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Rising food prices indicate worldwide crisis
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Also by Andrew Wagner:
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- Rising food prices indicate worldwide crisis (April 25, 2008)
- Corn subsidies distort market (April 18, 2008)
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Last week I argued that the United States’ obsession with producing ethanol from corn was unnecessarily driving up food prices for millions of people inside and outside of our country. Yet the current problem with the global food supply extends far beyond corn production.
Wheat and rice prices have both been dramatically affected by rising demand, changing climate conditions and failing crops. Here in the U.S., the price increases have been more of an inconvenience rather than a disaster. However, for many of the developing nations in Africa and Southeast Asia, crop failures and price increases have created a dangerous situation.
A number of key suppliers of wheat and rice in the global market have failed to grow enough produce to fulfill their normal export commitments. Hurt by years of drought, Australia’s wheat crop failed dramatically last year, and the country has lost almost all of its rice production. Other major producers of rice have faced similar problems, with several instituting export restrictions and further cutting the stocks available for countries to purchase internationally.
For countries that rely on international purchases to make up the shortfall between domestic production and demand, the high prices have made this task much more difficult. An even larger problem, especially for some of the poorest nations in sub-Saharan Africa, is the inability of a number of food aid programs to meet their normal distribution amounts due to high purchase prices. Without this food aid, millions who might otherwise have food will go hungry.
While the situation is dire, this crisis represents an incredible opportunity for the U.S. to step back on to the world stage and take action. The Bush administration has pointed out in the past how U.S. aid to Africa has increased dramatically over the past eight years. However, much of that aid has gone to help the fight against HIV/AIDS.
While this is an important step, other areas needing vital investment should not be overlooked in the zeal of working to combat the spread of HIV/AIDS. Earlier this week President Bush announced $200 million in emergency food aid for developing countries. This aid should be expanded to help other food programs maintain their operations. However, direct food aid will not solve the structural problems, namely growing populations and inefficient farms, that have led to the shortfall in agricultural produce for Africa and developing countries.
While current U.S. foreign aid programs include an agricultural component, this needs to be expanded to fill the needs of future demand so that the current situation will not reoccur. This aid could take the form of providing larger agricultural training programs, improved farm implements, better seeds or any number of other useful items.
More efficient farming methods could also help poor farmers cope with the sometimes-difficult growing conditions caused by climate change. The other area that deserves more funding priority is birth control. There is no doubt that the growing demand for food is partly caused by rising populations in developing countries. Yet this year, the Bush administration is proposing to spend an amount less than 1/3 the 1995 level on birth control. Family planning programs and birth control are essential needs for Africa. Without a reduction in birth rates to sustainable levels, growing populations will eat away many of the gains made by increases in agricultural productivity.
The world’s image of the United States has been hurt over the past several years by a number of actions. Implementing a more comprehensive development program for poorer nations in reaction to this latest crisis would have the benefit of helping struggling countries as well as our own reputation.
Arguably, reducing agricultural subsidies to our own farmers would help avoid distorting the market in the way the ethanol subsidy has. However, the powerful farm interests in the United States have thus far blocked any action from being taken on this front. Given the unlikelihood of domestic action to help developing nations, increased development aid looks to be the best possibility to help alleviate the current crisis and avert a repeat of the current situation in the future.
Andrew Wagner (awagner@badgerherald.com) is a junior majoring in history and political science.
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The Bush administration has done more to help sub-Saharan Africa than any other president in history. That explains the hero’s welcome he got in a tour of the region this winter.
Oh…my…gosh… what a horrible opinion! I think I just puked in my mouth a little.
The rising cost of food in the US could possibly be due to, um, how you say, ah yes, expensive gasoline.
We need to start putting more cargo on trains while using tractor-trailers for short-haul deliveries. THERE IS NO REASON FOR TRUCKS TO DRIVE MORE THAN 200 MILES (at least in the inhabited portions of the country).
I agree with 7:47am…
Being someone who knows many people who work in the freight rail industry I know how much of an impact the switch to trailer hauling had on the industry. While people may have to do a little more work to get things into freight cars it is ultimately much cheaper. You can get trains that are 100+ cars long that take product to at least 15 different companies. Who knows how many semis that would take!
Zimbabwe used to have powerful farm interests too, but that was back when Zimbabwe used to be the breadbasket of Africa and export food to the hungry. They’ve been liberated from that by Mugabe.
I can only hope that such a savior or messiah like figure dosen’t come to power in the USA to “liberate” us from our powerful farm interests.
It’s a crises!!!! The sky is falling!!! Food and commodity prices that went nowhere for 30 years are rising!!!!! It has to be a result of Global Warming - yeah, that’s the ticket! Global Warming!!!!!!
Hey! Wait a minute… wouldn’t global warming make the sky RISE??? WOW - THAT WOULD BE A CRISES TOO!!!!!!! Oh Nooooooooooooooooo……..
SAVE ME BARACK! SAVE ME HILLY! SAVE ME ALGORE!!! SAVE ME UN!!!!!!
The preceding has been a simple illustration of classic liberal democrat ecofreak politics. No matter what the issue is, it IS A CRISES. It is A DISASTER. It is WORSE THAN EVER. And it is everyone else’s fault except liberal democrat ecofreaks….. Scare hell outta the masses with disaster talk. Push them into a political stampede and convince them it is for their own good. The ‘reasons’ don’t have to be valid or even factual because IT IS FOR THEIR OWN GOOD!!!!
‘Honest Algore’ was pushing corn-based ethanol a few years back, as a panacea to Global Warming. The Herd listened… and the stampede was on. As ye sow, liberals, so shall ye reap……
It’s called the Law Of Unintended Consequences, dear liberal democrat ecofreaks. It’s time you learned it because ….IT’S FOR YOUR OWN GOOD.
1:50,
Congratulations, that was probably the most incoherent post Ive ever seen in the Badger Herald!
I suspect there’s still plenty of food if it could be distributed fairly.
Less aid money ending up in the poor countrys kleptocracy’s Swiss bank accounts would help too.
“Scare hell outta the masses with disaster talk. Push them into a political stampede and convince them it is for their own good. The ‘reasons’ don’t have to be valid or even factual because IT IS FOR THEIR OWN GOOD!!!!”
you’re right,those rational republicans would never do that… cough WMDs cough
All you transnational citizens of the world should form a posse and prosecute Al Gore for violating the “right to food.”
http://instapundit.com/archives2/018390.php
There once was a man named Gore, who thought he had a climate change cure, then things like grain and rice, went far up in price, now he’s to blame for starving the poor!