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High energy prices and bad weather -- including blistering hot temperatures, flooding in some places and drought in others -- hurt this year’s agricultural output. But farmers agree that a major problem is the soaring price of corn, which is used directly in products like cereal, and indirectly as livestock feed. Corn is nearly twice as expensive now as it was last summer -- even though US farmers planted the second-largest crop since World War II. Why? Well, 40 percent of the crop goes to produce 12.6 billion gallons of ethanol to meet the government’s renewable fuel standards. In other...

The Umpires Strike Back June 25, 2011: Famine is not the only horror found in North Korea. There is also the growing hunt for corrupt officials. This has caused yet another layer of corruption. That's because so many of corruption investigators, or their bosses, are either on the take, or have family who are. One problem is that the list of what is forbidden is so long. For example, products from South Korea are forbidden, but this stuff is enormously popular. So inspectors expect labels from South Korean clothing to be removed, to avoid hassles for the seller. South Korean...

World Bank President Robert Zoellick appeared at the ministers' side during the news conference to express his support for the new measures and the seriousness of price swings. "We are not going to be able to stop food prices from going up and down, but we can smooth out the swings and we can protect the poor whether they are small farmers or consumers," he said. One of the key aspects of the new accord is the Agricultural Market Information System that would stave off panic food speculation by making instantly available to all countries the state of world food...

U.S. won’t donate good food to North, says King June 04, 2011 Robert King, a U.S. special envoy who traveled to North Korea last week, said Wednesday that if the United States restarts food aid to the communist country, it’s not going to send good stuff that would be diverted to the military, including rice. “The kinds of food we provide would be the kinds of foods that are less desirable for the elite, for the military,” King told the U.S. House Foreign Affairs Committee Wednesday. “For example, we would not provide rice. We would focus on some kind of...

The world grain inventories were already depleted from truly terrible weather in 2010. Now we are seeing even worse weather so far this year. China is experiencing its worst drought in 50 years. The government says this weather is decimating a major grain belt, and it is leaving livestock without water. Fish farms have been ruined. Who knows the long term effects? More than 4.3M people are having trouble finding drinking water. Actually this last is a much bigger problem throughout China, which has a long term drinking water problem. The Chinese have released extra water from the Three Gorges...

Rice Gone from Tokyo Area Supermarkets Tokyo, March 16 (Jiji Press)--Rice has sold out at supermarkets in the Tokyo metropolitan area due to the disruption of transportation networks in the Tohoku northeastern Japan region hit by the massive 9.0-magnitude earthquake Friday. Given the emergency situation, Ito-Yokado supermarkets, operated by Seven & i Holdings Co. <3382>, held special sales events in the Tokyo metropolitan area Wednesday, and customers stood in long lines in front of the stores well ahead of their opening. "Now that school lunches have been suspended, I need more rice than usual," a housewife in her 40s from...

Here's a question about the Mideast turmoil for future historians: How much did food inflation contribute? We know some basic facts. Middle East countries import 50 percent or more of their wheat, a staple food for many. Beginning in mid-2010, world grain prices exploded. At $8.56 a bushel in February, wheat prices had doubled in eight months. Despite massive subsidies, some higher prices filtered through to consumers. Did that create a tinderbox for protest? "In both Tunisia and Egypt, women in TV interviews screamed about food prices," says Laurie Garrett of the Council on Foreign Relations. "Food inflation was a...

03-09-2011 16:56 'Food shortage in N. Korea overblown' By Na Jeong-ju North Korea appears to be cutting food rations for its people and soldiers to make the world believe that the food shortage there is becoming serious and deceptively receive more aid from South Korea and other nations, diplomatic sources said Wednesday. “The food shortage in North Korea could be overblown,” a senior Cheong Wa Dae official said on condition of anonymity. “In recent weeks, the Stalinist country has begged for food from many countries, even some poor African nations, saying that it’s becoming difficult to feed its people due...

Everywhere you look today the mainstream news is talking about shortages. Authorities all over the globe are boldly proclaiming that the world is rapidly running out of food, water and oil. So are these doomsayers right? Well, it must be noted that some of the most famous "prophets of doom" of the past several decades have seen their predictions fail spectacularly. For example, in his infamous 1968 book entitled "The Population Bomb", Paul Ehrlich made the following statement: "I don't see how India could possibly feed two hundred million more people by 1980." Well, India is now feeding well over...

