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World Food Crisis Hits America

seattlepi.nwsource.com — Media reports are starting to trickle in about grocers limiting some food purchases, while Costco Wholesale Corp. is seeing higher-than-usual demand for staple foods such as rice and flour as consumers appear to be stocking up.

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  • cashman57, on 04/24/2008, -8/+35Looking at the price of commodities on the futures market one would be a fool not to take advantage of the prices today. We have double digit inflation, they just don't admit it.
    What it costs to produce a pound of flour has risen and there's no reason to believe the prices will do anything but increase all down the line.The same holds true for rice and beets and other foods.
    The prices we see today are the lowest we will see.
    • empirefalling, on 04/24/2008, -20/+1Central Control of supply and demand is needed here.
      • vault, on 04/24/2008, -4/+25Yeah because that worked so well in Soviet Russia. You're an idiot.
      • jmpeagle, on 04/24/2008, -2/+14that's kind of what started the problem
      • bosssmiley, on 04/24/2008, -4/+8Adam Smith says "No, you're wrong".
      • Jlaugh, on 04/24/2008, -0/+1Localizing food production and removal of corn subsidies would be a good start, moving back to organic farming, and eliminating oil from the food equation as much as possible would be a big help too.
    • dlllb, on 04/24/2008, -1/+11'AINT NO ***** FOOD CRISIS IN AMERICA!!
      • justok, on 04/24/2008, -0/+8i'll eat to that!
      • themastersb, on 04/24/2008, -0/+2Could this quell obesity?
        • Foxehh, on 04/24/2008, -0/+1If things get bad enough then yes :-)
          • Elliuotatar, on 04/24/2008, -1/+1Oh good. I went to a concert the other day and I paid good money to be seated front row center and just as I sat down this fatass comes over and sits down on my right, and then as I grumbled to myself about having to sit with my legs draped over the left side of the seat since his were spread wide encroaching into my space, this lady who was almost as big as the first comes and sits down on my left, so then I'm wdged between the fatties having to hold my legs together tightly just to avoid touching them.

            Thank god the show was not sold out and the woman moved over a seat before it started.

            The worst part is, they didn't need to wedge me in at all. They each had two kids with them, so they could have seated one of their kids next to me so as not to crowd us all, but they were apparently too stupid to realise that and I'm not rude enough to point it out.
      • GeneralFault, on 04/24/2008, -0/+2yet...
    • dOOBiEx213, on 04/24/2008, -8/+4lol we're all *****
    • didiman, on 04/24/2008, -10/+6double-digit inflation?...Please refrain from commenting on things that you know nothing about. Inflation is currently around 4%, maybe you're stuck in the 70s.
      • mtekk, on 04/24/2008, -2/+15That's the reported inflation, inflation on commodities is much higher than reported.
      • GeneralFault, on 04/24/2008, -1/+5Inflation is based on the cost of goods. Do me a favor. Go into your kitchen, open the refridgerator (there's probably one at your work too). Take out the gallon of milk and read the price. Is that what you paid last month? My 1/2 gallon costs $3.12 (that would be $6.24). Now just 6 months ago when gas was at a bout $3.00/gal here, I was using a fully backed up argument that the cost of gas was far cheaper per gallon than any liquid. Remember that argument? You've probably heard it. Now, milk costs nearly double that. How's your 4% now?
        • Foxehh, on 04/24/2008, -1/+1And its only going to get worse before it gets better.
        • Jlaugh, on 04/24/2008, -1/+3The official records are lies.
          • Foxehh, on 04/24/2008, -0/+2Do you have any proof to support this conclusion?
          • GeneralFault, on 04/25/2008, -0/+1Didn't I just give proof? What else do you need?
      • kaelyiesta, on 04/24/2008, -0/+1CPI, when compounded with reported inflation gives us a clearer picture of true inflation. Thats what Cashman57 probably is referring to.

        http://www.bls.gov/CPI/
    • ChickenFight, on 04/24/2008, -4/+2im with didiman dude you do know nothing...just cause inflation is growing now..does not mean we wont run into a recession that will eventually stablize our economy over a period of time...things will balance out in due time
    • freexe, on 04/24/2008, -1/+5I think that's is fairly unlikely. We are in the middle a food crisis because of multiple food crops failing (Australia, China, India) http://www.google.com/search?client=opera&rls=en&q ... political unrest (Zimbabwe) and high oil prices.

      While I don't think in the long term we are set up to deal with rising population or increasing energy costs, food will likely come down in price when farmers bounce back from this shortage.
    • Clordio, on 04/24/2008, -1/+4"Soylent Green is People!"
  • LewP, on 04/24/2008, -13/+3Incredible
  • notmtwain, on 04/24/2008, -3/+34A couple more news reports like this and we may see widespread rice hoarding take off in the US. In fact, it may be too late to stave off some near term problems since news organizations don't usually pick up on this stuff until it is already firmly established. I'd better get to the market.
    • Elliuotatar, on 04/24/2008, -2/+2Why hoard rice? There's plenty of stuff to eat, even if we run out of rice. Like cake.
  • bstory, on 04/24/2008, -13/+75It will only get worse as we convert more food stocks to fuel
    • saigumi, on 04/24/2008, -7/+22It's not a food stock -> food shortage problem because of ethanol. It's mainly the cost of shipping as well. It's also the problem that most 3rd world countries have been ruined by the cheap grain the US has been giving selling that they wiped off all of their agriculture because it was too expensive.

      Don't get yourself stuck in a 1 track mind about a minor addition to the problem as a whole, it makes you look like Bush.
      • bromac, on 04/24/2008, -2/+15Dugg for understanding that FOOD NEEDS TO BE TRANSPORTED TOO.

