How Oil Prices Affect the Price of Food

The global population is expected to reach 9 billion people by the year 2050 and scientific projections indicate that world is on a trajectory towards an environmental and global food crisis. World Leaders, environmental enthusiasts and aid agencies have cause for alarm as they support urgent policies for change, for without them mankind will face unprecedented food insecurity. In 2015 estimates were that there were “some 795 million people” [World Food Programme, 2015], experiencing food insecurity and 3.1 million children under 5 died through malnutrition, while Australians continue to waste an estimated 361 Kg’s of food per person per yr [PMSEIC, 2010, p.44] All the while the earth groans under the weight of Greenhouse Gas Emissions [GHG], deforestation, soil degradation and

Feeding a world population that is projected to increase by over 2 billion, will be a challenge when there is an extreme amount of food loss and waste occurring daily. Most of the consumers in the world are unaware that “roughly one third of the food produced in the world for human consumption” is wasted (FAO). If food loss and waste was substantially decreased, the amount of available food would significantly increase. Global food loss and waste per year are roughly “30% for cereals, 40-50% for root crops, fruits and vegetables, 20% for oil seeds, meat and dairy plus 35% for fish” (Megatrends in Food). By creating limits on food waste, the top contributors such as North America, Europe, Asia, and Latin America would create a more efficient transportation system to deliver produce quickly, increase shelf life, and reuse food waste. Creating a more efficient transportation system, will allow produce to arrive at the desired destination faster which will increase the products’ shelf life. This will create less food loss from spoiling on the transportation vehicles or on store’s shelves. Another important factor is reusing

Over the next forty years, global population is expected to reach nine billion people. This increase in population, combined with expected economic growth, will cause an increase in food demanded and inevitably drain the resources we use for food production. So far, agriculture has been able to respond positively to the rising demand for crop and livestock products. However, farmers are already faced with many new challenges associated with feeding an expanding global population. Farmers must now meet strict new emissions requirements and produce more food on fewer acres while minimizing their environmental footprint. The demand for food is expected to grow substantially in the next couple decades. Some of the factors affecting an increase in food demands are population growth, rising incomes of individuals, food supply factors, and biofuels.

The climate impact of transporting food over thousands of miles is often seen as a big part of the problem. However, the vast majority of greenhouse gases, in terms of the entire food production process, is just that - production. According to one analysis, “transportation accounts for only 11% of food’s carbon footprint.” If anything, moving the entirety of a city’s food production to within a 100-mile radius will worsen the local environment, heavily polluting the surrounding area. In addition, the locavore argument ignores scale - shipping bulk amounts of food long distances uses just as much fuel as a small quantity within city limits. The only difference is where that impact takes

Cars, just about every household in America has probably at least two parked in their driveway at any given time. The dependency on the gas powered car has substantially increased since it’s invention and production back in 1908 by the Ford Motor Company. As of 2014, it was estimated that there were over 88 million cars produced world-wide and growing every day. (Fig. 1) Even though a lot of these vehicles might be the new Hybrid edition, the majority of them have a dependency on oil and gasoline products for their survival and existence. Petroleum products, such as oil and gasoline do not come cheap or even free to the consumer, even the

What I am proposing to the farmers is a complete shift in the products that they are cropping. In order for the farmers to take advantage of the water that is available to them, and expand the size of their products, they need to harvest plants that have adapted to grow in drier environments.

This video and article by Rose Marcario, the Chief Executive of Patagonia Inc., explains the effect that changing our farming practices could potentially have on our environment and our ability to live sustainably; if we switch from fossil fuel intensive farming to organic and low-till practices that put carbon back in the ground, we can improve soil, grow more nutritious food, and reverse the effects of climate

The multi-billion dollar gas industry is seeking to expand its production across the nation, in light of new technology making extracting natural gas much easier. A Healthy alternative to the fossil fuels we so frivolously use is now more critical than ever. In 2011, the United States used 18.83 million barrels of raw oil daily, and in 2010 19.18 million barrels of petroleum products and biofuels. In 2010 and 2011, that was nearly 22% of the world’s oil supply. (U.S Department of Energy)

