World food price surge to spell disaster for poorest

Next year will prove to be a very difficult one for the hungry. World food stocks have fallen to dangerously low levels.

The UN estimates there will be 5.5% less wheat on the world market in 2013.
If the world experiences another shock, such as the droughts experienced in the US and Russia this year, 2013 could prove to be catastrophic for those who already struggle to feed themselves and their families.

The world's poorest people spend between 50% and 90% of their income on food, compared with just 10%-15% in developed countries.

Even a small price increase will mean families are forced to take their children out of school, sell possessions, or go without vital medicines in order to put food on the table.

Putting a stop to the pending food price crisis requires a radical new approach to the way we grow and manage food. Read more >>

Real food, real simple

It’s so simple.

Don’t eat anything that comes from a factory – and that includes meat.

The food industry is bigger than the oil industry and every bit as corrupt and manipulative. If they had their way, all food would come in a box, filled with low-cost garbage ingredients, and marked up to the moon.

Thanks to their bribery and bullying that already describes the federal school lunch program. They stand ready to legally attack anyone who speaks the truth, even deep pockets celebrities like Oprah Winfrey who declared on her show she would never eat another hamburger and was sued by the cattle ranching industry for defamation.

It’s remarkably easy to avoid the personal health catastrophe that factory foods lead to: don’t eat them! It’s that simple.

Deflationists Can Kiss My $$$

Hours cut, wages cut, unemployment up, foreclosures up, credit card interests rates are up, oil up, energy prices up, and now for the 3rd year in a row food prices are up while the dollar goes down. There's no deflation for the working man.

Steep food price increases on way
Reuters reports U.S. food prices will rise by at least 7 percent in 2009 because of higher feed costs for chickens, hogs and cattle, said a group of food-industry economists on Thursday.

It would be the third year in a row that food prices rose faster than the overall U.S. inflation rate. Food inflation is the highest since 1990.

"The sizable increase in the cost of producing food has not been fully passed on to the consumer," said private consultant Bill Lapp. He foresaw food inflation of 7 percent-9 percent in 2009.

During a teleconference, economists from the National Chicken Council and the consultancy Farm Econ said food inflation could be 7 percent-8 percent. The teleconference was arranged by a group of major foodmakers.

Wholesale prices for items used by foodmakers have climbed more rapidly than grocery and restaurant prices, so higher consumer prices are in store, said Lapp.

Although grain prices have declined since summer, this year's corn, wheat and soybean crops are forecast to fetch prices at the farm gate that are double their 2005 levels. Corn and soybeans are major ingredients in feed rations.

"We've been losing money for more than a year," said Bill Roenigk, economist for the Chicken Council, who said producers intend to cut production by as much as 12 percent. "We need to recover these feed costs."

Thomas Elam, head of Farm Econ, said poultry, hog and cattle producers would cut production in coming months because of feed costs, meaning less meat on the retail market but at higher prices.

Menu prices are restaurants up 4.3 percent so far this year, the largest increase since 1990, said Hudson Riehle of the National Restaurant Association. He said one-third of each sales dollar goes to food purchases.

Agriculture Department forecasts also say pricey meats will drive food inflation in 2008.

Americans spend more than $1 trillion a year on groceries, snacks, carry-out foods and restaurant meals. Farmers get 20 cents of the food dollar. The rest goes to processing, labor, transportation and distribution.