        For every calorie of food you eat, it took 10 calories of fossil fuel to produce and ship to your plate.
      • philipl411, on 04/24/2008, -2/+3Let me get this straight. We sell rice and grain so cheap the people of Haiti cant grow either, but its so expensive they cant buy it. It has nothing to do with corruption of their government?
        • Sinnic, on 04/24/2008, -1/+2Good question.
          • CiXeL, on 04/24/2008, -1/+2there are so many types of fruits and vegetables that haiti could be growing its not even funny. they could easily supply enough food to survive in their tropical climate.
            they could forest the islands in jackfruit and mangos and eat tons of fish. but they choose to instead deforest the island for the sake of haitian bbq and whole mountain-faces shear away in the summer rains. youre basically watching a food-subsidized easter island scenario.
          • philipl411, on 04/24/2008, -0/+1This comment is to cixel, for some reason there is no reply button. What do you mean food-subsidized? Their government, the UN, the US is subsidizing their food?
          • CiXeL, on 04/24/2008, -0/+1we give free food to countries all over the world for political gain. part of the reason their food prices are going sky high is we can no longer afford to give as much to their government due to the whole ethanol thing. you can read all about it on the miami herald from time to time since there are alot of haitians living here with relatives back in haiti.
          • philipl411, on 04/24/2008, -0/+1But Haitians have been starving for YEARS. Why havent they been growing enough food to NOT STARVE. I agree with you, we should be giving anything away. But cant they even grow tomato in their back yard?
          • CiXeL, on 04/24/2008, -0/+1they should be doing this, they just choose not to.
            in the philippines they knew lots of people were starving a number of decades ago so they planted the islands out with jackfruit everywhere which produce huge quantities of fruit.
            compare this to haitians who cant be bothered to plant forest and instead deforest the whole damn island. at the same time the mud is running off into the sea screwing up their reefs and fish stocks. i talked to one haitian guy down here in miami who was doing well as a lotus notes developer and who told me 'you couldnt pay me to go back there'
          • Jlaugh, on 04/24/2008, -0/+1Every time Haiti gets it's ***** together it gets invaded and is then set back to square one. They had a local barter economy going with pigs and other animals but the swine flu took care of that, their government was influenced to kill off the pigs.
        • mempko, on 04/24/2008, -0/+1No it has something to do with neo-liberalist capitalism spreading in the third world. They are a lamb ready for exploitation. They don't subsidize their crops following free market principles, while we subsidize our farmers basically "cheating" at the free market game. its immoral and unfair. All powerful countries to this day didn't follow free market principles to get here. If you want to see what free market principle get you, look at the third world..where the markets are most free.
    • had3l, on 04/24/2008, -2/+13How many times will we have to say it. Biofuels are NOT to blame, at least not this time. As you can read from the article, the price of rice more than doubled. Rice is not converted to ethanol. One can't stop producing rice to start producing ethanol crops because the kind of land and climate required to grow rice are not favorable for growing corn or sugarcane.

      The basic reason is simple: Increase of the price of Oil. It increases both the cost of production and the cost of transportation. Coupled with bad weather in some countries and a malformed market due to all the subsidies, of course prices are going to increase.
      • Jlaugh, on 04/24/2008, -0/+4Sounds like a good reason to emphasis local decentralized food production. Less transportation costs.
      • boot20, on 04/24/2008, -0/+1That's not true. Sugarcane and rice are both grown in Texas in the same areas. As a matter of fact, years ago Sugarland, Texas used to produce lots of sugarcane and then switched to rice because it was more profitable.

        Let's also not forget the biofuels are a boondoggle unless we also start building nulcear powerplants and producing most of our power needs with them.
  • SilentStrider, on 04/24/2008, -16/+73Yep, taking food and turning into gas has got to be one of the dumbest ideas America's come up with yet. Way to starve the world to "save the planet".
    • slowmo, on 04/24/2008, -21/+5It's not dumb unless the food shortage was clearly imminent, which it was not, unless you're Nostradamus. Corn for E85 production increased demand and the farmers that predicted it made out well. E85 is still a great idea and a viable option. A hell of a lot smarter than making the Saudis any richer. Keep fuel production DOMESTIC.
      • jmpeagle, on 04/24/2008, -3/+12uh...everyone saw this coming from a mile away...hell even that communist ***** down in Cuba saw it and that guy loves state intervention.
        http://www.autobloggreen.com/2007/03/30/cuban-pres ...
      • cdahlkvist, on 04/24/2008, -1/+5Corn for E85 was and is nothing more than forcing the American public into subsidizing farmers.
        • CiXeL, on 04/24/2008, -0/+4yet strangely the candy and all the foods saturated with high fructose corn syrup arent getting anymore expensive? i smell something fishy going on.
          • Jlaugh, on 04/24/2008, -1/+2Corn is junk food, that corn syrup sure isn't good for you. 51 billion dollars are spent a year on corn subsidies.
      • user500, on 04/24/2008, -1/+2Takes almost 2 gallons to get the same work out of standard e10 (10 % ethyl crap) Ethanol just dilutes the fuel making it LESS efficient! Corn ethanol & soy diesel is all propaganda
    • saigumi, on 04/24/2008, -1/+12Farmer: How will we get this grain to the rest of the world?
      Shipper: By ship/train/trucks of course.
      Farmer: But those require gas and the cost of petroleum based gas has TRIPLED! Heck, the cost to run my tractors has TRIPLED as well since 2 years ago.
      Shipper: Well food prices will grow up by the same.
      Farmer: But then we will get smegheads blaming us for those extra fields we started planting again last year to sell to Ethanol companies.
      Shipper: Too right.
      • Elliuotatar, on 04/24/2008, -0/+1Prove, with numbers, that the production of corn has gone up by as much or almost as much as is being converted to ethanol, and I might feel sorry for the bad rap the farmers are getting.
    • bromac, on 04/24/2008, -6/+4While converting farmland and edible grains to fuel isn't really the best idea, the fuel crisis, if left unsolved, is equally dangerous.

