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Why costs are climbing

ERIC REGULY

From Saturday's Globe and Mail

Latest comment posted at 1:47 AM EDT 12/04/08

With food riots spreading, Eric Reguly finds conditions are ripe for starvation to again stalk the planet's poor ...Read the full article

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  1. The Religious Left from Canada writes:
    Jesus H Christ. People are starting to starve while we feed our cars.
  2. R M from Regina, Canada writes: Why do NONE of these articles mention the UG99 strand of wheat rust that is poised to devastate Asia's bread baskets??? Come to think of it, why does the G&M have no stories on this -- perhaps the biggest story of the next few years -- at all??

    http://environment.newscientist.com/channel/earth/mg19425983.700-billions-at-risk-from-wheat-superblight.html
    (ps. that article's a year old--since then it made the unlikely hop from Yemen to Iran, putting it years ahead of what scientists expected.)
  3. J Brocha from Toronto, Canada writes: George Monibot -- author of HEAT, an incredible book about global warming and it's solutions -- does not advocate the use of ethanol fuels. It is simply not fair to deny a human being food for a year to fill an SUV tank ONCE to drive to the mall and back. Thank you G&M for this story. I am donating to the World Food Program right now.
  4. crazy fiddler from Canada writes: ... and is it something like two thirds of North Americans who are overweight???
  5. Golden Crumb from Canada writes: The creation (and continued promotion) of biofuels has got to be THE biggest error of judgment of our time.

    I am indignant that America would put the want for fuel above the need for food in a time like this.

    Do we not have a plethora of other options available to us? Oh wait! This one was relatively cheap, easy, and available. Taking the easy way out is highly short sighted... but we've never been known to look beyond our noses, have we?
  6. hossein hajiagha from Victoria, Canada writes: We are know the answer why?The answer some one like Bush he start a war and over 500 billion dollars go to war , over one million die in war...I thinks with 100 billion dollars each years we can feed all hunger in are world and with anothers 100 billion dollars we can give the basic health care to who's need.....when a stupid country Like canada go after bush and others same as......we can not have better place for living.....and creating more worst for others ....
  7. Paul Warburg from TO, Canada writes:
    Since humans waste about %40 of production this seems more like an administrative problem.

    Perhaps all the central bankers printing money like drunken helicopter pilots.
  8. S H from Windsor, Canada writes: Maybe mulally and all the other Ceo's that make over 20 million can pay for the food that is needed. Damn those unions!
  9. newage blues from MD, US, United States writes: I think biofuels gotta go. This is very scary, even before considering the comments of R M. Are we really gonna let our need and desire for energy outweigh poor people's need to eat? Looks that way.
  10. Andre Carrel from Salmo, Canada writes: ... and the G7 finance guru predict good economic times for the long-term.
  11. E. Biggs from Canada writes: People people, the ethanol issue is only one of a number of issues that will be impacting food in the near future and maybe permanently.

    - increasing population placing strain on food production
    - developing countries wishing to eat like developed countries
    - encroachment of industry and homes on farm land.
    - high cost of purchasing farm lands.
    - increasing cost of food production, wages etc.
    - decreasing farm labour pool
    - high energy costs for producing food, transporting food.
    - Government regulations
    -family farms being phased out as kids don't want to work there but prefer to go to the cities and live the good life.

    In the article on Haiti it points out that there is a lot of farm land that is not being utilized. This may stem from fact that UN is pouring money into country and who wants to farm if you can get a handout from the UN.
  12. DON BARTA from Canada writes: - Time to buy shares in the Soylent Corp........
  13. Voltaire's Distant Cousin from Toronto, Canada writes: Rice is not used in biofuel production and yet its price has doubled. Although it seems that there are other factors, reduced yields caused by global warming are likely a major culprit in all of this. The pollination of rice grains is highly temperature dependent; if the night time temperature of rice plants rises above a certain level, rice yields fall precipitously. Here is a very authoritative link to support my assertion (from the Proceedings of the National Society of Sciences)

    http://www.pnas.org/cgi/content/full/101/27/9971
  14. E. Biggs from Canada writes: The Conservative Nuff said unless you are the one starving.

    Just reading about the increase in fertilizer costs. Look at Potash?

    Unless we screw things up,which is something we are good at, this country will be front and centre in the world food issues for some time to come.
  15. Kurtis Smith from Canada writes: R M from Regina, Canada writes: Why do NONE of these articles mention the UG99 strand of wheat rust

    What is the point of our 'free and independent' media telling everyone that soon we will have almost no grain and real food shortages? What is the point of telling us that bees are dying in massive numbers and without bees we have big problems with farming. Maybe goodbye civilization. Anyways, folks are working on a fix, that is all they can do. Either they will fix it or they won't.

    Now think about what else the government/media isn't telling us to keep us docile. I tell you Elvis is alive and the government is covering it up. :))
  16. J Law from Canada writes: hossein hajiagha from Victoria

    Why not tell it like it is. We try and try and try to save everybody and we have succeeded to the point where we now have too many people on this planet. And it seems th epoorer the country the more children they have. As The Conservative Centrist from Canada writes: Starvation, one of nature's methods of population control.

