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– I’ve been pointing out for some time that as China’s ability to feed itself begins to falter due to increasing population, eating higher on the food chain as a result of growing affluence, desertification and diminishing water supplies, they will inevitably draw from their huge balance of trade surplus funds and simply go out into the world market and buy what they need with impunity. It makes sense – who wouldn’t?

– But, while it makes sense for them, it is inevitably going to wreak havoc with the affordability and availability of food supplies for the rest of the world with a special emphasis on the world’s poorer nations. And this, in turn, will lead to social unrest and increasing political fundamentalism as no one likes to starve quietly.

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RONDONÓPOLIS, Brazil — For more than 2,000 years, the Chinese have turned soybeans into tofu, a staple of the country’s diet.

But as its economy grows, so does China’s appetite for pork, poultry and beef, which require higher volumes of soybeans as animal feed. Plagued by scarce water supplies, China is turning to a new trading partner 15,000 miles away — Brazil — to supply more protein-packed beans essential to a richer diet.

China’s global scramble for natural resources is leading to a transformation of agricultural trading around the world. In China, vanishing cropland and diminishing water supplies are hampering the country’s ability to feed itself, and the increasing use of farmland in the United States to produce biofuels is pushing China to seek more of its staples from South America, where land is still cheap and plentiful.

“China is out there beating the bushes,” said Robert L. Thompson, a professor at the University of Illinois who is a former director of agricultural and rural development at the World Bank. The goal, he said, is “to ensure they have access to long-term contracts for minerals and energy and food.”

More… ➡

– This article is from the NY Times and they insist that folks have an ID and a PW in order to read their stuff. You can get these for free just by signing up. However, recently, a friend of mine suggested the website bugmenot.com as an alternative to having to do these annoying sign ups. Check it out. Thx Bruce S. for the tip.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, April 10th, 2007 at 12:33 and is filed under Desertification, Food Shortages, The Perfect Storm. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.