      Remember, in North America, the food on your dinner plate has travelled 1400 miles to get there. If the food distribution networks are unable to be fueled, it will be just as bad as if there was no food to distribute.

      The ***** is hitting the fan.
      • cdahlkvist, on 04/24/2008, -3/+4"in North America, the food on your dinner plate has travelled 1400 miles to get there"

        Where do you and Discovery Channels come up with this info? I buy local for the most part. I suspect most people do at least in respect to produce and meats (with the exception of the winter months).
        • bromac, on 04/24/2008, -2/+6http://attra.ncat.org/farm_energy/food_miles.html

          "Produce in the U.S. travels, on average, 1300 - 2000 miles from farm to consumer. Since 1970, truck shipping has dramatically increased, replacing more energy efficient transportation by rail and water."

          It's an average, jackass. I'm not talking about JUST YOU. For every one of you who takes the time to buy from local farmers, there's 10 that just buy whatever the supermarket has imported.
          • cdahlkvist, on 04/24/2008, -1/+1Thanks for the link, jackass. I apologize for asking a question about your comment. I should have just taken it at face value because you said it is so.

            Angry much?
          • bromac, on 04/24/2008, -1/+3Not angry, but accusing me of learning it from the Discovery Channel because you're too lazy to fact check is lame. It took me one google search for "food transportation average" to get multiple sources for that information.

            This is Digg, not a peer reviewed paper or Wikipedia. I don't have to cite sources or footnote every fact I state here.
          • cdahlkvist, on 04/24/2008, -0/+1You should cite since that will typically prove your point.

            Maybe you should reread what I wrote. I said "you AND Discovery". That does not imply that you got it from Discovery, only that you both used the same comment.

            Again, I apologize for asking you where you heard this number.
    • ShyGuy91284, on 04/24/2008, -2/+2(Life_of_planet_as_a_whole - humanity) > humanity. That's my only argument. And I'm not even really one of those hippies....
    • halleyscomet, on 04/24/2008, -0/+6Personally I'm interested in the guy looking to produce ethanol form corn husks and stalks, the part of the plant we normally throw away. He was on Nova earlier this week. We'd still be able to use the kernels for food, but the waste material could be sold for fuel production. Best of both worlds (Until you factor in what happens to the soil without the stalks being ground up and composted)

      I want a Mr Fusion damn it!
      • CedEx, on 04/24/2008, -0/+0Don't they just dump cow manure on the soil? Cattle ranches have enough cow poop to distribute to the farms.
    • zyryx, on 04/24/2008, -1/+2reducing the world population is a wonderful idea, want to save the planet? stop making babies
      • Jlaugh, on 04/24/2008, -1/+1The US alone could feed the entire population of the planet four times over, if we concentrated on food production.
    • mempko, on 04/24/2008, -0/+1Not only that, america spends billions fighting obesity, while the rest of the world starves. oh well.
  • pentupentropy, on 04/24/2008, -9/+19Again I will say this as I have before.. the only crisis going on is a lack of motivation. We could do so very little, and I mean little. If 10 million people all gave one day to help out and work on things in some way, there would be no food crisis. Food costs nothing from a moral standpoint. There are more than enough resources on the planet to feed everyone 10 times over.
    • imgstacke, on 04/24/2008, -1/+15With diminishing oil production, the cost to produce food will get much more expensive (83% in 3 years - 40% since mid 2007). Oil is now at ~120$US/b. Its tightly correlated with Oil prices as you can see. It's not the food that is the problem, but the amount of fuel required to produce the food.
      We need alternate sources of energy now, not energy carriers like hydrogen produced from oil fueled generators. But LARGE nuclear/solar/wind/tidal/geothermal/hydro plants WITH more efficient means of transmission (super conductors). For every mile (1.6Km) of high voltage transmission wires you loose about 1% of energy.
      We need solutions like more efficient cars/homes/industries and better energy distribution systems along with more efficient generating capacity.
      All while generating less CO2 and other climate changing gases.
      • KMye, on 04/24/2008, -7/+5This is not just a result of rising fuel costs; it's largely a result of pushing food, whether directly consumed grains, or feedstock, towards biofuels, which in reality offer little-to-no savings on economic or CO2-emissions. This is just the first, gentle, warning against those who argue that we must do ALL that we can to stem human-caused global warming, and damn the economic consequences. If we don't heed this cautionary example, it will only get worse from here on out. It's time to really take a hard-evidence-based cost-benefit analysis of our approach to human-caused global warming.
        • iticu, on 04/24/2008, -0/+4Wow, i've only just realised the stupidity of turning food into fuel to make more food. ^^
          • Jlaugh, on 04/24/2008, -0/+1It's very inefficient, you loose energy at every step in the food chain.
    • deadapostle, on 04/24/2008, -2/+1Yeah, but if just 10 million people give me $10.00, then I'll be freaking rich.
  • brjohnson789, on 04/24/2008, -4/+10Compounding the problem is the wheat crops that are starting to fail in the mid-east and Africa regions due to some super bug that rins like 90% of the wheat it infects. They figure in a couple years it will be very wide spread, and its basically too late to do anything about it.
    • taintedzodiac, on 04/24/2008, -1/+5Not that I don't believe you, but if you're going to fear monger, at least provide some references to reliable media.
      • brjohnson789, on 04/24/2008, -2/+2google 'wheat' and 'africa' and 'middle east' you lazy bastard. Here's a hint since I'm feeling charitable: the fungus is called 'wheat rust', throw that into google too
  • umbriago, on 04/24/2008, -8/+76We (as in Americans) could all stand to eat less.
    • drmobutu, on 04/24/2008, -9/+22The solution? A Fat Tax...
      • lhbaker, on 04/24/2008, -5/+2I like that idea
      • DeskFlyer, on 04/24/2008, -1/+8If only airlines would adhere.
        • CiXeL, on 04/24/2008, -0/+1i would lose SO MUCH WEIGHT if i could get dirt cheap airfare. tickets by the pound.
      • dullnation, on 04/24/2008, -4/+1drmobutu 2008!
      • Notasheeple, on 04/24/2008, -2/+1If that happened, do realize how much health costs would come down in the fattest country ever?
    • EatChex89, on 04/24/2008, -8/+11The obesity in Americans in this age is rather sickening. Our country has the highest ratio of fat people.
      < http://www.nationmaster.com/graph/hea_obe-health-o ... >
      Why? Because our culture is so anti "do-it-yourself". Everyone wants everything done for them. Technology and fast food are the bane of our society.
      • DeskFlyer, on 04/24/2008, -3/+10Even though you claim to be from Cali, can you please stop stereotyping so much. While I agree with your general message, there are plenty of US citizens out there that are far apart from your standard definition of an American ***** fatass.
        • EatChex89, on 04/24/2008, -0/+1I never gave a definition of an American ***** fatass. I never said that fat people were assholes. I just said that PEOPLE are anti "do-it-yourself" fat or not, which contributes to the fattening of America. Technology and fast food provide CONVENIENCE and subtly discourage exercise. I am blaming obesity on our culture.

