With the price of commodities escalating, and governments hoarding food, global hunger and panic have spread all over the world. This is a crisis being felt throughout Africa, Asia, South and Central America. People are rioting, and governments are being forced to respond with price controls, subsidies, and by lifting tariffs. The problem, as explained in this Economist article, is not supply. The problem is a shift in consumption due, in large part, to: a growing middle class, especially in China and India, who are eating more meat, which requires a great deal of grain to be produced; and an increase in demand for certain crops used to create biofuels demanded by Western markets. Prices of rice have tripled since the start of 2007 and increased more than 400% in the last 5 years. Wheat is on a similar trajectory. This NY Times article explains the human toll this is taking, with kids being pulled from school so families can afford food, other families foregoing medical care to buy food. One man describes only being able to feed his children 2 spoonfuls of rice per day. In Haiti, people are literally eating mud.
Our overconsumption in this country is inextricably linked to these crises throughout the world. Our Western governments have outsourced our food and fuel production, controlled prices, flooded the market to keep prices low, and systematically disempowered small farm operations throughout the world. When the world is hungry, we must look at how our practices have caused this.
This NPR story also summarizes the issues contributing to this crisis.
[...] oh why am I writing all of this? As you know from a previous post (and countless other news stories), there is a shortage of rice and other global food staples. [...]