Why it the rice shortage has not hit America I’m not sure, perhaps its because we still have a decent sized inventory of the product. Or maybe in America we supplement rice with other grains such as wheat and America has much land for bread basket.

Worldwide rising food costs are kind of like worldwide inflation of food prices. All curriencies don’t stretch as far relative to the price of food.

The first step is for governments to zone land for agriculture. Capacity (nutritional survival) is the key - by filling everybody’s

It may not get any better for years. I can’t quite see how we the richer nations can afford to support the (hungry fellow human beings - where the food crisis are most impact - people straving).

We need to:

1. Plant all the corn/rice/wheat/potatoes as we can.

(The ladder to sustainability: Water, food, shelter and education/jobs).

2. Unfortunately we in order to save lives we need to help the hungry eat for a period of time until they are able to work and pay for their food again. The problem is who do you sell or give the food to (criteria - sell to those who can pay the highest price - capitalism versus give food to the most in need).

3. To produce such huge crops to feed the world Canada (of which our competitors for farming is Australia - had a drought and forest fires) has escaped any really serious calamities. Canada should plough all the land available. For example the pine beetle dead forest, could be ploughed over and corn grown. It would be foolish to count out Australia though as they are perhaps the most industrious people I have ever seen.

I like corn because you have two of the hottest markets 1. bio fuels - clean and becoming more affordable relative to petroleum; 2. food for the hungry…

YOU HEARD IT HERE FIRST
Perhaps there will be a balance eventually between a thrid world’s countries’ prices for crops and the rural people willing to work the farms (who may see their labour costs close the gap with factory workers who work near and outside citiy hubs). Is thia communism or captalism…in defense of capitalism resources are being allocated to farmers now that their products are high in demand and can demand a high price.
If the price is high enough economic migrants may even leave the factories and go back to working the land.
This is assuming there is clean air and water and labour without modern machinery is worth it.
It is an idealistic compromise.
I have an alternate solution, some of these big developing nations with large lands and cheap labour (perhaps in the future with modern machinery as well)…WHOSE LAND SOIL AND AIR are polluted could grow bio-crops (since a little pollution in fuel may not be as harmful as injestion) eg. into ethanol and then sell; either the dried corn kernels and or ethanol delivered in super tankers to developed countries, and then these developing nations could use the profit they make to buy unpolluted food

If countries which produce grains continue to restrict it’s farmers from exporting and getting a fair international market price, then food smuggling will become a big issue. An issue even bigger than contraband such as arms and drugs.

Imagine, customs officers looking for illegal guns and drugs, not realizing that the rice passing through customs is smuggled contraband as well.

An outrageous and not to be taken seriously idea to be sure, yet families in the current war zones of Iraq and elsewhere are essentially doing the same by forcing daughters and wives into prostitution. The very next story on last nights BBC was all about “the Sport” where men who kick balls around are paid millions.

The disparity in opportunity between males and females is a direct product of the imbalance between how each gender is valued. So why should you expect there to be balance in the distribution of goods and services (including fuel and food) when you don’t value each other in a fair and balanced way?

I am a musician, free-lance writer, and inventor. I have to waste time in “day-jobs” that don’t utilize my talents and skills. Meanwhile rap and hip-hop clogs the airwaves and mediocre drivel pours from the MSM. I have an invention that could produce endless free energy. How do I get it into the market place when all that ever seems to emerge are more profit oriented non-solutions like biofuel?

It’s true I don’t have another solution - maybe this is all we have!

-Portland, Oregon

Now, how do we do that? I believe that this is a cultural issue and should be the responsibility of the government of the country and the schools. In my experience, the reality on the ground is much different from the law in the books. People still rely heavily on brute strength and political power/ influence to gain access to lands and water. I, for one, would feel more secure investing in horticulture/ agriculture if I knew that the property rights and water rights would be respected. I also need to know that my agricultural investment and operation is something that will be respected and appreciated by my neighbors.

I know of one large vegetable producer who went bankrupt largely because of a lack of support from the local community. Many of my neighbors have been busy over the past weeks dividing the farm (by force) amongst themselves. This particular producer was exporting 100% of his produce to the U.K. and other European markets. Isn’t it ridiculous that a country like Tanzania is exporting (by plane) fresh beans, baby corn and other veggies to the U.K. and other European markets? Also, be aware that these markets demand beans of a certain length, diameter, and straightness, in addition to no blemishes or insect damage, and they should not have any chemical residue. Shouldn’t people in the U.K. be growing their own vegetables? Shouldn’t people in Tanzania grow their own?

