Most of the people who would possibly ever care to read this thread probably will have food because we are aware and have the wits and/or resources to do so. Or perhaps we were just dumb lucky enough to be born in a wealthy wasteful society and will manage to be floated along, albeit at a higher cost.
But the poor- not the "poor" in the US, but the real poor of the world, those for which food costs are 40 or 50% of what they can meagerly scrape up to support themselves if they are lucky, have no ability to absorb higher costs. Higher costs and shortages don't mean they have to eat beans and rice for a while; beans and rice are what they could hardly afford before. It means violence or starvation or both.
The following is from a multi point summary contained in a proprietary research report that I can't post here in its entirety; the subject is primarily the 5 years we've been in this developing food crisis that is likely just getting ramped up:
7. Many of these increasing difficulties were reflected in the original 2008 food crisis and the 2011 rebound.
The last six weeks’ price rise is more threatening because it occurred despite very much larger plantings than
were available in 2008. Global demand is now so high and rising so fast and reserves are so low that price
sensitivity to weather setbacks has become extreme.
8. It seems likely that several countries dependent on foreign grain imports have in fact never recovered from
the 2008 shock. Countries like Egypt saw the percent of their consumer budget for food rise to 40%. At
this level, social pressures may be at an extreme and probably have already contributed to the Arab Spring.
Any price increases from here may cause social collapse and a wave of immigration on a scale never before
experienced in peacetime. Another doubling in grain prices would be catastrophic.
9. Strong countermeasures to prevent a food crisis would be effective in curtailing the current crisis and
preventing the development of a much greater crisis, but these measures will likely not be taken. This is
because the price signals for the rich countries are too weak – they can afford the higher price – and there is
inertia in all parts of the system. Also, the problems of malnutrition in distant countries are not generally felt
as high-order priorities in the richer countries.
10. If food pressures recur and are reinforced by fuel price increases, the risks of social collapse and global
instability increase to a point where they probably become the major source of international confrontations.
China is particularly concerned (even slightly desperate) about resource scarcity, especially food.
Yeah it is just getting better isn't it?
Cost of livin' gets so high,
Rich and poor they start to cry:
Now the weak must get strong;
They say, "Oh, what a tribulation!"
Them belly full, but we hungry;
A hungry mob is a angry mob.
A rain is fall, but the dirt it tough;
A pot is cook, but the food no 'nough.
Bob Marley- Them Belly Full