          I hope this provides ample clarification that I do not hold fat people responsible primarily, although they do have a choice. I hold our culture, fast food, and technology responsible.
    • DeskFlyer, on 04/24/2008, -3/+9I'm American and (according to most standards) I'm underweight by about 15-20 pounds. The funny thing is that people, especially my dad, encourage me to eat more than what I would feel comfortable with. Not sure what any of that means, but thought I would throw that out there. I just eat when I'm hungry, which is about once a day. Everyone thinks I'm some sort of freak because of that.
      • wpmegee, on 04/24/2008, -0/+3Eating less than 1800 calories a day as a male is flat out dangerous. Your body's metabolism has probably slowed itself down to compensate. Do you find yourself having enough energy?

        Let's say you're very small and thin - 5'5, 120 pounds, 20 year old male. Your BMR is 1503.1. You burn that many calories by merely staying in bed all day. Now if you are sedentary - don't exercise and have a desk job - multiply that by 1.2. You burn 1800 calories a day. If you take in less than that your body will start degrading your fat and/or muscle to produce energy. So seriously dude, eat more! It's not merely being underweight, you're weakening your body.

        http://www.bmi-calculator.net/bmr-calculator/
        • DeskFlyer, on 04/24/2008, -0/+1Thanks for the link, looks like my BMR is about 1793....I usually pig out while I eat; my daily caloric intake is probably around 2800 or so.....I've been this way for about a decade and I find that I have plenty of energy, so I think I'm ok. :)
    • csw1342, on 04/24/2008, -0/+5Speak for yourself.
    • Atomic05, on 04/24/2008, -1/+4***** that, I'll take my EXTRA BIG ASS FRIES now.
      • roodammy44, on 04/24/2008, -0/+2Welcome to Carl's Jr. ***** you, I'm eating :-)
    • Remmiz, on 04/24/2008, -2/+2I already go by on one meal a day....according to you I can live off a trisket a day?
    • digitul, on 04/24/2008, -1/+2can there ever be a discussion without someone bringing up their brilliant social commentary on how fat americans are? thank you for overstating the obvious
    • Vassago5k, on 04/24/2008, -3/+1Wow you guys are kind of clueless, eh? Get your facts straight, don't just read them online. China is now the fattest nation on earth, not the US. And Americans do not eat that much. We're eating *maybe* 5% more on average than we were 50 years ago. The problem is our activity level. We actually move around and exercise 40% less than we used to. The problem isn't food - it's industrialization.

      The more advanced we become, the more reliant we are on mass production, robots and machines. This requires us to do less and less physical labor and as a result, we gain weight. We have to work long hours to complete our tasks and make ends meet, leaving us completely drained when we get home. Sure, you could argue that it's only mental strain, not physical. But depression is a body and life crippling problem, and THAT is "only mental" as well. If our minds are fried, our body tends to follow suite. That makes it harder to work out than it would normally be.

      Every developing nation is getting fatter. That's just the side effect of industrialization.
      • omgwhereami, on 04/24/2008, -0/+0Thats not what the tv says...
        and now for the most critical part of the post:
        /sarcasm
    • maley, on 04/24/2008, -0/+2Don't speak for us all ;) I'm probably under weight at my age (150lbs @ 21 and 5'8"). Try targeting those that eat 5 burgers for dinner and weigh 320 lbs :0
    • Elliuotatar, on 04/24/2008, -0/+1Wouldn't sitting burn fewer calories?
  • DeskFlyer, on 04/24/2008, -9/+46Food should be fuel for humans, not internal combustion engines.
    • bromac, on 04/24/2008, -1/+7Then find us some fuel for those engines, because they're what run the farm equipment to grow the food and the trucks to deliver it.

