Without water, crops cannot grow and the world cannot eat. And in 2012, there hasn’t been enough of it.
The US has seen its worst drought in more than 50 years, vast swathes of Russia have been left parched by lack of rain, India has had a dry monsoon, while rainfall in South America early in the year fell well below expectations.
As a direct result, harvests of many crops have been decimated, forcing the price of some cereals back up towards levels last seen four years ago, a time when high prices sparked riots in 12 countries across the world and forced the United Nations to call a food price crisis summit.
Food facts
• One third of all food goes to waste
• Consumers in rich countries waste almost as much food as the entire net food production of sub-Saharan Africa
• We will need to produce 70% more food by 2050 to feed the world’s expanding population
• Global corn stocks have halved since 1998
• More than 100 million more people across the world suffer from hunger due to recent food price rises
• Globally, one in eight people do not have enough food.
Overall, food prices are still going to be high today due to the population growth and the rapidly growing middle classes in the developing world. We need to have more solutions into helping the food crisis. The era of cheap food is now over and food will still be available but prices won’t go down. An idea is that we need to dramatically cut back on food waste while a huge increase in investment in global agriculture is needed. If none of this ideas work, the consequences will be horrific.
Title: Food Price Crisis: What Crisis?
Author: Richard Anderson
Publication: BBC News, October 15, 2012
URL: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-19715504
Student Researcher: JJ Sotomayor, Sonoma State University
Faculty Advisor: Rich Campbell, Sonoma State University
Other articles related to Food crisis
http://www.albawaba.com/business/food-crisis-world-450563
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/genetic-modification-can-help-solve-food-crisis-2012-11-16
http://www.trust.org/alertnet/news/world-must-act-now-to-prevent-haiti-food-crisis
http://www.greenpeace.org/international/en/news/Blogs/makingwaves/is-the-world-heading-towards-another-food-cri/blog/42999/
http://sustainablog.org/2012/11/the-new-global-food-crisis-lester-browns-full-planet-empty-plates/