    You figure out who is causing the problem of food shortages. It isn't the west, but the very people who are now in danger of starving. They should allow the women some of the power and they will control the men's sex drives.
  17. Dana Dana from Canada writes: The fisheries are drying up too.

    Oregon and California have already cancelled their salmon season. BC will follow shortly.

    Stocks worldwide for all food fish are getting scarce.

    I saw a man in the SuperStore the other day with 6 fifty pound bags of rice in his cart. I commented to him that it appeared he was stocking up. His reply was that this was the second cart with 6 bags in it.

    How will you feel about bread when it doubles and triples and quadruples during the next year?

    How much cake will a middle class family be able to eat?

    How high can the price of grain or corn fed beef go? How about pork? Chickens need grain feed too.

    Don't bury your head over this one. It has the potential to be very serious indeed.

    We won't get into water now but suffice it to say that what allows our abundance of produce to grow is soon to get more expensive than the bottle of tap water we like to carry around so casually.

    Dark days ahead.
  18. stand up mimi from Canada writes: I'm not sure what the process has been in Canada lately, but in the US, they used to store more grain than they have been of late. This kept prices relatively stable. And while it's true there are a lot of factors at play here, none points such a big accusing finger right between our North American eyes as ethanol production. And this madness of trucking our food in from thousands of miles away is going to end, one way or another. It's time people everywhere rebuilt strong local food supplies.
  19. Kurtis Smith from Canada writes: LOL 600 lbs of rice! lets see maybe $18 a bag $216 If rice triples in price he has saved $432. I guess that is one option.

    Option 2
    one could actually get off their lazy a*s and plant some potatos in their backyard or in a city garden plot. $22 for a bunch of seed potatos. Use the extra potatos to plant next years crop. self sufficiency savings unlimited
  20. Voltaire's Distant Cousin from Toronto, Canada writes: I recall being in a conversation with a conservative in which he asserted that food wasn't very important to the Canadian economy because it only comprised about 3% of GDP. Under that logic, if Canadian food production dropped by 50%, then it would only cost the Canadian GDP 1.5%. At this point I had to resist laughing out loud.

    The demand for food is of course extremely inelastic, which means that all of us need a certain amount of food and will pay whatever it takes to get it. If we reduced food supplies enough, their costs could quickly increase to 50% or more of our incomes.

    In the past, the size of the food supply has proven to be the key restriction on the strength and expansion of empires. The Greeks likely declined in power because they overgrazed their hills, and some Mayan centres collapsed likely due to food shortages.
  21. Dana Dana from Canada writes: Fully agree Mimi.

    That is if we're still allowed to grow our own food. Most of the regulations around food production aren't geared to individual producers or citizens. The regulations favour the mega-corporate food industry.

    Just try selling your chickens or potatoes to your neighbour and see how fast the hammer falls.

    All levels of government over the past 30 years are to blame for this. Its not a partisan thing.

    Its a corporate thing.

    For example: You get no tax breaks because you feed yourself. Your community won't get any tax breaks for collectively feeding itself either.

    But the food industry gets huge tax breaks for it. Huge. Humongous.

    Citizens don't have an interest lobby. We've been lulled into thinking that our lobby is the empty cyclical charade known as 'elections'.

    Corporations know better. They use money. All the time, every day, day in and day out and to anyone willing to take it.

    We don't stand a chance with our self-induced fantasy of electoral democracy.
  22. GlynnMhor of Skywall from Canada writes: '... rising global temperatures do not bode well for agriculture...'

    Well, then that's hardly a problem, since global temperatures are not rising, and have not been doing so for over six years now:

    http://www.cru.uea.ac.uk/cru/data/temperature/nhshgl.pdf
  23. globefan Eh from Canada writes: The ethanol scam has much to answer for..growing food that normally feeds real people for us to have gasoline is unconscionable.

    Bean farmers in Mexico who have always been able to feed their impoverished families can not compete with US subsidised beans entering Mexico.
  24. roger price from Andorra writes: E Biggs, you are 100% correct. And another thought, if people think that we can or should give foreign aid in perpetuity then tell me where the money will come from? Everybody who wants to give, can do so and those who do not see any long term benefits will not. Our government was not voted in with a mandate to give away tax payers money.. Look at Canada`s debt problems, we are not a rich country, everybody has a debt load that is just being managed, any more debt and the straw will break the tax payers back, please be realistic in your wishes. All countris must be self sufficient and the pain to get there is only being prolonged by handouts.
  25. Anton Berger from kelowna, Canada writes: and then there's the coming water crisis. places like China are polluting their water supply so that it's not useable for agriculture, let alone drinkable. the USA is largely semi-arid, it's running out of water. Canada operates under the myth that we have plenty of fresh water, but a lot of it is glaciel melt water. most of the water that nourishes the prairies comes from glaciers - ice fields that are melting away at an ever increasing rate. most predictions I've seen call for a coming long drought in our prairie provinces. Alberta especially.

    I think that the food shortage problem is only going to get worse. already one of the world's top producers of wheat, Australia, isn't growing anything due to the droughts they've been having (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7289194.stm). to now use food to fuel our cars is more than just an error of judgement, it's criminal.
  26. GlynnMhor of Skywall from Canada writes: Anton Berger from kelowna, Canada writes:'... food to fuel our cars is more than just an error of judgement, it's criminal.'