      I'm more of a fan of biodiesel from algae, but really it's not as simple as just keeping the food around. You have to transport it to hungry people, and that takes energy. With no other solutions, as least a farm could use a PORTION of its crop to produce the fuel for its equipment and transport the crop to market.
      • shaka999, on 04/24/2008, -0/+5Wind, Sun, Nuclear.

        Happy?
        • bromac, on 04/24/2008, -0/+2Now convert our infrastructure before people start starving. Alternative energy is all well and good, but it'll take time to put into place. By then, we could have some major food shortages. There's no sense in scraping an enormous amount of infrastructure (which took energy to build) if there's a way to fuel it and get some value out of it.
        • captmorgan555, on 04/24/2008, -0/+1Nuclear powered farm equipment doesn't exactly toot my horn :p
          • shaka999, on 04/24/2008, -0/+1Just imagine a combine the size of an aircraft carries. That'd solve our food problem.
        • esc27, on 04/28/2008, -0/+1None really work for vehicles. Well, maybe solar, but I'm not sure how well it would do for most farm equipment.
    • mempko, on 04/24/2008, -0/+1Better yet, buy local food so that they don't have to use much fuel to deliver it.
  • drmobutu, on 04/24/2008, -1/+12No joke, more big spikes in the price of oil could disrupt transportation networks, and boom...empty shelves in the supermarket...
  • TheDHC, on 04/24/2008, -2/+52America, you must construct additional pylons
  • petsheep, on 04/24/2008, -1/+31Soylent Green..... the future of food
    • DeskFlyer, on 04/24/2008, -2/+5This program is brought to you by Soylent red and Soylent yellow, high energy vegetable concentrates, and new, delicious, Soylent green. The miracle food of high-energy plankton gathered from the oceans of the world.
    • zombird, on 04/24/2008, -0/+3Soylent green is fat people
    • Twisty, on 04/24/2008, -0/+1Damn you, beat me to it.

      SOYLENT GREEN IS PEOPLE!
    • StyngerSmash, on 04/24/2008, -0/+1Uh, duh, you didn't have to say it. It spoiled the joke.
  • DeskFlyer, on 04/24/2008, -19/+3Gah! Hit wrong reply button. Please bury this dumbass.
  • TomK88, on 04/24/2008, -13/+19You guys should pickup some tinfoil while you're down at the grocery store stocking up for doomsday. I bet you can pick up a nice survival guide for cheap from back when the whole Y2K crisis was going on.
    • imgstacke, on 04/24/2008, -2/+8More food for us...
    • RealmDown, on 04/24/2008, -3/+5We are doomed to repeat history. People have forgotten that Dark Middle Ages were caused by the Y1K problem.
      • gwyrth, on 04/24/2008, -0/+2hmmm really? Where did you get your History degree?
    • yojiffyskippy, on 04/24/2008, -4/+4They'll need the Tinfoil Hat 2.0 which protects them from the sky falling.
    • xenuxenuts, on 04/24/2008, -3/+10Things are going to get pretty nasty soon. The rising cost of food and fuel are going to push a lot of people who are borderline making it over the line. The housing issue was nothing compared to whats about to happen if real inflation doesn't slow down quickly or wages go up quickly.

      Oh and btw, the y2k thing wasn't a big deal because people fixed the problems before it hit. You might bitch about the hysteria, but the hysteria was part of the reason why nearly all of the issues were fixed before the problem occurred.
    • schapman43, on 04/24/2008, -2/+5Better safe than sorry. I know one thing is fact. My children won't starve if things do go sour.

      If you're not stocking your pantry you need to open your eyes and find more understanding of what is really going on.
      • CiXeL, on 04/24/2008, -1/+2learn to live off the land
        • Mothrog, on 04/24/2008, -0/+1Says the guy from Miami, FL. A city full of people can't live off the area around them. They would deplete whatever resources where there before long.
          • CiXeL, on 04/24/2008, -0/+1the trick is to survive beyond the point where everyone starves around you.
            after that, it gets easier.

            most people here are too superficial and uneducated to know how to live off the land. lots of people here shun nature and wildlife as impoverished third world conditions and rely on a functioning society. this is why they keep wanting to push the urban development line further towards the everglades. they would be happy if they developed and paved the whole thing. theyre turning more and more farmland in south dade into condos and buildings. the thing is, if SHTF we would need all that land. importing food sources from half a world away and depending on that is a very stupid lesson we may be learning shortly.

            i could live exclusively on insects out in the everglades and there are enough scattered citrus trees around where scurvey wouldnt be a problem.
  • dupswapdrop, on 04/24/2008, -1/+12Costco is great I got me 200 lbs of rice and 400 lbs of flour, tomorrow I go buy me some pigs and chickens.
  • EwMo, on 04/24/2008, -6/+13The Seattle PI is far left (even for the internet) and extremely pessimistic in every story. If you don't believe me, look around their site.
    • lhbaker, on 04/24/2008, -4/+10Sure, but they're not the only news organization reporting the story.

