Global Food Crisis May Hit Us ‘Very Soon,’ IFPRI’s Fan Says

[xchrom]

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-08-14/food-crisis-may-hit-us-very-soon-ifpri-s-fan-says.html

A global food crisis may “hit us very soon” as a drought ravages corn crops in the U.S., the world’s largest grower, the International Food Policy Research Institute said.

Governments must act to prevent the crisis, Shenggen Fan, director-general of the institute, said today. The U.S. should end its biofuel program that uses 40 percent of its corn output, to boost supplies to meat producers, Fan said. The Washington- based institute, supported by governments and international organizations, is part of the Agricultural Market Information System formed by the United Nations to monitor food costs.

“The major problem is policy,” Fan said today in an interview with Susan Li on Bloomberg Television’s “First Up”. “Biofuel production has to be stopped. That actually pushed global food prices higher and many poor people, particularly women and children, have suffered.”

The price of corn, used in everything from food to livestock feed to sweeteners, surged to a record $8.49 a bushel on Aug. 10 and is up 57 percent since June 15. That helped drive up global food inflation tracked by the UN’s Food & Agriculture Organization 6.2 percent in July from a month earlier, the biggest monthly jump since November 2009.

[Berlum]

1. Think ahead

[greytdemocrat]

2. Weren't we...

running out of rice in CA a year or 2 ago and everyone here was pushing the panic button????

[xchrom]

3. i don't think the Panic Police are going to follow you around to make you Panic.

but if you're poor -- or live in a country where food stresses are already common -- things might be very different.

[Javaman]

4. Late winter, early spring is going to be a very interesting time in this nation. nt

[RC]

5. Corn is a high energy and high water consuming plant to grow.

Growing corn for energy is counter productive, simply because it does take so much energy to produce it.
Irrigating corn fields depletes water tables. Stop all the corn subsidies and growing corn would all but stop, as it would not be high on the list of profitable crops to grow. Did I mention too energy intensive?