    And it has been almost entirely driven by the Anthropogenic Global Warming hype in a misguided effort to reduce CO2 emissions instead of concentrating on pollutants.
  27. Journey Man from Canada writes: We really need to re-jig the entire world-wide financial system. The international base financial unit should be the Joule (of energy).

    Why do we need food? Because of its energy.

    What heats our homes and powers our cars? Energy.

    In every field of human endeavour energy is required, therefore, let us dispense with the financial system originally based upon the availability of precious metals.

    If we did this then it would no longer make economic sense to spend 1200J of energy to produce a bio-fuel that can only give us back 1000J of energy to power our vehicles. The current system gives us a false economic value on the Energy Returned on Energy Invested (EROEI) in these types of technologies.
    -
  28. M Warren from Ottawa, Canada writes: Why do I get the sad feeling that the Khmer Rouge were ahead of their time? Phnom Penh, a city of 3 million (including civil war refugees), was completely dependent on a food airlifted to it by the US until the morning of April 17, 1975. Then, the Khmer Rouge walked in, and emptied the city. Wonder why? Oh, the act was inhumane to the extreme, but the motivation was probably sensible...can't bring the food to the people...bring the people to the food! Pure logic, but pure ideology also. Be prepared for a revisit.
  29. Anton Berger from kelowna, Canada writes: GlynnMhor of Skywall from Canada writes: '...almost entirely driven by the Anthropogenic Global Warming hype '

    I'm not going to disagree with you. I just think it's a really really dumb idea, bordering on the criminal. it's just more of the same type of short sighted thinking that's gotten us into this mess, and I don't see it changing any time soon. both the left and the right have good points, but there's too much hyperbole on both sides for any form of common sense to come to the fore.
  30. skeptical Observer from Canada writes: These poor countres can never compete we subsidize our farmers so much that the poor countries cant compete. and why do we even subsidise the farmer.. only food to be eaten in our country should be subsidised.
  31. R Rrr from Canada writes: The blame for the high prices is not climate change. Everybody blames the weather. The blame lies with world wide credit crunch. It is greed that caused the current credit crises.

    Since 1999 oil has doubled. I remember 45 cents liter for regular gas. Now 1.22 Liter. That is greed. When this food crisis is over, writers will write how greedy little pigs (speculators) in the stock market manipulated supplies to make profit. I do not accept the writers explanations; climate change, bio-fuels, increase in population are not real cause. It's money. Food prices are hgih because the stock markets need to make money. I blame high food prices on greedy investors - the same type of people who created the current credit crises.
  32. Roop Misir from Toronto, Canada writes:
    Who was it that saith: 'The meek shall inherit the earth'?

    Words of wisdom for a bygone age?

    Dictum for the Me Generation:
    Take Responsibility for thy actions?

    Or put another way:
    Thou shalt reap the consequences for thine own action?
  33. Brian Dell from Alberta, Canada writes: Biofuel subsidies raise the price of non-fuel agricultural commodities by diverting acreage away to biofuels. That reduces the supply of the non-fuel agricultural commodities brought to market.

    Don't expect the biofuels boondoggle to change as long as Iowa remains the first state in the presidential primaries process.

    It is astounding that the human population should double in just the last four decades, increasing by billions. How long is that in the geologic timeframe?
  34. Mei-Xing Xu from Canada writes: i know about hunger, many times in my childhood i could only eat once in 2 days, yet other times twice in the same day. it is our collective responsibility to ensure our brother and sister have food, we will be asked on judgment day about this and what we did, or did not do.

    those born here only by pure accident, obese and complaining about the third world, need to explain their technique of being born into the first world.
  35. J. Drury from Bracebridge, Canada writes: Well we could always have a concert, or tie more ribbons on our cars, or perhapes sit the the dark one evening, have a protest and wave signs in front of the tv cameras..... raise awareness ! it's solved all our other problems.
    Lip service rules !
  36. David Bakody from Dartmouth, Canada writes: All this while our Neo CONservative leader is backing Karzi (Hands off the poppy fields) The increase in drug sales from Afghanistan to the world (85% to NA) via NATO protection now has the poppy crop production from 1200 tons prior to NATO to now an estimated r 8500 tons per year and growing! Bio fuels crops are turning good farm land into yet another cash crop for the automotive industry. Not to worry we can just destroy or starve people and soon only the rich will be alive to enjoy what is left of this planet. Accountability my foot!
  37. Dave Woodsman from Canada writes: The Conservative Centralist, J Law, et al -- The difficulty with famine as a form of population control is that famine, in ways like war and disease, is not selective enough to eliminate more of the slow-witted than the truly intelligent, and thus the base population never actually improves.
    The general impression held by most people, that the base gene pool does improve with each new plague or famine, because the vast majority of those who die are the poor, and the poor are normally less intelligent than the middle class or the wealthy, is in fact exaggerated. Sadly for our prejudices, the poor have much the same bell curve distribution of intelligence as the classes above them, because poverty over generations and centuries is an evolutionary pressure to reduce the dull-witted and increase intelligence, in order to survive being poor.
    It would be pleasant to believe that famine and disease could eliminate the slower folk from the gene pool for us, so we didn't need to assume any responsibility for doing so ourselves. Unfortunately, plague and famine just don't discriminate that well, because poor does not equal stupid by a factor greater than 50 percent plus one, meaning evolution can never get the thin edge of the knife into any crevasse or chink in the massive wall of the average.
    You need to invent a better rationale for supporting famine than population control. That sieve doesn't hold water.
  38. Woody Forrest from Out in the Sticks, Canada writes: Mei-Xing Xu from Canada writes: '... those born here only by pure accident, obese and complaining about the third world, need to explain their technique of being born into the first world.'

