Geo Food Politics

[boedicca]

It's not a coincidence that there is growing civil unrest in areas where: 1) local food production is insufficient to feed the population; 2) inflation is making the scarcity very expensive.

World Food Import Export Ratio

Above is a chart dealing with food self-sufficiency. It is measuring, in calories, (exports-imports)/consumption. Green marks countries with high food self-sufficiency and the scale moves to red, which marks countries poorly able to feed themselves, much less export food (original Net Trade in Food chart).

Anybody following the current unrest in North Africa and the Middle East will immediately note that the area is bathed in red. Add in the percentage of a person's income spent on food and the picture looks even worse. For example, both Spain and Algeria are dark red, yet the Spanish spend only 14.6% of their incomes on food, while Algerians spend a whopping 44% on food.

That means that if World food prices go up they'll cut into the discretionary spending of the Spanish, while they'll cut to the bone in places like Algeria.

The Chinese are having a crop failure, but they have money to buy food imports. That, and the increasing transport costs due to rising oil prices, means that the price of food will go up. This does not bode well for stability of any post demonstration/revolution Middle Eastern and North African governments. I think it will almost certainly extend the instability of an already unstable region. ...

The way to a man's heart


And check out the photos here (and note the horrifying packaged and prepared (predigested) food of Westernized diets):

Fresh Pics: What People Eat Around The World


So what does this all mean. For starters:

1. The world is going to be a turbulent place due to scarcity and inflation (finally Paul Ehrlich can be happy).

2. The USA is indebted to China. China needs more food. Watch for increased exports from the USA to China, and an acceleration in USA food inflation.

3. The Obamanoids and the Feds will continue to ignore food inflation while the lower and middle classes are squeezed.

4. The ongoing federal deficit spending will not resonate well in 2012 as people see their own grocery bills ballooning and are faced with painful decisions (gas for car vs. food).

 

[waltky]

Kinda odd it affecting mainly Muslim countries...

Wheat Rust Threatening Crops in Africa, Asia and Mideast
April 21, 2011 - Scientists met this week to discuss an aggressive new strain of wheat rust disease that has the potential to devastate crops in many parts of the world.

It’s been found in Ethiopia, Kenya, Morocco, Syria, Turkey, Iran and Uzbekistan. A meeting has just concluded in Aleppo, Syria, where experts made recommendations to stop the spread of the disease and ensure the health of future crops.

The danger

“Yellow rust or stripe rust, as it is known in the U.S., is considered to be the most important economic disease on wheat in, I would say, West Asia, Central Asia and North Africa,” said Mahmoud Solh, the director-general of ICARDA, the International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas.

Recently, much attention has centered on a rust strain called UG99, which originated in Uganda and spread to Kenya, Sudan, Yemen and Iran in 2007. Yellow or stripe rust has been in the region for many years but was contained by using certain resistant crops. Last year, however, a new, virulent strain emerged. “Farmers lost up to 40 percent of their production through this heavy infestation. It was actually an epidemic last year,” he said, “which affected food security.”

Mutation

An ongoing drought contributed to the problem. “This is one of the implications of climate change in this part of the world. Last year, the average temperature in winter was about four to five degrees higher than normal. So, apparently, the high temperature did contribute to new mutants that were there in the strain,” said Solh.

Farmers inadvertently helped bring about the mutation by using sprinklers to water their crops to ward off the effects of the drought. “The sprinkler irrigation created the right environment with the high temperature for this disease to spread widely in a very short period of time,” he said. What’s more, wind can carry rust spores hundreds of thousands of kilometers.

What to do?

 

[bucs90]

Just a few points of my pondering:

1- We'll go down in history as the morons who burned their own food. Thanks left wingers for the "bio fuel" disaster. That really worked out.

2- Speaking of higher food prices...if there is a country that might benefit from that, it's the US of A. We have the fattest fucking people around. Our "poor" have an obesity problem for Christ's sake.

3- We have plenty of room to grow food, hunt, fish. Exporting too much might hurt us thought.

 

[Douger]

SHIT !
I better plant some corn...................

 

[editec]

Gee what a surprise/

As the masters squeeze our economies, the cost of food becomes too high for billions of people to buy
Who'da thunk THAT would happen?

What a surprise.

Gee, I am shocked.

Why, it's almost as though this was THE PLAN all along.

It just coincidently happens to work out very badly for everybody else and for everybody elses's governments, too, but it just happens to be SO DAMNED GOOD for the uberwealthy and their international corporations.

How odd, eh?

 

[Robert]

Gee what a surprise/

As the masters squeeze our economies, the cost of food becomes too high for billions of people to buy
Who'da thunk THAT would happen?

What a surprise.

Gee, I am shocked.

Why, it's almost as though this was THE PLAN all along.

