http://indianexpress.com/article/world/ ... od-crisis/
Middle East drought continues, Experts fear global food crisis
The Middle East’s driest winter in several decades could pose a threat to global food prices, with local crops depleted and farmers’ livelihoods blighted, UN experts and climatologists say.
Varying degrees of drought are hitting almost two-thirds of the limited arable land across Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, the Palestinian territories and Iraq. “Going back to the last 100 years, I don’t think you can get a five-year span that’s been as dry,” said Mohammad Raafi Hossain, a UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) environmental economist.
Reuters | March 15, 2014 11:46 pm
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2nd Arabian Spring? Or a never ending Nightmare since 2011
Climate Change?!
Here is the Problem for you!
What will YOU eat after the heat?
M_B_S
Where we are MUST READ:
http://www.oxfam.org/sites/www.oxfam.or ... ug2012.pdf
PeakOil is You
THE Food Price Thread pt 2 (merged)
Re: THE Food Price Thread pt 2 (merged)
by M_B_S » Sat 22 Mar 2014, 06:44:21
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Re: THE Food Price Thread pt 2 (merged)
by Rod_Cloutier » Sat 22 Mar 2014, 09:27:36
India farmers commit suicide after hailstorm destroys their crops:
$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'A') string of farmers have committed suicide in western India after freak hailstorms and rains destroyed winter crops worth millions of dollars, activists and politicians said.
"There have been 32 (farmer) suicides so far across Maharashtra after the hailstorms started...
"Since the hailstorm began on February 28, the entire rabi (winter-sown) crop on 1.6 million hectares of land in 17 districts has been destroyed," senior BJP leader Gopinath Munde said.
The region, which usually experiences the tropical rainy season from June to October, saw major damage to crops of fruits such as grape, mango, papaya, lime and watermelon.
$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'A') string of farmers have committed suicide in western India after freak hailstorms and rains destroyed winter crops worth millions of dollars, activists and politicians said.
"There have been 32 (farmer) suicides so far across Maharashtra after the hailstorms started...
"Since the hailstorm began on February 28, the entire rabi (winter-sown) crop on 1.6 million hectares of land in 17 districts has been destroyed," senior BJP leader Gopinath Munde said.
The region, which usually experiences the tropical rainy season from June to October, saw major damage to crops of fruits such as grape, mango, papaya, lime and watermelon.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-03-20/a ... in/5332890
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Re: THE Food Price Thread pt 2 (merged)
by dissident » Sat 22 Mar 2014, 13:10:36
$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('pstarr', 'F')ive years ago local grass-fed 80% lean hamburger (my mainstay) was $2.99/lb., on sale regularly for $2.49. Gradually moved up to $3.49. Just jumped to $3.99 (wife says more.)
This conforms to a roughly 6% annual food price rise. The official CPI of 2% is a total lie. Food accounts for a big chunk of consumer spending (about a third) so the CPI should be at least 4%.
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Re: THE Food Price Thread pt 2 (merged)
by Loki » Sat 22 Mar 2014, 16:56:45
$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('pstarr', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('dissident', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('pstarr', 'F')ive years ago local grass-fed 80% lean hamburger (my mainstay) was $2.99/lb., on sale regularly for $2.49. Gradually moved up to $3.49. Just jumped to $3.99 (wife says more.)
This conforms to a roughly 6% annual food price rise. The official CPI of 2% is a total lie. Food accounts for a big chunk of consumer spending (about a third) so the CPI should be at least 4%.
That's not how it works.
$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', '[')b]When the cost of food rises, does the CPI assume that consumers switch to less desired foods, such as substituting hamburger for steak?
No. In January 1999, the BLS began using a geometric mean formula in the CPI that reflects the fact that consumers shift their purchases toward products that have fallen in relative price. Some critics charge that by reflecting consumer substitution the BLS is subtracting from the CPI a certain amount of inflation that consumers can "live with" by reducing their standard of living. This is incorrect: the CPI's objective is to calculate the change in the amount consumers need to spend to maintain a constant level of satisfaction.
Specifically, in constructing the "headline" CPI-U and CPI-W, the BLS is not assuming that consumers substitute hamburgers for steak. Substitution is only assumed to occur within basic CPI index categories, such as among types of ground beef in Chicago. Hamburger and steak are in different CPI item categories, so no substitution between them is built into the CPI-U or CPI-W.
http://www.bls.gov/cpi/cpiqa.htm#Question_3
USDA data show beef prices going up:
$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'B')eef and veal prices fell 0.1 percent in January but remain 1.8 percent above last January’s level. Many retail beef prices are at or near record, inflation-adjusted levels.
http://www.ers.usda.gov/data-products/f ... y3zTH3fFY4
This is mostly due to the lowest cattle inventory in decades, itself partially a result of drought in cattle country, plus the drought of 2012 in corn country (link). More recently the cold weather in much of the US has limited weight gain (link).
The drought in California means more beef producers have to buy hay, which ain't cheap these days.