    Mei-Xing Xu, the technique involves your parents not allowing a dictator like Mao Zedong to rise to power and cook up a disaster like the Great Leap Forward. Was it that catastrophe (the event that caused the 30 million plus starvation deaths in China) that made you go hungry? If you want something to complain about, why not mention how badly your old country has been managed.

    It always amazes me how newcomers like to rant about how bad Canadians are. I know the root of it is their awareness of how good we have things and that we might be able to have things even better with a few adjustments. But your resentment is also about how bad things were where you came from. Well, until Canadians have the ability to tell certain basket case countries how to run their affairs, I'm not going to worry too much about your complaints.
  39. della baird from vancouver, Canada writes: dee vancouver: j drury bracebridge..... or we could have another peace parade and smile pretty for the cameras as usual. maybe we could passout little green biscuits to the onlookers and to 'the hungry for hype' media types. maybe all these ridiculous grinning idiot protestors could be a little more honest in their approaches or else we may begin to believe they really aren't that concerned, or is it that most of them feel they don't need to be.
  40. Don MacWilliam from somewhere, China writes: What has changed in the last couple of years to change the food supply? I submit that it not just global warming. It is not just the increase in population. It is not just the wars and famine in Africa. In my opinion it is primarily the use of feed grains to produce fuels. We have regressed to the point where it is more important to have fuel to drive to the corner store to rent a movie than to have food for millions of starving children and their parents. What kind of world do we live in where comfort, complacency and greed of shareholders takes precidence over life? If it was Hitler, Stalin or Mao, there would be a plausible explanation, but today only greed and apathy can explain the death of so many by so few. Get your act together. God gave us wind, and sun. Use those to get to the corner store, and use the grain to feed those of us who need it. You, in the US, Canada, Europe, Australia, Russia, China and so on, have the power to make a difference. Why do you let people starve. Is it greed, the desire to better yourselves, your lifestyle, your national interests? I do not understand. You have, do you want more? How much wealth is enough? How many deaths are you willing to witness? If your sons or daughters were starving, what would you do in the face of so many who have? I would rebel, I would sacrifice. What hope is there if I do not make my voice heard? My children will starve or they will die of some disease. I cannot let that happen without crying for help, for justice, for humanity. Why, because you have, should my family have not? I work hard to support them. I will not let my daughter become a prostitute. I will not let my son fight in the wars. I will not give myself or my family to corruption, false beliefs and dictators. What hope is there if you do not help?!
  41. Some Thoughts from Canada writes: It is commonly stated that biofules are being promoted as a response to the GHG issue...this is only partly true...'fuel security' is also part of it, as countries take steps to avoid being as dependent on middle-eastern sources and all that entails. As far as productivity, what concerns me as a 'thinking environmentalist' (I don't parrot ENGO positions, because they are mostly wrong-headed or self-serving and I find their adherents to be second rate thinkers, so I tend to make up my own mind) is that we will expand acreage into fragile ecosystems and contribute in a major way to deforestation, loss of biodiversity, etc. What I would encourage is more nuclear power, increasingly incentivise the development of electric cars and support high-productivity agriculture.
  42. Woody Forrest from Out in the Sticks, Canada writes: The impact of biofuels on food supplies is terrible, but there's also the issue of managing a country's economy. I like to deal with problems at the source. Don't just treat the symptoms. Treat the cause.

    Remember when Bono tried to shame Canadians into donating more money for African aid? I don't recall him trying to shame African leaders for running their countries into the ground.

    I'd rather not donate food endlessly to countries that can't look after themselves. Especially countries that have the resources to allow their people to live decent lives. It's hard to make a permanent fix when corruption undoes much of the good work.

    A more permanent solution would be a change in the way the country is governed. If there was some way to do that without the sort of bloodshed going on in Iraq, then we might put a real dent in the world's famine problems.
  43. della baird from vancouver, Canada writes: dee vancouver :thank you don mcwilliam from somewhere . no need for more on this one. you have said it all, as a caring father's right. i just wish the 'elite' of this world cared enough to listen to you and all who think of their children's coming strife. i am not religious, but i bless them all in my own way. you may be a little calmer than me ,but to be honest ,i am terrified at the thought.
  44. Alain Levere from Edmonton, Canada writes: Woody your not very bright in your posts. Would you assume that I am from France or Quebec based on my name. For if you did you would be incorrect I am born and raised in Alberta. Do not assume based on someones name where they are from, it makes you look uneducated.
  45. Mick H. from Canada writes: The UN should follow the mayor of Toronto's lead and simply ban hunger. Problem solved! Seriously though, people overlook the fact that one third of the world's grain is fed to animals that are turned meat. People stuff their faces with burgers and get fat. Interestly, the number one health problem among Canada's poor is obesity. World-wide consumption of meat is increasing, so the shortage of grain will get worse. If people want to help, then do the responsible thing and eat less meat, or no meat at all.
  46. janfromthe bruce from Canada writes: J Law from Canada writes: hossein hajiagha from Victoria

    'Why not tell it like it is. We try and try and try to save everybody and we have succeeded to the point where we now have too many people on this planet. And it seems th epoorer the country the more children they have. As The Conservative Centrist from Canada writes: Starvation, one of nature's methods of population control.