      Google 'rice shortage"
      • Smiths, on 04/24/2008, -0/+5No it's not. I know more about the rice shortage from listening to NPR the past week and a half than what is on that site.
  • empirefalling, on 04/24/2008, -25/+2Once again this is not news. There has been a food crisis in America for many decades. Shortages of basics like milk, flour, sugar and other food commodities have always been a dilemma facing the American consumer. Most of these supplies are taken up by huge corporations like McDonalds and other food processors that leave little for the average American. Long lines at food “super markets” have always been a part of life for most Americans. Fruits and vegetables are also in short supply as these staples are reserved first for the Elite Bourgeois again leaving very little for the worker. Most American stores now require some sort of credit card or bank card in order to purchase food stuffs. Paying in worthless American dollars is frowned upon. Many starve on the streets of America…those left dead on the street are quickly whisked away to prevent notice. Change is needed in America. How many more will go hungry? How many more will starve at the fat hands of White Elitist America?
    • Wacer, on 04/24/2008, -0/+9Where are you from? All the stores I go to are full of milk, flour, sugar and other food commodities. It has been that way for decades. There hasn't been a food rationing system in place since the time of ww2. Every store I go to, they still accept cash just fine. The American dollar has lost some value but it is far from worthless. Not that many starve because if they do, they are to stupid to go get food stamps. Wow, what non-sense.
    • mCanada, on 04/24/2008, -0/+5You're the same dude that advocates central planning right? Long lineups are a part of going to Disneyland too, it doesn't mean that quantity supplied is low (even though right now certain commodities are). If that were true Walmart lineups would indicate mass starvation over the the past 20 years.
    • Frostek, on 04/24/2008, -0/+3I hope you forgot your sarcasm tag, or else you must simply be yet another crackpot... "Elite Bourgeois"? Simply hilarious.
      I find it insulting that a country with so many obese people can report food shortages for such minor incidents - you have no idea what that even means.
    • proliance, on 04/24/2008, -0/+4Stupid commie.
    • gwyrth, on 04/24/2008, -0/+4Dude, you have GOT to find a different store. Quit shopping in Siberia.
    • jgzman, on 04/24/2008, -0/+1What the hell are you smoking? Long lines in supermarkets are not a sign of food shortages, they are a sign of casher shortages, or incompetent managers. I've never even heard of a grocery store that requires a credit card. The only time I have experienced anything approaching 'shortages' was back in the blizzard of, eh, '97 or so.
    • Mothrog, on 04/24/2008, -0/+1Long lines at the supermarket and shortages on basic goods pretty well describes what it was like in the USSR, stupid commie.
  • UltramegaOK, on 04/24/2008, -2/+9As EwMo stated above me, the Seattle PI is a joke here in seattle. Take everything in context. It reports the "Seattle Left"..... which is doom and gloom all the time. I laughed as soon as I saw the source was the PI.

    That's my take (I'm a Seattle reader and former subscriber)

    • kaelyiesta, on 04/24/2008, -0/+2Both the Times and the PI are a joke really. I look at them only to see what information 'most people' are getting. Its like watching fox news occasionally to see what lies most people are being fed so you can be prepared for the impending ***** coworkers spew at you.

      Never the less, the message seems factual. Google has a wealth of reporters on the subject.
  • TybaltCpp, on 04/24/2008, -0/+6What ever you do don't panic! aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaargh...
    Besides it will help with the 'obesity epidemic'.
  • lhbaker, on 04/24/2008, -3/+14I don't care whether you lean left or right, this affects you. Google 'rice shortage' and stop blaming the messenger.
  • tehstone, on 04/24/2008, -1/+7Regardless of how liberal the PI is, the list at the end is very real. There HAVE been food riots and it is not likely that they will go away any time soon.
  • borez, on 04/24/2008, -2/+7There's your reason for abandoning bio-fuels, right there.
  • farkis, on 04/24/2008, -4/+5It's the result of the failed Clinton policies coming to roost. Does anybody know how to get rid of this annoying popup whenever I visit http://www.cnn.com?
    • RealmDown, on 04/24/2008, -0/+1Put in a host alias to redirect to drudgereport.com
    • HomerS1, on 04/24/2008, -0/+1use Firefox
    • taintedzodiac, on 04/24/2008, -0/+2Don't visit http://www.cnn.com ?
    • davewashere, on 04/24/2008, -0/+2It's actually the poor policies of Millard Fillmore that are to blame. We've been getting by for the past 150 years, but that idiot's decisions have finally caught up with us.
  • willk281, on 04/24/2008, -1/+8OM NOM NOM NOM
  • Kythas, on 04/24/2008, -0/+16Looks like I picked the wrong day to stop sniffing glue.
  • troycott, on 04/24/2008, -2/+1This is not good...
    well, it'll likely solve our obesity issues
  • brianhonaker, on 04/24/2008, -1/+5As long as I own my guns, I'll eat well!
    • 1randomguyO8, on 04/24/2008, -0/+2Well cant you go hunt a deer and get 200lbs of meat for the cost of a bullet and the petrol to get to the woods?
      • brianhonaker, on 04/24/2008, -0/+2I live within walking distance to 'the woods'. I don't like killing things, but I have no problem doing it to survive if I have to.
        • CiXeL, on 04/24/2008, -0/+2during the depression in some parts of the country squirrel and deer almost went extinct. imagine what would happen to ecosystems now.
          how long does it take for a person to starve to death?
        • 1randomguyO8, on 04/25/2008, -0/+1Well it's a part of life. I would kill an animal in an instant for food but would never kill one otherwise.
    • kelkitty, on 04/24/2008, -0/+4You may be able to shoot that buffalo, but I promise you're not gettin more than 200 lbs back to the wagon.
      • jgzman, on 04/24/2008, -0/+1Beat me to it. By about three hours. In the mean time, Johnny died of dysentery.
    • shaka999, on 04/24/2008, -1/+1Ya...right...