N.Korea 'Importing Animal Feed for Human Consumption 'North Korea is reportedly importing animal feed grain from China to distribute on the market for human consumption as the regime struggles with food shortages. According to Radio Free Asia, Pyongyang gave the animal feed to its military as well as to merchants, bringing down the surging cost of rice. A source in North Korea said the feed is commonly darker in color than normal rice and is often mixed with chaff and stones. The U.S.-based broadcaster said lower prices caused by several natural disasters in China last year allowed the North to...

And so the tide rising all commodities keeps coming: rough rice has just passed its December 2009 high and is now at its highest since October 2008. When we predicted on Monday morning that "rice is next", little did we think that it would be up by 11% in 4 days. And with this important resistance level broken, it is smooth sailing to the next two resistance levels of $20 and $24. Of course, Bangladesh will be in flames long before any of those are hit. But a speculator has to eat, right. After all, none of this is Gen...

Even Islamists have to eat. It is unclear whether President Hosni Mubarak of Egypt will survive, or whether his nationalist regime will be replaced by an Islamist, democratic, or authoritarian state. What is certain is that it will be a failed state. Amid the speculation about the shape of Arab politics to come, a handful of observers, for example economist Nourel Roubini, have pointed to the obvious: Wheat prices have almost doubled in the past year. Egypt is the world's largest wheat importer, beholden to foreign providers for nearly half its total food consumption. Half of Egyptians live on less...

Soaring food prices have been, perhaps, the most pressing global issue of the past two years – yet the U.S. Federal Reserve has taken a "hear no evil, see no evil, speak no evil" approach to the global crisis. Instead, the Fed has dutifully maintained its focus on so called "core inflation" in the United States – even as Americans suffer the consequences of the "hidden inflation" the government refuses to account for. The Federal Reserve excludes food and fuel prices from its preferred gauge of inflation because they are often influenced by erratic weather patterns and political turmoil. That...

The run-up in global commodity prices is stirring debate in a number of countries over the role of financial speculators, a prospect that could fuel a regulatory backlash by governments keen to control food prices.

<p>As we know, massive popular unrest has broken out against autocratic governments in North Africa and the Arab world. Egypt is the biggest story. But to varying degrees, the people have taken to the streets in Algeria, Jordan, Libya, Morocco, and Yemen.</p>

Political risk has returned with a vengeance. The first food revolutions of our Malthusian era have exposed the weak grip of authoritarian regimes in poor countries that import grain, whether in North Africa today or parts of Asia tomorrow.If you insist on joining the emerging market party at this stage of the agflation blow-off, avoid countries with an accelerating gap between rich and poor. Cairo’s EGX stock index has dropped 20pc in nine trading sessions. Events have moved briskly since a Tunisian fruit vendor with a handcart set fire to himself six weeks ago, and in doing so lit the...

After 24 years in Canada, Rafik and Leila Baladi moved back to Cairo two weeks ago to settle down. Now, like many other residents of the Egyptian capital, they're stocking up on bottled water and essential foodstuffs as chaos engulfs this sprawling city of some 18 million. "We just don't know what is going to happen," said Leila, who along with her husband was pushing a shopping cart loaded with frozen chicken breasts, fava beans, milk and other items at a grocery store in central Cairo. "People are terrified to death." Everyday life in Cairo has been turned upside down...

Commodities traders have warned they are seeing the first signs of panic buying from states concerned about the political implications of rising prices for staple crops. However, the tactic risks simply further pushing up prices, analysts have warned, pushing a spiral of food inflation. Governments in Asia, the Middle East and North Africa have recently made large food purchases on the open market in the wake of unrest in Tunisia which deposed president Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali. Resentment at food shortages and high prices, as well as repression and corruption, drove the popular uprising which swept away his government. Youths...

U.S. grain prices should stay unrelentingly high this year, according to a Reuters poll, the latest sign that the era of cheap food has come to an end. U.S. corn, soybeans and wheat prices -- which surged by as much has 50 percent last year and hit their highest levels since mid-2008 -- will dip by at most 5 percent by the end of 2011, according to the poll of 16 analysts. The forecasts suggest no quick relief for nations bedeviled by record high food costs that have stoked civil unrest. It means any extreme weather event in a grains-producing...

Events have moved briskly since a Tunisian fruit vendor set fire to himself six weeks ago, and thereby lit the fuse that has detonated Egypt and threatens to topple the political order of the Maghreb, Yemen, and beyond. As Al-Jazeera broadcasts authority crumbling in the cultural and political capital of the Arab world, exhilaration can turn quickly to foreboding. Whatever the aspirations of those on the streets of Cairo, such uprisings are easy prey for tight-knit organizations – known in the revolutionary lexicon as Leninist vanguard parties. In Egypt this means the Muslim Brotherhood. The Brotherhood is a different kettle...

