Читать книгу The Atlas of Food - Erik Millstone - Страница 14

Current Concerns

USA – maize for biofuels

In the USA, the use of maize for ethanol production more than doubled between 2000 and 2006. In 2007, 20% of the maize crop was used to produce ethanol, estimated to rise to 25% in 2008.

FOOD PRICES AROUND THE WORLD – both local and imported products – rose by nearly 40 percent in 2007, caused by a combination of factors that include the financial markets, environmental conditions, and policy decisions. Booming Asian economies are leading to a heightened demand for all kinds of food, but in particular for meat and dairy products, which rely on an increased supply of grain for animal feed. Cereal stocks in 2007/08, especially those of wheat, are predicted to be at their lowest since the early 1980s. Extreme weather conditions, including both droughts and floods, have affected both local food supplies and prices, and the global grain trade. High oil prices mean higher transport costs, which clearly impacts on global trade, but also on local retail prices. The increased demand for biofuels – in part a response to the need to combat climate change – is also a contributing factor, since it reduces the amount of grain available for food. Campaigners in Africa are highlighting a worrying trend towards the purchase of large areas of land by commercial companies intent on growing crops for fuel. While higher food prices may have little impact on some sectors of society, for people who may need to spend as much as 70 percent of their income on food, they bring real hardship, and even starvation. Protests against the high cost of staple foods took place around the globe in 2007, and in some countries government action was taken to freeze prices. Early in 2008, the World Food Programme warned that the sharp increase in the price of cereals was affecting its capacity to provide food aid for some of the world’s most vulnerable people.

Mexico – food riots

In January 2007, thousands of people protested against a doubling in the price of tortillas caused by farmers in the USA and Mexico replacing edible maize crops with industrial maize for processing into biofuels.

Peru – bread price

The price of imported wheat increased by 50% during 2007, resulting in rising bread prices.

Bee colony collapse

The recent collapse of honey bee colonies in Europe and the Americas may impact on agricultural production. Bees pollinate over 90 food crops, and play a role in one in three mouthfuls in the average American diet.

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