      If even half the hunters out there started poaching our wildlife would be decimated in a very short time.
    • keefoh, on 04/24/2008, -0/+0I think what he means is with a gun he can rob the meals on wheels truck.
  • area51x, on 04/24/2008, -0/+6"Food prices have risen 40 percent on average since mid-2007, and have led to riots in the Caribbean, Africa and Asia." This is poor writing. I am sick of people lumping countries into continents. Lumping continents is even worse. Asia + Africa = most of the Earth's population. Where in Africa? Botswana? Morocco? Guinea??
  • nonymous666, on 04/24/2008, -1/+14They did a story on the NBC news last night about rice being rationed by Cosco. They had a couple experts from someplace or another say there is no real shortage in the States and that some graineries actually have surpluses. The problems are being caused by people hearing of shortages in other countries so they then make runs on U.S. stores to stock up, then the stores run out for a couple days until they can get restocked, and then everybody thinks the U.S. suddenly has a shortage, too.
    • joelmole, on 04/24/2008, -1/+9BIngo. Costco is trying to protect itself from the idiots that heard about some global food epidemic, so they go in hoard mode and try to buy 10 50lb bags of rice in their panicked state.
      • BobMysterioso, on 04/24/2008, -0/+9Let say I bought 10 50lb bags of rice. Its just me and my wife, and we eat rice, particularly basmati quite frequently. At that, 500lbs of rice (aside from the storage space) would take us forever to eat. I believe, so long, that by the time we got to the end of it, if there was still a rice shortage I'd have far more to fret over than not having rice.
  • saigumi, on 04/24/2008, -1/+7Good grief. Can you people take one step back and realize that we are not "Driving our Food"?

    Answer me this:
    How much more is it costing to grow, collect, ship and process corn then it was two years ago now that petroleum based fuels and products have tripled? Fertilzers are made with oil. It takes gas to power the machinery. Yet, somehow, you are expecting the cost of food to stagnate? Seriously, or blame it on additional fields that are being planted this year to capitalized on e85? Do you really think that much corn is being shunted that isn't being eaten?

    Seriously, the world needs to get off of foreign grain the same way the US needs to get off of foreign oil. Most #3's have left their agriculture to rot because of their lust of cheap grain in the same was the US has not been drilling because of our lust of cheap oil.
    • nickymouse, on 04/24/2008, -1/+3I'll answer you. It's actually cheaper for many farmers to ship surplus crop to a biofuel conversion plant. Your no more then a hundred miles away from a given plant in Indiana. Also, if growing the food is so expensive, why are they doing it? Well they're doing it because they can make more money in fuels then in a flood agricultural market. The reason why ethanol is being used more often you can blame on the hippie environmentalist. They lobbied to replace one gasoline additive with another (ethanol). This caused a dramatic increase and demand for ethanol.

      If you want to fix the problems with third world countries, kill the leader before he calls for genocide and takes the countries money.
      • saigumi, on 04/24/2008, -0/+1"Also, if growing the food is so expensive, why are they doing it? "

        Because they still make a profit. It just requires world food prices to go up. Same thing is happening right now with oil. Heck, if the profit margin is good for ethanol, why bother even thinking of selling maise as animal food? This is capitalism. In the same way our gov't isn't stopping oil companies from increasing the price to new levels, nothing is stopping farmers from doing the same.

        And good try on the third world idea. But seriously the US is the #1 exporter of grain in the world. We outdo the rest of the world in exports of grain with them all COMBINED. China does a little, but theirs is all for show as they import the same amount and get a sort of gov't subsidiary for doing the export. All these places that are rioting are countries that their local farmers were put out of business because of cheap grain being brought in from the US. Their farmers just couldn't undercut the price. Now that the US is charging more, they've become upset in the same exact way that we are upset of gas pricing. Like oil wells and refineries, you can't exactly just quickly spin up a couple farms real quick and get your people fed.
    • Ganja420, on 04/24/2008, -1/+150% of corn is converted to ethanol...
      how much acreage of that used to be for food production.
      • saigumi, on 04/24/2008, -0/+1Good try with numbers, but you epic failed.

        "In 2007, the United States produced 6.5 billion gallons of ethanol using 18 percent of its corn crop. The size of the crop set a record, and exports of U.S. corn didn't decline. U.S. ethanol also produces animal feed as a byproduct."

        4/16/2008 - McClatchy Washington Bureau
        http://www.mcclatchydc.com/226/story/33945.html
  • TonyTheTerrible, on 04/24/2008, -4/+2bad tittle. it's been here for awhile.
  • pinchduck, on 04/24/2008, -0/+6As rice and wheat become cash crops, more farmers will grow it. This is not a problem of the world running out of food, this is a problem of stupid government subsidies for corn causing growers to switch their land over to corn production. End the subsidies, the market will come back in to balance, and much of your food shortages will just go away.
  • thatguyfred, on 04/24/2008, -1/+3I'll be fine as long as my 100 acres still has animals to shoot on it.
    • g00mba, on 04/24/2008, -3/+2its a good thing 90% of the world population also owns 100 acres each right? the other 10% are the real lucky ones with 1000 acres right? specially in africa you insensitive douche
    • Elliuotatar, on 04/24/2008, -0/+2Don't you mean 40 acres, and a mule?
  • fr3ddie, on 04/24/2008, -9/+5rice and flour have squat for nutrition. we could all do without both.
    • kelkitty, on 04/24/2008, -0/+4That's not true... WHITE rice and WHITE flour have very little nutrition. Real food loses its nutritional value when it gets uber processed.

      If they didn't have squat, the millions of people around the world that live on rice or bread alone wouldn't be alive. They might not be for long, now.