--snip--Today there is a global food shortage and skyrocketing prices. This has become the underlying factor in the riots in Tunisia, Algeria, and Egypt, where up to 56% of a person's income is dedicated to the acquisition of food. These riots are now leading to the upheaval of governments and the very real possibility of the ascendancy of the radical elements into control...

While discontent, resentment and nationalism continue to fuel demonstrations, one vital staple is in short supply: food. Many families in Egypt are fast running out of staples such as bread, beans and rice and are often unable or unwilling to shop for groceries. "Everything is running out. I have three children, and I only have enough to feed them for maybe two more days. After that I do not know what we will do." school administrator Gamalat Gadalla told CNN. The unrest has paralyzed daily life in Egypt with many grocers closing shop and spotty food shipments. "With the curfew,...

World food prices continued to rise sharply in December, bringing them close to the crisis levels that provoked shortages and riots in poor countries three years ago, according to newly released United Nations data. Prices are expected to remain high this year, prompting concern that the world may be approaching another crisis, although economists cautioned that many factors, like adequate stockpiles of key grains, could prevent a serious problem. The food price index of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization rose 32 percent from June to December, according to the report published Wednesday. In December, the index was slightly...

The following is a vision spoken by Dr. Lester Sumrall that I believe we should pay close attention to in this economic crisis. Sometimes when judging a prophecy or vision we can make the mistake in accurately pinpointing timing. The more mature prophets are able to do this. Although this prophecy came in 1987, in the light of the looming economic depression, I believe it applies to right now. Here’s the part that I want to emphasize to you: And He said “This is what I want you to do. I want you to let my people know that these...

'N.Koreans Crossing Border to Steal Food in China' [2010-09-09, 08:54:59] Radio Free Asia says that incidents of groups of North Koreans stealing crops from farms located in border regions with China are becoming more frequent in recent days. Citing a Chinese source, the U.S. broadcaster said that as food shortages worsen in the North, more and more North Koreans are crossing the border to steal food in areas near the Tumen River. News outlets on North Korea say that North Korean escapees have bribed officials to cross the border in the past, but that these days people are crossing the...

What is devastating the world's honeybees? In what appears to be a honeybee mystery of Armageddon proportions that has baffled scientists and beekeepers, more than one-third of the nation's bee population is mysteriously disappearing – and researchers warn the unexplained phenomenon threatens one-third of the American diet.

N.Korea Distributes Rice from Military Storage Food prices in North Korea have stabilized because the regime took the emergency measure of distributing rice stored for the military, a high-ranking South Korean government official said Thursday. The Unification Ministry told the National Assembly on April 13 that the price of rice in North Korea was around 20 won per kilogram right after the botched currency reform late last year but soared to 1,000 won in mid-March. In early April, the price dropped to 500-600 won. At the time, experts predicted that the lean season in April and May coupled with the...

North Korean leader Kim Jong Il is ignoring economic and political advice from his last remaining patron; China. Kim is carrying out a propaganda campaign to anoint his youngest son (Kim Jong Un) as his heir apparent. Kim also refuses to adopt economic reforms (along Chinese lines, with a free market economy). The recent currency revaluation (which wiped out the savings of most North Koreans, especially those that ran small businesses), and the attempt to shut down the few free markets, turned out disastrously. Kim Jong Il made a rare public apology, but responded by punishing dozens of senior officials...

/begin my excerpts N. Korean Army Running out of Food...Soldiers Ordered to Sleep Rather Than Do Training 2010-03-04 03:00 Sources, "Officers go AWOL for a long time to feed himself." N. Korea's recent shortage of food is reaching close to the level during the famine in 90's, aka 'March of Suffering.' In particular, discontinued food aid from international community is reportedly hurting soldiers most. Sources say that food situation in N. Korean military have rapidly deteriorated since the second half of last year. Civilians learned to survive without government ration, but soldiers cannot survive unless the state provide them with...

/begin my excerpts Output Severely Cut at N. Korea's Best Paper Mill... Party Newspaper May Run out of Paper? Free North Korea Radio airs a conversation with a woman from Hyesan City Due to food shortage, workers could not report to work... lumber for paper no longer supplied As economic crisis in N. Korea worsens, it reportedly affected the operation of 'Factory No. 121,' which produces best quality paper(in N. Korea) and exclusively supplies news print paper for Rodong Shinmun(the party's official daily.) 'Free North Korea Radio,' a short-wave radio broadcast run by N. Korean defectors, posted audio file and...

