Readings from Around the Net
What I'm reading... with a quick blurb on each
In our
Food Crisis section
WSJ: Grain Companies' Profits Soar as Global Food Crisis Mounts- At a time when parts of the world are facing food riots, Big Agriculture is dealing with a different sort of challenge: huge profits. (replace the word agriculture with oil and you'd have politicians yelling from the rafters about how this is evil)
- The robust profits are emerging against the backdrop of a food crisis some experts say is the worst in three decades. The secretary-general of the United Nations, Ban Ki-moon, on Tuesday called for the creation of a high-level global task force to deal with the cascading impact of high grain prices and oil prices. He said that countries must do more to avert "social unrest on an unprecedented scale" and should contribute money to make up for the $755 million shortfall in funding for the World Food Program, which feeds the world's hungry.
USAToday: Tensions in Egypt show Potency of Food Crisis- There's no panic, no desperate scrambling for sustenance — a tentative sign of success for an emergency government plan that involves dramatic increases in spending on bread subsidies and the use of Egyptian soldiers as bakers. "Now we're able to find bread," says Dalia Hafez, 40, seated on a nearby curb in a cappuccino-colored headscarf. "Thanks God, the crisis is over."
- For now, anyway. But the aftershocks from the food trauma here are only beginning to be felt. Tensions are continuing to build in this key U.S. ally, evidence that the global food crisis — the product of factors ranging from unusual weather in producing nations to increased competition for grains from biofuels programs — is now about much more than food.
- "This crisis threatens not only the hungry, but also peace and stability," the head of the United Nations World Food Program (WFP), Josette Sheeran, warned in a recent speech.
- That's certainly true in Egypt, the most populous Arab nation, recipient of $1.8 billion in annual U.S. foreign aid and a critical link in global trade sitting astride the Suez Canal. Its authoritarian government is faced with mounting labor unrest, profound public dissatisfaction over a yawning gap between rich and poor and questions over who will lead Egypt in the coming years. (hmm, sounds vaguely familiar to another country)
- Former Pentagon official David Schenker, who lived in Cairo in the early 1990s and is with the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, returned here recently for a visit and was stunned at the sour public mood. "I was shocked," he says. "I find it very scary."
WashingtonPost: Siphoning Off Fuel to Feed Our Cars- "This is a fantastic time to be farming," Johnson says. "I'm 65, but I can't quit now."
- Across the country, ethanol plants are swallowing more and more of the nation's corn crop. This year, about a quarter of U.S. corn will go to feeding ethanol plants instead of poultry or livestock. That has helped farmers like Johnson, but it has boosted demand -- and prices -- for corn at the same time global grain demand is growing.
- And it has linked food and fuel prices just as oil is rising to new records, pulling up the price of anything that can be poured into a gasoline tank. "The price of grain is now directly tied to the price of oil," says Lester Brown, president of Earth Policy Institute, a Washington research group. "We used to have a grain economy and a fuel economy. But now they're beginning to fuse."
CBSMarketwatch: Ethanol Backlash Hits New Level as Food Prices Jump (we just discussed this yesterday)
- An increasingly bitter public debate over the role that corn-based ethanol has played in driving up food prices is pitting some of the nation's biggest food manufacturers against each other, with hefty U.S. subsidies and mounting commodity costs at stake.
- At issue is the Renewable Fuel Standard, a mandate to increase the volume of renewable fuels blended into gasoline to 7.5 billion gallons by 2012. It was created by 2005 U.S. energy legislation and expanded in last year's energy bill.
The above story is the opinion of the author only and it does not reflect
iStockAnalyst opinion. Further, the author is not personally advising you
regarding the suitability of the story for your investment needs. In no event
iStockAnalyst will be liable for any loss or damage including without
limitation, indirect or consequential loss or damage, or any loss or damage
whatsoever arising from or arising out of, or in connection with the use of this
information. Please consult your investment advisor before making any investment
decision.
