"In the last year, the price of corn has risen 70 percent; wheat 55 percent; rice 160 percent. The World Bank estimates that for a group of 41 poor countries the combined shock of rising prices of food, oil and other raw materials over the past 18 months will cost them between 3 and 10 percent of their annual economic output. "
New York Times, Sunday July 6
What is behind the food crisis? One factor is fear: countries are stockpiling food in case of a shortage. Another is the ethanol insanity. There is not that much evidence that corn fuel is better for us, or even particularly cheap. It is something American farmers can produce easily, and so we give them subsidies to grow it. The whole subsidy system in the United States is a scandal-it's not usually the smaller farmers who glean the money, but large agribusinesses. We are really confronting a systemic issue here and what we do has global consequences.
Time for us to lead ,follow or get out of the way.
1 commentaire:
This goes along with a book I need to find--"The Omnivore's Dilemma" which a friend told me is all about the politics, economics, and reality of corn production in the U.S.
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