel. Basically WHO or whoever are discouraghing the use of fuel made of plants due to there being too little food as it is... and the increasing demand driving up the prizes.

My understanding is that was basically used as a threat to keep people from persuing more Biofuel. Because people would have to starve so we could drive. It makes sense, but there has to be some sort of middle ground. Maybe Hemp, it grows almost anywhere...like a "weed", but that would open another can of worms.

Just to update, an article put out today in cnnmoney.com, it further explains the hardship that many here in the U.S. are having with soaring food prices and the position that many people find themselves.

Food prices soar in America


I wonder what's behind all this, is it the weak dollar? Or just someone or someones behind the scenes trying to destroy the middle class in this country.

[edit on 20-12-2007 by Bunch]

GROW YOUR OWN!

You people would be amazed at how easy gardening really is. Half of the plants you don't even have to tend to. You can also get your own hens to provide fresh eggs every morning (slowing down a little bit in the winter), and fruit trees that will produce fresh fruit in a few years time.

People are so helpless.

The food/grain situation has been building for a few years.

If you are unaware of it, I'd suggest it's because you are not paying enough attention to the price of your groceries and why they have been rising these last few years.

This post of mine in 2005 (Hey buddy... Spare Some Food?) revolves around all of the droughts that occurred around the world that year and the resulting low food stocks.

Add that to the fact that the world consumed more food than it produced in 2006 (look it up) and that 2007 numbers are looking like they will be similar and it's no surprise that food stocks/grain reserves are at historic lows.

It's also no surprise that commodity prices are rising to historic levels. The population keeps growing and growing affluence in places like China lead to more consumption of meat/dairy and other inefficient forms of caloric intake.

This realization should also make you wonder at the utter insanity of subsidizing and promoting biofuels as a solution to our energy problems.
.

I KNOW that it is not that hard to have your own food. The main problem here in Europe is the land. To buy a land big enough to feed a family you would need a loan for 20 years ( 50 000 $ per hectare of agricultural land can be a great luck , normally it would cost about 75 000 to 100 000 to buy a hectare of agricultural land, even in Eastern Europe) .
The trouble comes from the investors that would buy agricultural land just to sell it latter as the prices a rocketing . Any similar pattern outside the EU ?

Anyone know if the bees dying off may be part of the problem?

I don't think they pollinate the cereal crops their talking about here, but it may be a factor.

Wasn't everyone freaking out about this in the 60s, too?

GE crops would solve all food shortage problems especially for the third world. They don't really have the luxury of demanding their crops be grown from all natural seed with organic fertilizer. They just need food.

reply to post by apc


That's is exactly my same question too.

Why is we having all these proven technologies, why aren't we using them? That's why this issue I think its more deep than why it seems to be. May be farmers are seeing an opportunity is making huge profits by strangling the food supply.

It looks like what the oil companies are doing, keep output low and don't worry about changing to alternative ways, ensuring high prices and profits.

Originally posted by Bunch
reply to post by apc

 

May be farmers are seeing an opportunity is making huge profits by strangling the food supply.

It looks like what the oil companies are doing, keep output low and don't worry about changing to alternative ways, ensuring high prices and profits.

I suspect that this is the problem much more than "oh dear we're running out of food", it's the same with most other industries, except that we NEED food more than anything else, they have the chance of making much more money with it than oil companies etc...