It just coincidently happens to work out very badly for everybody else and for everybody elses's governments, too, but it just happens to be SO DAMNED GOOD for the uberwealthy and their international corporations.

How odd, eh?

Yes completely explains why the left thinks its a great Idea to burn our food for Fuel

 

[editec]

Gee what a surprise/

As the masters squeeze our economies, the cost of food becomes too high for billions of people to buy
Who'da thunk THAT would happen?

What a surprise.

Gee, I am shocked.

Why, it's almost as though this was THE PLAN all along.

It just coincidently happens to work out very badly for everybody else and for everybody elses's governments, too, but it just happens to be SO DAMNED GOOD for the uberwealthy and their international corporations.

How odd, eh?

Yes completely explains why the left thinks its a great Idea to burn our food for Fuel

Oh?

We;re dragging that lie out again, are we?

Who was the ADM spokeman touting the benefits of enthanol?

Do you even remember?

ROBERT DOLE.

Was HE well known liberal?

Wake up and smell the big lie, sport

 

[Robert]

Gee what a surprise/

As the masters squeeze our economies, the cost of food becomes too high for billions of people to buy
Who'da thunk THAT would happen?

What a surprise.

Gee, I am shocked.

Why, it's almost as though this was THE PLAN all along.

It just coincidently happens to work out very badly for everybody else and for everybody elses's governments, too, but it just happens to be SO DAMNED GOOD for the uberwealthy and their international corporations.

How odd, eh?

Yes completely explains why the left thinks its a great Idea to burn our food for Fuel

Oh?

We;re dragging that lie out again, are we?

Who was the ADM spokeman touting the benefits of enthanol?

Do you even remember?

ROBERT DOLE.

Was HE well known liberal?

Wake up and smell the big lie, sport

Yes and who continues to promote it? It sure as hell isn't the right despite the fact it has been proven to be a very bad idea up and down the chain. Still here we are burning food for fuel and burning even greater amounts then ever with the current idiot in the wh calling for ever higher percentages to be mixed in to the equation. Ya the canard this is an idea from the right is absolutely debunked.

 

[Two Thumbs]

Ever feel like it's a giant set up?

Who benefits from what reeks of a coming crash?

The very rich? Maybe. The very rich can't be crushed, since their money is spread out. So they will gain what? More money and power? pfft, they have plenty, not sure what more they could get.

The government? Sure thing. force more and more people to need the gov just to get buy, the more and more they will demand someone pay for it, dragging more and more people onto the government dole.

Just like socialist and communist countries run, except in America it will be people fighting for freedom and democracy, again. B/c the dictators will win w/o firing a shot.

 

[VaYank5150]

Just a few points of my pondering:

1- We'll go down in history as the morons who burned their own food. Thanks left wingers for the "bio fuel" disaster. That really worked out.

2- Speaking of higher food prices...if there is a country that might benefit from that, it's the US of A. We have the fattest fucking people around. Our "poor" have an obesity problem for Christ's sake.

3- We have plenty of room to grow food, hunt, fish. Exporting too much might hurt us thought.

So, then in your opinion, burning our food for fuel IS a good idea? Since we don't have enough fuel, and we obviously have more then enough food, I would tend to agree.

 

[editec]

Yes completely explains why the left thinks its a great Idea to burn our food for Fuel

Oh?

We;re dragging that lie out again, are we?

Who was the ADM spokeman touting the benefits of enthanol?

Do you even remember?

ROBERT DOLE.

Was HE well known liberal?

Wake up and smell the big lie, sport

Yes and who continues to promote it?

The SAME groups who supported it to begin with...the BIG AG corporations and the TOOLS they pay to be their lying spokeman.

Why, if enthanol was a LEFTEST idea, did ADM (the BIGGEST benfactor of ETHANOL) hire ROBERT DOLE, MR REPUBLICAN TOOL, as their spokeman?

You need to do a little more reading, lad.

You are a FONT of right wing disinformation like this GREAT BIG LIE.

 

[Two Thumbs]

Just a few points of my pondering:

1- We'll go down in history as the morons who burned their own food. Thanks left wingers for the "bio fuel" disaster. That really worked out.

2- Speaking of higher food prices...if there is a country that might benefit from that, it's the US of A. We have the fattest fucking people around. Our "poor" have an obesity problem for Christ's sake.

3- We have plenty of room to grow food, hunt, fish. Exporting too much might hurt us thought.

So, then in your opinion, burning our food for fuel IS a good idea? Since we don't have enough fuel, and we obviously have more then enough food, I would tend to agree.

Last I heard, turning food into fuel was done at an increase in carbon emissions and a vast increase in food costs.

Hell in Mexico there were riots over the cost of corn.

