Biofuels, as the numbers making their way into the media at this time show, are also not quite the culprit they are made out to be because there has not yet been a significant substitution of biofuel crops for human food crops.

The finger still points in the same old direction: politics, and political meddling with agriculture. The single most useful step we could take would be to work to unilaterally dismantle our agricultural protectionist schemes. We already know that more food is grown when it can be sold more profitably, and as a happy side effect there is usually an increase in the amount available for local rather than exported consumption because rarely if ever is all of the increase exported – whether 100 miles or 10,000.

Note to self: “Buy as usual. Leave enough for the people who really need it.”

North Americans (especially, Canadians) spend a far smaller percentage of our total income on food than those poor bastards in hellholes like Haiti and Mauritania. We spend only about 11% of our income on food. They were spending up to 75% of their incomes on food. Now, the price of food has gone up by 50% to 100%. Those poor hungry dirt-eaters are being forced to pay 100%-150% of their total income on food. You don’t hafta be an economist to see how tough it is to spend 150% of your total income on food, alone. What about shelter? What about clothing? What about medicine?

FYI, in the 70’s, we spent 25% of our income on food. Between 1900-1940, we spent as much as 45% on food. Food is cheap for us now. We can afford to pay a lot more but the third world cannot.

We rich, well-fed Canadians can do a lot. We can quit eating so much meat. I’m not advocating an all-or-nothing choice. Most Canadian families eat meat as the main component of the evening meal. Many eat meat for breakfast and lunch, too.

Producing 1 kg of beef requires 8 kg of grain. The newly-arrived middle class in India and China are now in a position to emulate our North American diet. They’re buying meat for a few meals a week. If we give up meat for a few meals a week, we can help alleviate the grain shortage. No, it ain’t a 100% solution.

This food crisis is the result of several factors and only by addressing a combination of all those factors will we be able to prevent the starvation of millions and the civil disorder that is threatening to cause thousands of additional deaths. Cutting down on meat consumption is personal and easy. Except for the vegetarians among us, we can all make a minor adjustment to our diet and do a little bit. Every little bit helps.

We can also put pressure on our government to end their counterproductive support for biofuel development.

We can also look into our RRSP’s and mutual fund investments and uninvest in commodities. Unbridled speculation is helping drive prices to a point where millions face starvation. We don’t need to participate by allowing our mutfund managers to deliver us windfall profits on the empty stomachs of starving millions.

JB
(sorry about the longwinded comment. I could go on for another 1000 words.)

If you buy sacks that are woven (either cloth or some form of plastic) I’d recommend wrapping them in plastic (you can buy wide wrap at a moving supply place) for longer term storage. If you buy a big bag that contains more than you’d use in 3-6 months, break it down into large ziploc bags.

Same with flour and other grain products. For those not faint of heart, my mom used to sift the flour when living in the tropics – turf whatever remains in the seive (either dead bugs or eggs) and cook/bake/etc to her heart’s content. Oven temperatures (baking) and boiling water will kill whatever you missed (which she referred to as “added protein” – note that western grain products like flour, pasta, etc were very expensive and hard to come by, sounds like what we may soon be facing here). Her years being raised on a farm probably helped with the pragmatism, but hey, she turned 77 yesterday so it seems to have worked for her!

As for me, I better start stockpiling.

There’s an old Pete Seeger song about starving rabbits that contains the line, “They’ll pay more to kill you than to let you survive.”

The rich west can prevent this from developing into an utter catastrophe but it’s only just beginning to hit the MSM TV news radar.

I ain’t got much by way of hard statistical analytical mathematical figures but I reckon if every North American cut down the meat consumption by goin’ vegetarian 3 days a week, we could whip this crisis. It takes 8 lbs of grain to make 1 lb of meat.

Don’t even get me started on that dumbass ethanol…

JB
(I ain’t sure if I’m double-postin’ this. sorry if I am.)