There are billions of people struggling every day to have enough to eat, and billions of tons of food being tossed in the garbage, food waste is gaining increasing awareness as a serious environmental and economic issue. Research shows that about 60 million metric tons of food is wasted a year in the United States, with an estimated value of $162 billion. About 32 million tons of it end up in landfills, at a cost of about $1.5 billion a year to local government this economic crisis is worldwide! My research estimates that a third of all the food produced in the world is never consumed, and the total cost of that food waste could be as high as $400 billion a year. The food discarded by retailers and consumers in the most developed countries would be more than enough to feed all of the world’s hungry people, but it is not just those countries that have problems with food waste, it is also an issue in African countries like South Africa. The problem is expected to grow worse as the world’s population increases, unless actions are taken to reduce the waste. Food waste is not only a social cost, but it contributes to growing environmental problems like global warming, experts say, with the production of food consuming vast quantities of water, fertilizer and land. The fuel that is burned to process, refrigerate and transport it also adds to the environmental cost. Most food waste is thrown away in landfills, where it decomposes and emits methane, a potent greenhouse gas.

Need large amount of land to grow up plants to produce vegetable oil. If the producer uses more land to produce biodiesel then less land is available for growing foof. This would increase the price of food.

The Brundtland report defined sustainable development as “development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.” From early times, philosophers, such as Thomas Malthus, believed humanity could not be sustained. Malthus believed mankind would reach their carrying capacity, specifically with regards to food. Yet, this notion changed in subsequent years, thanks in part to the green revolution. This revolution helped increase crop yields due to new fertilizers, pesticides, etc. While there became more food available, sustainability, with regards to producing food in an environmentally friendly way, ran into some difficulties. While the Brundtland commission defined sustainability, there are three components that must be integrated for the well-being of all—social, environmental, and economic. Each component of sustainability must be looked at critically when considering the sustainable use of any resource. While many simply worried about having enough food available in the world, one must think of food sustainability with regards to environmental, economic, and social implications. As follows, the importance of food sustainability will be discussed, along with the attempts to measure food sustainability.

One facet of this new era was that life was complicated and technically advanced. But this had all come at a price. By 2020, the Earth had been depleted of most of its oil reserves, a historically useful fuel. New fuels were created but they were vastly more costly. One of the most popular fuels was a fuel made from corn and potatoes. The cost of food skyrocketed and shortages abounded as farmers chose to grow only corn and not the other essentials for the human diet. The

There are billions of people struggling every day to have enough to eat, and billions of tons of food being tossed in the garbage, food waste is gaining increasing awareness as a serious environmental and economic issue. Research shows that about 60 million metric tons of food is wasted a year in the United States, with an estimated value of $162 billion. About 32 million tons of it end up in landfills, at a cost of about $1.5 billion a year to local government this economic crisis is worldwide! My research estimates that a third of all the food produced in the world is never consumed, and the total cost of that food waste could be as high as $400 billion a year. The food discarded by retailers and consumers in the most developed countries would be more than enough to feed all of the world’s hungry people, but it is not just those countries that have problems with food waste, it is also an issue in African countries like South Africa. The problem is expected to grow worse as the world’s population increases, unless actions are taken to reduce the waste. Food waste is not only a social cost, but it contributes to growing environmental problems like global warming, experts say, with the production of food consuming vast quantities of water, fertilizer and land. The fuel that is burned to process, refrigerate and transport it also adds to the environmental cost. Most food waste is thrown away in landfills, where it decomposes and emits methane, a potent

Food is the foundation of human live and people cannot survive without it. Food security is a vital issue facing the governments around the world. However, food shortage is becoming increasingly severe in this day and age. There are several reasons which led to the universal food shortage and they are interconnected to each other. Increasing world population, extreme weather and the wide spread use of biofuels are the main causes of worldwide shortage of food. These factors lead to food price rises rapidly.

Agriculture is among the greatest contributors to global warming, emitting more greenhouse gases than all our cars, trucks, trains, and airplanes combined—largely from methane released by cattle and rice farms, nitrous oxide from fertilized fields, and carbon dioxide from the cutting of rain forests to grow crops or raise livestock. Farming is the thirstiest user of our precious water supplies and a major polluter, as runoff from fertilizers and manure disrupts fragile