    You figure out who is causing the problem of food shortages. It isn't the west, but the very people who are now in danger of starving. They should allow the women some of the power and they will control the men's sex drives.'

    1. It is the west that is causing the fool shortages. Underdeveloped countries are used to grow crops for the west, and that food is exported abroad. Those fields which once supported local production for local use do not now, and the food grown locally is too expensive for locals to buy.

    2. Thinking about it differently, each western footprint in the mount of resources used by western folk is huge in comparision to the footprint of folk from underdeveloped countries. The fact is, we have too many well off folk on this planet, and that is all western folk.
  47. sandy jollimore from hamilton ontario canada, Canada writes: I will assume woody is the king of all that is jack and azz.
  48. Mick H. from Canada writes: My name is Mick Harkness and I'm Cambodian by ethnicity. Never judge people by their names.
  49. Mei-Xing Xu from Canada writes: Lets not hate on Woody for his presumptuous ignorance, perhaps it is not his fault, it could be a medical condition.
  50. Chris Young from Newfoundland, Canada writes: The past policies of the IMP and the World Bank has not helped. They incouraged developing countries to grow crops for export to pay off loans instead of growing crops that would feed the people in these countries. They very often could repay the loans but not the interest costs. More debt relief would have helped.
  51. daniel lanois from montreal, Canada writes: My name is Daniel Lanois, and I was born in Africa. How could anyone judge someone based on name is beyond me.
  52. ex pat from Cobourg from Memphis, United States writes: Nothing is free. If Africa wants the 1st world's food and money then it has to come with a price tag. Responsible government. It disgusts me to look at what has happened in Zimbabwe. 30 years ago it was a model of what we all hoped Africa could become. Self sufficient, a food exporter and a relatively stable economy. Now look at the mess. Starvation, repression and rampant inflation. What we need is not handouts of food and money in a vacuum. We need the UN to get off its holier than though proselytizing and use the hammer to forment change in these countries. Otherwise its no different than giving the corner drunk five dollars to feel better about yourself. He won't use it to buy food. Don't kid yourselves.
  53. Mick H. from Canada writes: Chris Young is right. Cash crops are a big factor. They knock down grain farms that feed the local people and grow peaches for export.
  54. Woody Forrest from Out in the Sticks, Canada writes: Mei-Xing Xu writes: '... Fortunately a dirty bombing campaign took root, sending these crusaders home in coffins, eventually they quit the country, leaving us in a mess that took 30 years to get out of. '

    So you sympathize with the MPLA and Chin Peng?
  55. Mei-Xing Xu from Canada writes: yes i support the Mountain plains library association their website is http://www.mpla.us/

    chin peng was a pretty good actor, you can see his page here http://akas.imdb.com/name/nm2852180/ Tie tui jiang mo was a great movie, of course because it was well written by Fu Ching Wa.
  56. Woody Forrest from Out in the Sticks, Canada writes: Mei-Xing Xu from Canada writes: 'Woody i was not born, nor have ever lived in China'

    Did I write that you were born in China? Did you miss the question mark in post about why you had to deal with hunger?

    The Sabah Peninsula is on the island of Borneo, which is part of Malaysia. If THAT is where you're from, then can you comment on the Wikipedia article at:

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malayan_Emergency

    If that's the source of your issues, then you might want to mention the impact that minor event they call World War II and the following struggle between communism and capitalism.