 

[VaYank5150]

Just a few points of my pondering:

1- We'll go down in history as the morons who burned their own food. Thanks left wingers for the "bio fuel" disaster. That really worked out.

2- Speaking of higher food prices...if there is a country that might benefit from that, it's the US of A. We have the fattest fucking people around. Our "poor" have an obesity problem for Christ's sake.

3- We have plenty of room to grow food, hunt, fish. Exporting too much might hurt us thought.

So, then in your opinion, burning our food for fuel IS a good idea? Since we don't have enough fuel, and we obviously have more then enough food, I would tend to agree.

Last I heard, turning food into fuel was done at an increase in carbon emissions and a vast increase in food costs.

Hell in Mexico there were riots over the cost of corn.

And we should give a shit about food costs in Mexico, why?

 

[boedicca]

So, then in your opinion, burning our food for fuel IS a good idea? Since we don't have enough fuel, and we obviously have more then enough food, I would tend to agree.

Last I heard, turning food into fuel was done at an increase in carbon emissions and a vast increase in food costs.

Hell in Mexico there were riots over the cost of corn.

And we should give a shit about food costs in Mexico, why?

You've broken your own personal record for willful ignorance.

Of course, why should a leftwing moonbat care about brown people living in poverty and squalor? Although your hero claims we are all connected, clearly, some connections are tenuous at best.

Here are three valid reasons why decent and rational people care:

- Humanitarian concerns over a completely manmade issue.
- Civil unrest along an already volatile border exacerbates a national security risk.
- Food commodity prices rising around the world affect Americans as well.

 

[VaYank5150]

Last I heard, turning food into fuel was done at an increase in carbon emissions and a vast increase in food costs.

Hell in Mexico there were riots over the cost of corn.

And we should give a shit about food costs in Mexico, why?

You've broken your own personal record for willful ignorance.

Of course, why should a leftwing moonbat care about brown people living in poverty and squalor? Although your hero claims we are all connected, clearly, some connections are tenuous at best.

Here are three valid reasons why decent and rational people care:

- Humanitarian concerns over a completely manmade issue.
- Civil unrest along an already volatile border exacerbates a national security risk.
- Food commodity prices rising around the world affect Americans as well.

Unfortunately, the United State of America is broke, and we as a country and government cannot afford to care about another country's problems.

 

[boedicca]

That is a complete crock of shit.

If our government ceased subsidizing ethanol and paying farmers to not grow food...and allowed water to once again be used for irrigation in CA's central valley (much of which has been lying fallow due to the Feds letting water drain into the ocean instead of being used for agriculture), we'd be able to increase supply and lower prices to our benefit as well as customer of U.S. output around the world.

 

[VaYank5150]

That is a complete crock of shit.

If our government ceased subsidizing ethanol and paying farmers to not grow food...and allowed water to once again be used for irrigation in CA's central valley (much of which has been lying fallow due to the Feds letting water drain into the ocean instead of being used for agriculture), we'd be able to increase supply and lower prices to our benefit as well as customer of U.S. output around the world.

I agree. And as a cost cutting measure to our Federal budget, we should stop subsidizing ALL farmers and stop paying them to NOT grow crops. This currently costs Joe Taxpayer $20 BILLION annually.

 

[Two Thumbs]

So, then in your opinion, burning our food for fuel IS a good idea? Since we don't have enough fuel, and we obviously have more then enough food, I would tend to agree.

Last I heard, turning food into fuel was done at an increase in carbon emissions and a vast increase in food costs.

Hell in Mexico there were riots over the cost of corn.

And we should give a shit about food costs in Mexico, why?

1+1=2

If food went up in Mex b/c they switched to corn for fuel, and it got so bad they rioted.

It would be an example of what would/could happen here if we did the same.

 

[boedicca]

That is a complete crock of shit.

If our government ceased subsidizing ethanol and paying farmers to not grow food...and allowed water to once again be used for irrigation in CA's central valley (much of which has been lying fallow due to the Feds letting water drain into the ocean instead of being used for agriculture), we'd be able to increase supply and lower prices to our benefit as well as customer of U.S. output around the world.

I agree. And as a cost cutting measure to our Federal budget, we should stop subsidizing ALL farmers and stop paying them to NOT grow crops. This currently costs Joe Taxpayer $20 BILLION annually.

Well Kumbaya!

Let's not stop with farmers.

 

[VaYank5150]

Last I heard, turning food into fuel was done at an increase in carbon emissions and a vast increase in food costs.

Hell in Mexico there were riots over the cost of corn.

And we should give a shit about food costs in Mexico, why?

1+1=2

If food went up in Mex b/c they switched to corn for fuel, and it got so bad they rioted.

It would be an example of what would/could happen here if we did the same.

Riots? REALLY? Do you HONESTLY believe American citizens care that much?