Also, something to consider…In Tanzania, there seems to be a negative attitude towards large-scale farming operations. So, these large-scale farmers (both local and foreign) don’t always have the support of the local surrounding communities. So, going large-scale and mechanized might not be the most culturally feasible.

I love the fact that all school children in Tanzania walk to school with a hoe in their hand. If you know how to hoe and have the calloused hands to prove it, you’ve got something to be proud of here. I love this. However, I feel like many small scale farmers need to have better access to information regarding the latest technologies and information regarding farming practices and different crops. So many people just grow corn and beans. I would like to see more emphasis on fruit trees, nut trees, and other crops which can feed a family and also be sold at a local market.

To me, focusing on local markets is key. Also, focusing on local inputs is key. I currently rely heavily on fertilizers produced in South Africa, China, and some European countries. To me this is frightening. The price of these fertilizers has increased tremendously this past year, which I understand is mainly due to an increase in demand for these fertilizers by grain producers throughout the world. The interest of farmers to grow these grains is related to the rising cost of these grains on the market and the rising cost of these grains seems mainly to be due to the increase in corn production in the West for bio-fuels. Well, that’s what I’ve heard from my fertilizer suppliers. One of my fertilizer suppliers actually told me that I should consider using more composts and manures. Interesting coming from somebody who makes his living by selling these fertilizers.

In Tanzania, I would like to see more diversified small scale farming with a solid knowledge base and little or no foreign inputs. I would also like to see more Americans and Europeans getting their hands dirty and growing their own food. Does the fast paced Western life-style allow for that? Wendell Berry has written some great stuff on this subject.

Let’s keep it real and down-to-earth. That’s where the soil is and that’s where our food comes from.

All the Best,
Erik

Bright in Malawi

“The chronically tight food supply the world is now facing is driven by the cumulative effect of several well established trends that are affecting both global demand and supply. On the demand side, the trends include the continuing addition of 70 million people per year to the earth’s population, the desire of some 4 billion people to move up the food chain and consume more grain-intensive livestock products, and the recent sharp acceleration in the U.S. use of grain to produce ethanol for cars. … Meanwhile, on the supply side, there is little new land to be brought under the plow unless it comes from clearing tropical rainforests in the Amazon and Congo basins and in Indonesia, or from clearing land in the Brazilian cerrado, a savannah-like region south of the Amazon rainforest. Unfortunately, this has heavy environmental costs: the release of sequestered carbon, the loss of plant and animal species, and increased rainfall runoff and soil erosion. And in scores of countries prime cropland is being lost to both industrial and residential construction and to the paving of land for roads, highways, and parking lots for fast-growing automobile fleets. New sources of irrigation water are even more scarce than new land to plow. … Meanwhile, the backlog of agricultural technology that can be used to raise cropland productivity is dwindling. And the rising price of oil is boosting the costs of both food production and transport while at the same time making it more profitable to convert grain into fuel for cars. Beyond this, climate change presents new risks. Crop-withering heat waves, more-destructive storms, and the melting of the Asian mountain glaciers that sustain the dry-season flow of that region’s major rivers, are combining to make harvest expansion more difficult. In the past the negative effect of unusual weather events was always temporary; within a year or two things would return to normal. But with climate in flux, there is no norm to return to.

“Business-as-usual is no longer a viable option. Food security will deteriorate further unless leading countries can collectively mobilize to stabilize population, restrict the use of grain to produce automotive fuel, stabilize climate, stabilize water tables and aquifers, protect cropland, and conserve soils. Stabilizing population is not simply a matter of providing reproductive health care and family planning services. It requires a worldwide effort to eradicate poverty.

“The challenge is not simply to deal with a temporary rise in grain prices, as in the past, but rather to quickly alter those trends whose cumulative effects collectively threaten the food security that is a hallmark of civilization. If food security cannot be restored quickly, social unrest and political instability will spread and the number of failing states will likely increase dramatically, threatening the very stability of civilization itself.”

Lester Brown. The Earth Policy Institute
http://www.earthpolicy.org/Updates/2008/Update72.htm