    BTW, I still stand by my comments about China and the technique for being born in a first world country.
  57. Voice of Reason from Ottawa, Canada writes: and the creation of bio-fuels is the best thing that ever happened. Why should the canadian farmer pay for Africa’s poor. Why don't you pay! Canadian farmers have been the lapdogs and peasants of the so called civilized urbanites for too long. Farmers are often portrayed as uneducated, redneck and peasant class. Most are close to broke, working long days, 7 days a week, with huge debt loads. It is not their responsibility to pay for Haiti or Africa. The problem with Africa/Haiti and those have not countries is that they have no farmers there; everyone wants to be urban and procreate with big families. They do not consider the long term effects of this. Just go to Toronto and a certain segment of the city’s population is doing the same thing there. No fathers ( they are out selling drugs and pimps in street gangs) , single mothers with huge families...and this is sustainable? The have not countries have to change, Canada will be in same situation if it continues to lose its agricultural producers at the rate it has been losing them. No one is replacing them or wants to. Food prizes should rise to levels that are appropriate for everyone, not just one class of urbanites who want to dictate how others should behave.
  58. Mick H. from Canada writes: Oh yes, Fu Ching Wa, the famous Irish screenwriter. I've heard he's also quite good at step-dancing.
  59. FREE FROGGY from Canada writes: No biofuels!
    Surely we can walk or bike a bit in order to save millions from dying of hunger!
    We need to be aware at all times about how some poor people have to strive just to feed themselves and families!
    We need an ongoing ad-campaign to keep us aware!
    We turn off the lights to save energy why not do something to help the starving!
  60. Mick H. from Canada writes: There are some cultures that have as many children as they can, and they never rise above bare subsistence no matter how much food assistance they get. Food production increases only slightly as farming methods improve while population increases exponentially. What is scary is that in Ontario so much of our prime farm land has been replaced by shoulder-to-shoulder monster homes, and so we have to import much of our food. Eventually there'll be no farms left and we'll have to import all of it.
  61. ken brett from ontario, Canada writes: This is so cool. North Americans line up to go to the Super Discount Cheapo Store to buy discount items made in China or India that they really don't need, but shopping is a great pasttime to spend that extra money and it lets you drive around in your gas guzzling sport utility vehicle. Doing this sends more money to these countries and creates a middle class there. This middle class in China and India now want to eat burgers, drink pop and get fat like North Americans. If everyone in China eats one more 1/4 pounder a year it takes 500,000 acres of corn to feed that beef. That would be 25% of Ontario's corn crop. It's about time farmers got paid for their labour and huge investment. Prices have been at very low levels for years. The wheat in a loaf of bread is very small compared to the whole cost. Food processers are using this whole thing as an excuse to raise the prices excessively and blame the cost of the wheat or corn. In Canada I don't think spending 15% of one's pay to feed yourself is unfair. The average person will have to do without alot of other luxuries before I feel any sympathy towards them for what they pay for food. Like another person stated, get back to basic eating and your dollar will go alot further. There's alot of good eating in a $2.00 bag of potatoes grown within a hour of Toronto. I still see lots of cars lined up every morning to spend $1.50 for a Tim Horton's coffee. Keep using fuel, keep eating and watch our farmers prosper. Don't worry, production will be ramped up to keep up with demand.
  62. Roop Misir from Toronto, Canada writes: FREE FROGGY from Canada writes:

    'Surely we can walk or bike a bit in order to save millions from dying of hunger!'...

    Ribbit ribtit, ribbi.., ribbi.., ribb..., ribb.., rib...,rib.., ri.., ri.., r.., r.., .., ...
  63. Woody Forrest from Out in the Sticks, Canada writes: daniel lanois from montreal, Canada writes: 'My name is Daniel Lanois, and I was born in Africa. How could anyone judge someone based on name is beyond me.'

    One judgment that I made about Mei-Xing Xu is that this person might be interested in a comment about China that's related to the G&M article, based on the fact that they post under a very common Chinese surname. For my efforts I now have information on where this person is really from (if you can take the post at face value - a big IF). It was worth it.

    As for the other judgments, they're from reading many of Mei-Xing Xu's and other immigrant's posts. That's fair territory.
  64. Klaus Gieger from Moffat, Ontario, Canada writes: You (Journey Man, from Canada) wrote: 'The international base financial unit should be the Joule (of energy).' 'If we did this then it would no longer make economic sense to spend 1200J of energy to produce a bio-fuel that can only give us back 1000J of energy to power our vehicles.'

    Journey Man, I think that you are on to a good idea. I would argue that this is partially true already as the cost of the energy is tied up into everything that we buy, including food. As others have stated above, we have to consider the amount of energy it takes to get an orange from Morrocco, an apple from New Zealand, or a pound of steak from Alberta to our tables in Ontario. This cannot go on and I think that your idea of paying for the potential energy directly makes a lot of scientific sense. The one barrier is that most people and certianly most politicians are scientifically illiterate.
  65. R. Carriere from Maritimes, Canada writes:

    It is simple as to the 'why' prices are rising: Demand is outstripping supply.

    Whether or not we are talking about food, fresh water, fresh air, GHG emmissions, the raping of the oceans.....sooner or later something has to give and it is NOT going to be pretty.

    Of course there are problems with countries that over consume the items mentioned above-and while that may change very very marginally, the real issue is planet over population!

    According to sources, the world population stands at about 6.6 BILLION and quickly counting to the tune of about 6000 new souls per HOUR or 144,000 new 'consumers and GHG emitters' on the planet EVERY DAY!

    It takes about 25 days of new births to match the total present population of Canada!

    That is the reality and sooner or later, this will spiral out of control-This is only the beginning.

    I say this will all sincerity and no malice intended-I fear it will be up to nature to find the solutions-and sometimes material wealth doesn't insulate from those actions-but Africa is a basket case. 900 million people with 34 million infected with AIDS and counting...

    What has happened with the BILLIONS of $$ sent over the years?
    .
  66. Jorly fuster from Canada writes: Once again meat is the true cause of the grain shortages. Since people refuse to cut down on their meat consumption it's doubtful anything good will happen.
  67. Jay Dubya from Toronto, Canada writes: We (westerners) pat ourselves on the back for going 'green'.

    It's hypocracy - when we waste more that others consume - we use food (converted to biofuels) to drive our SUVs, 2nd and 3rd vehicals and say aren't we great - going green - saving the planet for our children.

    All we are doing is starving out the world's poor buy buying up food crops to drive our vehicals. Well as Marie Antonette said 'let them eat cake'.