Violence in N.Korea as hunger woes mount: reports AFP February 3, 2010, 1:15 am SEOUL (AFP) - Angry North Koreans have attacked security agents as hunger woes mount following a crackdown on free-market trade, according to reports on Tuesday from groups in Seoul with contacts in the communist state. Social unrest and riots have flared since a shock currency revaluation by Pyongyang last November worsened shortages of food and other goods for an increasingly desperate population, they said. /snip "Therefore, people are taking revenge on agents, since they feel so desperate that regardless of their actions, they will die," the...

North Korea 'struggling against civil unrest' The revaluation of the won has led to rampant inflation and civil disorder Richard Lloyd Parry, Asia Editor The North Korean dictatorship is struggling to contain civil unrest and runaway inflation caused by a drastic revaluation of its won currency, which is threatening new food shortages in the already hungry nation, according to reports in South Korea. /snip Agents of the People’s Safety Agency (PSA), which is conducting a so-called “Fifty Day Battle” against illegal enterprise, were reported to have been attacked and driven away as they sought out market activity in the city...

Legendary investor Jim Rogers remains bullish on commodities and says the world will soon face food shortages. "The fundamentals (for agriculture) have gotten better," he says. "The inventories are now at the lowest they've been in decades, not in years.” And that trend is just intensifying, Rogers tells CNBC. “ Things are getting worse. Many farmers can’t get loans to buy fertilizer now, even though we have big shortages developing " And what will be the end result of this dynamic? "Sometime in the next few years we're going to have very serious shortages of food everywhere in the world,...

N. Korean currency crackdown fuels inflation, food shortages By Blaine Harden Washington Post Foreign Service Thursday, January 7, 2010; A11 TOKYO -- Strong-armed currency reform in North Korea, which has confiscated the savings of small businesses and forbidden the use of foreign money, is now causing runaway inflation and contributing to food shortages, according to several reports from inside the closed state. Currency reform is part of an aggressive crackdown on free markets by North Korean leader Kim Jong Il. His government has ordered the closure by the end of March of a large wholesale market in the northeastern port...

The latest United Nations concern is the fear of a global food shortage. However, the U.N. and the United States are to blame for the crisis. It is interesting that food shortages in the world first became apparent over the last decade coinciding with the US-led effort to change the world's industry from growth to stagnation in an attempt to convert it to a green-based economy.

N.Korea 'Reverses Conventional Wisdom on Human Growth' A popular view in anthropology is that children born in late spring or early summer are taller than those born in late fall or early winter. Researchers from all over the world say it is a universal phenomenon regardless of race or region that height varies according to the time of birth. Anthropologists have not been able to find out why, but guess that the amount of sunshine has some effect on physical growth of human beings. However, research on children born in the early 1990s in North Korea produced results that are...

Sen Gregg’s statements about bankrupting the country and the path ahead being unsustainable for our children were very sobering. I trust his judgment and take him at his word. However, these statements sorely need to be expanded upon and put into practical terms. I know it would all be speculation, but what would it mean to me now, 10 years from now, 20 year or more down the road if the US went bankrupt? I am 39 years old and in my working life have really known nothing less than prosperity and growth. I know that I’ve heard complaints about...

If the American people ever allow private banks to control the issue of their money, first by inflation and then by deflation, the banks and corporations that will grow up around them will deprive the people of their property until their children will wake up homeless on the continent their fathers conquered.” -Thomas Jefferson Well we are now living in a time when we are being told that there is a shortage of oil and food. The demand for food and gasoline is up but the supply has not gone up and that means higher prices. It now costs 5$...

"Canine cuisine is being sent to the doghouse during next month's Beijing Olympic Games. Dog meat has been struck from the menus of officially designated Olympic restaurants and Beijing tourism officials are telling other outlets to discourage consumers from ordering dishes made from dogs, the official Xinhua News Agency reported Friday. "

Food riots. Scores of panicked people protesting, burning effigies and chanting. Shops being ransacked, supplies running out as soon as they come in, and stricken communities stockpiling rice, bread and water for fear of going without. These have happened in Haiti and Egypt in recent months as the price of scarce food has soared. But what if they happened on the streets of Bromley? Or Newcastle? Or Bath? As bizarre as this might seem, the prospect of UK food shortages has started to be taken seriously by food manufacturers and retailers. The global food shortage has raced to the top...

31,000 Signatures Prove ‘No Consensus’ About Global WarmingBRIEFING | BY MELINDA ZOSH - INTERN | MAY 22, 2008 Presidential candidate Barack Obama said on Monday that “we have to get used to the idea that we can’t keep our houses at 72, drive our SUVs and eat all we want.” Arthur B. Robinson, president and professor of chemistry at the Oregon Institute of Science and Medicine, has a different response. “I don’t want to give up eating all I want because of a failed hypothesis,” said Robinson at the National Press Club here on May 19. Robinson said global warming...