      Wanna talk about no nutrition, let's talk about corn and all its lovely byproducts.
    • nirav72, on 04/24/2008, -0/+4Rice has carbohydrates..which your body needs for quick energy in some form.
    • taintedzodiac, on 04/24/2008, -0/+4It's not like humanity developed the cornerstones of the civilized world while eating nothing but rice and/or flour products.
  • nickymouse, on 04/24/2008, -3/+10OH NO IT'S A FOOD CRISIS... I can't buy more then four twenty pound bags a day of imported rice. Thanks George Bush
  • yojiffyskippy, on 04/24/2008, -2/+4Quick! Everybody go to Cosco and stock up! Shutup! Give me a break!
  • SteelChicken, on 04/24/2008, -3/+11all you idiots in here who think this has to do with bio fuels are STUPID.
    stop being "force fed" what to think by others. do your own research and use some goddamn common sense!
    No one is turning wheat and rice into ethanol. And the US still has plenty of corn to go around. Biofuels are the new George Bush, the blame it all scapegoat.
    • kaelyiesta, on 04/24/2008, -1/+2Its called substitution. As one choice becomes less desirable, others are picked more often. In the case of rice, wheat and corn, if corn prices are inflated(due to subsidy *****), consumers(farmers using corn as stockfeed, people using it for eating) will consider rice or wheat more often. Thus those prices rise too. This argument isnt to say that corn ethanol subsidy is the sole cause of this mess, but it is a part of it.

      Do YOUR research, sir. Your hypocrisy and ignorance is sickening.
  • uselessexpert, on 04/24/2008, -0/+4FTA: "He said world leaders must help increase food production, rethink their push on biofuels -- which many blame for pushing up food prices -- and consider anew the once taboo topic of growing genetically modified crops."

    It goes to show, when you offset the balance of things in one end, how it affects the other.
  • Seventus, on 04/24/2008, -0/+3I wonder how much food is purchased by grocery stores that gets thrown away.
  • BohicaTwentyTwo, on 04/24/2008, -0/+6food FUD or Panic! At the Cosco
  • Locnar, on 04/24/2008, -6/+7Anyone seeing the start of another "Great Depression"?
    • Zaxcomp, on 04/24/2008, -0/+1Looks like I picked the wrong week to stop taking my Prozac.
  • Bhatch514, on 04/24/2008, -4/+2People keep getting fatter but food shortages increase. Solution fat people eat less give it to others.
    • amightywind, on 04/24/2008, -2/+2It has taken me a lifetime to reach my 240 lbs. Why would I want to give that away to some starving bastard in the 3rd world?
      • WoollyMittens, on 04/24/2008, -2/+3The US *is* a third world country now. the average african disaster area has less debt.
    • nycmac247, on 04/24/2008, -0/+1people get fat by eating bad food not necessarily large quantity
  • nexus37, on 04/24/2008, -0/+4Yeah ... I heard something about that on the radio when I was in the drive-thru line at McDonalds this morning. Hmmm.
  • WoollyMittens, on 04/24/2008, -1/+6If the general population of the US starves, it'll be about 6 years before the first victim weights under 150 pounds.
  • quail20, on 04/24/2008, -2/+11I smell hysteria. Like 30 somethings buying wood burning stoves for their apartments in NYC before Y2K, or idiots in New England wrapping their houses in duct tape and plastic some months after 9/11. It would have been nice if the news outlets would stress the fact that the limits on rice at Costco & Sam's are not nationwide. They're regional in scope and it is to prevent those crazy hoarders from walking out with a full pallet. Oops, got to go check which gallon of Y2K water expires this week. Only 32 gallons left!! Yea!
  • BECoole, on 04/24/2008, -0/+4Walmart should be charged with inducing panic.
    There is no shortage of rice here. If Walmart wanted to cut rice consumption, they should have done it the old fashioned capitalist way and just raised prices.
  • justinx0r, on 04/24/2008, -4/+8America is the bread basket of the world. I highly doubt that there will be a food crisis here.
  • MrFurious2k, on 04/24/2008, -0/+0Biofuels do indeed play a large role (by no means the only factor) in the cost of increasing food prices. Farmers in the United States are subsidized for many types of crops. In the case of biofuels, they can often "double dip" since Ethanol production is also heavily subsidized. With many farmers choosing to plant for biofuels rather than food crops, that reduces the supply of food raising the prices. Additionally, food for animals (cows, sheep, etc) increases making milk and other related products spike.
    To make matters worse, they removed MTBE as the additive to gasoline and replaced it with ethanol (at least they did in MN, don't know about the rest of the US) meaning that there was further demand placed on the system. This of course increased our fuel costs further which impacted food prices (obviously farming requires the use of fuel too).
    While biofuels are not the only reason pricing has increased, it certainly plays a large role in it.
  • rossiprojects, on 04/24/2008, -3/+4Corn is food for feeding people not for feeding our ***** starving cars.
    • Vindicoth, on 04/24/2008, -0/+1Corn doesn't really have any nutritional value, and you can't digest it very well, which is why it comes out whole in your poop.
    • saigumi, on 04/24/2008, -0/+1"In 2007, the United States produced 6.5 billion gallons of ethanol using 18 percent of its corn crop. The size of the crop set a record, and exports of U.S. corn didn't decline. U.S. ethanol also produces animal feed as a byproduct."

      Article from 4/16/2008 - http://www.mcclatchydc.com/226/story/33945.html

      Oh, and pretty much all the corn they use is dent corn, the same exact thing that is used for animal feed anyhow. Well, 60% of the total harvest anyhow.
  • deadapostle, on 04/24/2008, -4/+1Great. Now I have to deal with all of the overweight, hypocritical, bible-thumping Amurkins telling me how they're "starving" because the news said that there's a rice shortage.
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