– It seems that articles on food shortages have been blossoming on the web this last week or two. Some of it is, I suspect, the media’s interest in the subject feeding on itself as their interest creates interest which drives more interest and so on. But, one has to strongly suspect that beneath the media’s positive feedback loop of excess excitement, some real and serious things are happening.
– I may have related that we went out and bought some freeze-dried food a week or so ago on the Internet? While I was shopping, I discovered that the prices have been rising strongly in recent months and that the three major freeze-dried food makers in the U.S. are OVERWHELMED with orders. Delivery times run to six weeks and more.
– On another tack, back in November, I bought some shares of an ETF (Exchange Traded Fund; like a mutual fund in its scatter but like a stock in that you can buy and sell it whenever) named DBA which is a move by analysts at Deutsche Bank to capitalize on basic food futures focusing on things like Sugar, Soybeans, Corn and Wheat. When I bought the shares, they were at $29/share. At the market’s close today, they were at $39/share.
– Here are a collection of articles I’ve pulled from the wires in just the last few days. I’m just going to put them up without commentary since there are so many of them. As you read them, imagine you have your ear down on the railroad rail and you can hear something coming from a long ways off. I wonder what it might be?
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We need a food security strategy <— from New Zealand
Haiti leader urges cut in food taxes to stop riots <– from Haiti
Agriculture must revert <– from the U.N.
World Bank tackles food emergency <– from the World Bank
Food Price Surge Could Mean ‘7 Lost Years’ <– from the World Bank
Rising food prices spark riots, trigger inflation <– from Miami
Global Hot Spots of Hunger Set to Explode <– Inter Press Service
Food riots ‘an apocalyptic warning ‘ <– ABC News