May 4, 2008 By Greg Evensen NewsWithViews.com Hyperbole is not something I engage in for shock value alone and it is definitely not something I enjoy contemplating while discussing our national state of affairs. However, it is becoming more and more commonplace in discussions that deal with the United States and its immediate future. If, as casual readers of current events, you have become aware of the escalating sense of urgency, with the impending multiple world crises, then you are most likely comprehending the current history making events as they unfold. Wars and rumors of war, pestilence, mysterious shakings in...

The global food crisis reached the United States yesterday as big retailers began to ration sales of rice in response to bulk purchases by customers alarmed by rocketing prices of staples. Wal-Mart's cash and carry division, Sam's Club, announced it would sell a maximum of four bags of rice per person to prevent supplies from running short. Its decision followed sporadic caps placed on purchases of rice and flour by some store managers at a rival bulk chain, Costco, in parts of California. The world price of rice has risen 68% since the start of 2008, but in some US...

World Bank president calls for action as food prices cause rioting Jenny Booth The president of the World Bank has called for immediate action to deal with rapidly rising food prices that have caused hunger and deadly violence and threatened the economic stability of the world's poorest countries. A doubling of food prices over the last two years was potentially pushing 100 million people deeper into long-term poverty, said Robert Zoellick. “We have to put our money where our mouth is now, so that we can put food into hungry mouths. It is as stark as that,” Mr Zoellick said...

In the last year, the price of wheat has tripled, corn doubled, and rice almost doubled. As prices soared, food riots have broken out in about 20 poor countries including Yemen, Haiti, Egypt, Pakistan, Indonesia, Ivory Coast, and Mexico. In response some countries, such as India, Pakistan Egypt and Vietnam, are banning the export of grains and imposing food price controls. Are rising food prices the result of the economic dynamism of China and India, in which newly prosperous consumers are demanding more food—especially more meat? Perennial doomsters such as the Earth Policy Institute's Lester Brown predicted more than a...

N.K. asks China for massive rice aid: report SEOUL, April 4 (Yonhap) - North Korea recently asked China to provide massive rice aid for its hungry people amid a flare-up in tensions with South Korea, a news report said Friday. Pyongyang has also decided not to request rice and fertilizer aid from South Korea until Seoul moves to improve ties, the report by the vernacular daily Hankyoreh said. It cited a diplomatic source who is well informed about North Korea-China relations and an unnamed South Korean official who recently returned from a trip to Pyongyang. Seoul's Foreign Ministry said it...

/begin my translation In Pyongyang, No Food Ration Until October As of late March, food situation in Pyongyang is serious. Pyongyang (city authorities) stopped food ration in all districts for six months starting April. Some officials in Pyongyang say that food ration has never been stopped this long even during the "March of Suffering"(note: massive famine in mid-90's.) Still Pyongyang residents have some spare cash. They can go out and buy food in Pyong-sung, Sariwon, and Nampo, when their food runs out. They also have some food in stock now. There are few starvation victims so far. However, their food...

'Huge Food Shortage In North Korea' By Sky News SkyNews - Thursday, March 20 03:18 pmA dire food shortage across North Korea has become so acute it has started to affect the country's elite in the capital, Pyongyang, reports say. Aid agency Good Friends says food rations for some parts of the city have been cut by up to 60%, while others have seen their supplies cut off completely. Only citizens who show absolute loyalty to leader Kim Jong Il and his regime are allowed to live in Pyongyang and are considered better off than their fellow countrymen. But the...

Scientists say poorer populations in vulnerable countries could starve if a disease called Ug-99 hits yields hard enough to push up wheat prices. There is already a global wheat shortage and UN agencies are concerned about the impact of high food prices. Ug-99 is a form of black stem rust that prevents wheat taking up nutrients and can wipe out whole harvests. Scientists at the John Innes Centre, in England, are trying to find wheat with a natural resistance to the disease. Most wheat grown in Africa, Asia and China, has little resistance to Ug-99. The BBC's Anna Hill says...

March 5, 2008 Forget biofuels — we need to concentrate on our daily bread Steve Hawkes Britain's biggest food producer has called on the Government to free more farmland for growing wheat in an effort to combat spiralling raw material prices. Premier Foods said that further price rises on Hovis, its leading bread brand, and other everyday products were almost inevitable as food companies struggle with unprecedented cost pressures. The warning came yesterday as Premier reported a £73.5 million pre-tax loss for 2007 and almost halved its shareholder dividend. It also revealed a deal with banks that would raise its...