  68. Bill H from London, Canada writes: This report should not be a big surprise to anyone. 1. A negative impact of ethanol and biofuel production on food prices has been predicted for several years. Nobody would listen and the spokespersons for the alternative fuels industry assured everyone it would not happen. Blame it on the governments - yes, Ontario and Canada as well as the US - for subsidizing the industry and mandating biolfuels. Without the subsidies and mandated biofuel usage, the industry would not be profitable. But when all the present and planned ethanol distilleries are in operation in the US, they have the potential to consume as much as 40 percent of the US corn crop. 2. The collapse of the mortagage industry in the US drove investors out of the stock market into the commodities markets, which naturally drives up prices. 3. Several (very populous) contries (e.g. India and China) are becoming affluent (blame it on globalization and cheap labour) and affluence appears to demand animal protein, which everyone knows is less efficient. 4. Africa has been unable to grow enough food for its population for years because of drought and (e.g. Zimbabwe) criminal mismanagement of their agricutlture. Zimbabwe was once the breadbasket of Africa untill Mugabe singlehandedly destroyed it. 5. Food self-sufficiency (at least in Canada) is a real problem, largely due to two factors; climate and corporate interests. We can produce fresh vegetables in winteronly under glass. That costs dearly in terms of fuel usage. Some calculations suggest that it is in fact cheaper fuel-wise, to transport food from more southern climates than to grow it under glass in Canada. None-the-less, we do have a capacity toward seflsufficiency that is being compormised by corporate interests. The only two remaining major vegetable and fruit canning facilities remaining in Ontario, for example, are bing shut down this summer.
  69. persona non grata from Canada writes: PBS 'Bill Moyer's Journal' of April 11: US Government heavily subsidizing wealthy Texas landowners who live on huge agricultural tracts of land that FORMERLY GREW RICE, NOW GROW NOTHING. Subsidies continue.

    This was the best explanation of the USDA subsidy program and how it so negatively affects the world food market yet buys votes.

    Catch it here:
    http://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/index-flash.html
  70. Voice of Reason from Ottawa, Canada writes: I dont see how ensuring farmers get a decent price for their commodities is the end of the world. Ethanol ensures they get a decent price. If it is too expensive grow it yourself
  71. Bill H from London, Canada writes: (Continued) Both canning plants are owned by Cangro, which is, in turn owned by a venture capital firm in Florida. Their intention is to continue to stock Canadian stores with the same brands (Aylmer and Delmonte) but what's inside will be sourced offshore. Also, Canadian growers have difficulty placing their produce with the major corporate grocers (all three of them) because they can't supply the quantity they want. There is a very large greenhouse operation here in southern Ontario and 80 percent of their tomato production goes to California. Its easier (and cheaper) for the corporate grocers to ship tomatoes in from Mexico.

    6. Can one afford now to raise once again the prospect of genetically modified crops? Crops can and are being modified to better withstand drought and other stresses, but, of course, the activists will have nothing of it. We went through this a few years ago when activists would rather see people starve that feed them GM corn supplied by the US and Canada. Well, it looks like they are getting their wish. GMOs are not the panacea that will solve all of the world's food problems, but they can make a significant contribution.
  72. Jo Geoghegan from Canada writes: Here we go again. ' Experts call ' for what? What experts? This hacknied phrase has to go.
    If the experts were so expert, then why were they not bringing their expertise to bear on this problem before the commodities speculators, operating with the same duplicitious opaque financing vehicles that gave us the sub prime crisis, moved on to food futures.
    Commodities is the new game. What do the experts think of that.
  73. Philosopher Dog from Toronto, Canada writes: Obviously the long term prospects of the 'green revolution' (green for humans, brown for the planet) are what critics have predicted: a food and environmental crisis the world has never seen. Putting chemicals on the land only temporarily increases production. It does it by digging into the past through the use of fossil fuels, and compromising the future by poisoning the systems. This current food crisis, brought on probably mainly by the lie that is biofuel and run away populations, must bring shame to any clear thinking driver. You drive at the expense of other people eating! Think about that carefully. This is just one of the things driving implicates you in. What about the devastating wars over oil, the pollution of air, soil, and water, the destruction of land for roads, etc. Biofuels will mean bringing even more land under cultivation, much of it 'marginal' from an agricultural point of view. The trouble is that climate regulation and other essential support systems that all life depends on is the result of complex feedback systems that we barely understand, and these systems are the result of the life systems that modern farming 'techniques' destroy. When humans come along and replace these complex systems with simple monocropped farms, the complex nonlinear results of this are lead to an undermining of life support systems. The news has been out for a long time on this stuff, but humans seem to think that just ignoring what is inconvenient will make it disappear. Run away food prices is the first in a series of crises we will see as the planet reaches its climate tipping point, populations reach their malthusian limits, and humans clamour for increasing scarce 'resources'. We are in very deep trouble indeed. We have ignored other life and the living planet at our peril. What fools we all are. We think we're so clever with our science and our computers. But the problem is that we are deluded about our dependence on a living planet.Wake up! Wake up!
  74. Geoffrey May from Canada writes: Selfish western nations 'have cake and eat it too', attitude with BIO fuels must stop.Although not mentioned in articel, free trade was played a role in depressing third world food output.
    Obviouly Monsanto's Frankenfoods aren't helping
  75. troy kadikoff from Canada writes: don't jump too much on each other for presenting opinions, although you may not share the same ideas, probably all ideas presented in this forum are shared by a percentage of the general public, and it gives us insight that may help shape an arguement that could be used to move our government from its current path of warmongering and back to the way most canadians really want for themselves and our country, that is caring for our friends and neighbors ( as in earthlings).
    I want my government back!
    also, from what I have read, the use of fertilizer is only a temporary solution. requirements stay stable for a few years, just long enough to hook the farms on this 'artificial food for plants'. the soils generally cannnot keep up to the added nutrients. then the farmer must add more and more fertilizer just to maintain the same output per unit area. where will a poor farmer (in a poor country) get the money, from the world bank? and for how long?
    there are sustainable meathods of natural farming that have been in use for thousands of years, that are just not profitable for chemical companies, why are these not shared for free?
  76. Craig Cooper from Toronto, writes: War, disease and famine.

