as always-the poor suffer the most

We are in the midst of a global food crisis. The supply of grains around the world is too small to fill the current demand and many are unable to purchase staple foods. When we, in the United States, begin to see stores rationing the amount of rice a person can purchase, you know the world is in trouble. We're 100 steps removed from the canary in the mine. By the time we're affected others have been long suffering.

According to a Washington Post report, there are five main causes for this crisis: Trade restrictions, fuel costs, increased demand, weather and bio fuels. Increased demand is stemming from changing diets in nations with up and coming economies. In India and China specifically, more folks have the resources to change their diets to include more meat. It takes 7 pounds of grain to produce one pound of beef and 5-7 pounds to produce a pound of pork. The increase in meat consumption is leading to more grain consumption (while producing less food).

The Post also explains that an increased demand for bio fuels in the United States has increased the price of corn around the world. (we produce over 60% of corn in the world and now use 25% of corn for bio fuel--this is up from 5%). I fully support bio fuels but our increase in bio fuel production has also dramatically raised corn prices around the world. European countries usually import corn to feed their livestock. With increased corn prices, Europe has turned to a cheaper grain--sorghum. As a result the price of sorghum, one of the cheapest grains in the world, has jumped more than 20% in 6 months. This price increase primarily affects a region where over 60% of the population lives on less than a dollar a day. Let's re-read this paragraph and think about this--Europe has begun importing the cheapest grain in the world to feed their ANIMALS. This is directly causing PEOPLE to go hungry. People or animals?

That's right folks, here in the US of A we are limited to 3 bags of rice a person at Smart and Final while around the folks who make under $1 per day are going hungry.