    Nature has a way of dealing with surplus populations.

    Interesting times are ahead.
  77. Baad Daddy from Northwest Ontario, Canada writes: Darwin and Adam Smith, anyone? Not every hungry mouth can be fed. Suppose we feed everybody now. If they are not Chinese, then in thirty years they have likely had four or five children. Do we feed these new and procreative mouths too? Suppose we do... Then what? Eventually people will starve and as much as we do not like this, it is going to happen. The world's problems are not going to be addressed until Suzuiki et al address population control more than the SUV and a few light bulbs. If they don't, it may be that starvation will. Time and evolution move on no matter what we might not like about it. Dinosaurs and sabre tooths came and went. So will we.
  78. Emma Hawthorne from Canada writes: Biofuels pollute and increase the cost of food, namely starvation. Britain, the U.S. and others must shelve biofuels altogether.
  79. dick brown from missy, Canada writes: I thought they were already starving, at least that's what they tell me in those infomercials?
  80. Nick Beerman from Calgary, Canada writes: It seems to me that the real problem is that all of the solutions proposed to solve the food problem are nothing more than expensive band-aids and as the problem grows worse the band-aids will become more and more expensive. Eventually everything will collapse.

    It seems to me that the real problem is that we have outgrown the planet. I don't know what the real long term sustainable population level is but I suspect it is around two billion and certainly not more than three billion.

    I am not advocating genocide or the like but we, the humans on this planet, are like an algae bloom on a pond. A balancing is coming. We can either start reducing our population through, parish the word, family planning or mother nature will fix the problem for us and there will be a horrendous die off.

    We have a choice and if we choose to leave things to mother nature remember that she can be very very cruel.
  81. J.C. Davies from Canada writes:
    Everyone hide the sky is falling!
  82. Mr. Reilly from Canukistan, writes: Emma Hawthorne from Canada writes: Biofuels pollute and increase the cost of food, namely starvation. Britain, the U.S. and others must shelve biofuels altogether. Gee Emma look at what just happened in India, they announced a car that costs under $3ooo and will now be available to millions and millions of Indians . What are they going to run their cars on?COWPOOP. Its not the developed countries that are to blame it is the corrupt leaders of the third world who should shoulder the responsibility. At least in U.S. G,B, and Canada just to name a few there are those who are trying desperatly to come up with solutions that will feed ALL THE WORLD.
  83. dick brown from missy, Canada writes: As long as the sun glows, we can sustain life....irrespective of our population. Every source of energy on earth originates there...directly or indirecty.
  84. Tiu Leek from Here, Canada writes: 'As The Conservative Centrist from Canada writes: Starvation, one of nature's methods of population control. '

    Spoken like a man who doesn't expect to do any starving himself. Or that such minor issues could never affect him personally.

    May I point out that most of the governments around the world have the technical ability to create viruses that could easily solve the overpopulation problem?

    And that the number one job of any government is promote stability as easily and cost efficiently as possible?

    By the way, you don't happen to live near a major population centre, do you? ;]
  85. Jacob Kasperowicz from Kirkland, Canada writes: Global population increasing but most of the world's population has never seen an abundance of food. Altering the landscape in developed & developing countries has wiped-out productive farmland. Global warming has altered weather patterns but in today's world we can use technology to work through such changes. One culprit is the myth of bio-fuels which use 1.5gal of fossil fuels to refine 1gal of bio and is syphoning precious food resources.

    By far the biggest problem is the manner in which food is wasted by the developed and developing countries. North Americans,excluding Mexico,are the biggest culprits. Go to any restaurant and you will see people nibble on each item on their plate to be fashionable and the remaining 3/4 goes into the trash. For real waste,check-out your local buffet style restaurant and watch parents pile mounds of food on the plate of a 6yr old who picks at a few items,discards the balanace and returns to the trough for more. That's just the tip of our wasteful ways and a key factor to consider as food supplies dwindle. We all have a stake in this and many will learn the hard way that the party is over.
  86. Censored More Than Ever from Mini Bushland, Canada writes: For years now I have read from deniers commenting on this topic in the Globe: 'When the time comes, we'll adapt! We'll adapt!!'... without further details -- Yes, sure! Well now, let's ADAPT! Let's hear it from all those deniers what that adaptation theory amounts to, in concrete terms. JUST HOW we are going to adapt?... While they're working at it, perhaps some of us should look into the details of the following: Chinese authorities have instructed regional aut