World Food Crisis: Its Consequences and Underlying Problems

It is said that this year alone, because of the El Nino weather pattern and the devastation it has cause throughout the country, the food price inflation will only keep rising and on many different items we have to eat every day. To name a few, eggs are expected to rise 2%, fruit and nuts 4.5%, vegetables 4%, and meats 4.5% (CBC News, 2015). It is clear, and the one thing we know for sure is how much more money that will go into purchasing foods and how much less money will be in our wallets.

In this critical response to the article America’s Food Crisis and How to Fix it by Bryan Walsh. I am going to talk about how animals are being harmed and are given antibiotics to keep them from becoming sick, where the farmers put all the waste from the animals, and how people could fix it.

In Raj Patel’s novel Stuffed and Starved, Patel goes through every aspect of the food production process by taking the experiences of all the people involved in food production from around the world. Patel concludes by eventually blaming both big corporations and governments for their critical role in undermining local, cultural, and sustainable foodways and in so doing causing the key food-related problems of today such as starvation and obesity. In this book of facts and serious crime, Patel's Stuffed and Starved is a general but available analysis of global food struggles that has a goal of enlightening and motivating the general Western public that there is something critically wrong with our food system.

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.

Astyk and Newton, in their essay: The Rich Get Richer, the Poor Go Hungry, explains that “around the world, industrial agriculture has consolidated land ownership into the hands of smaller and smaller populations” destroying local self-sufficiency (518). Individuals are no longer able to grow own fresh, healthy foods to feed their family. They now depend on industrially grown crops and processed foods loaded with chemicals for food. Additionally, because of the farm policy, farmers that continue to cultivate healthy produce like fruits and vegetables get little or no government support, thus the higher prices of fresh produce seen today at our grocery stores.

Supply and demand are the rulers of price in the capitalist economy of the United States, and farm goods rely on these factors as much as any other commodity. The demand for food remains relatively stable although slightly increasing year to year, but the supply fluctuates greatly depending on

The last but not the least, high food prices make the situation even worse. According to FAO ' s data, the population of undernourishment increased by 75 million, which is higher than it in 2003 to 2005. The scientists analyzed it is caused by the rising food price (FAO, 2008). Additionally, in some countries in African, South American and Asia where average income is very low, to achieve the food security is almost impossible. For instance, Afghanistan is one of the most food-insecure countries. In Afghanistan, with 80% of the population living in rural place, the agricultural industry is most significant to this country. However, the households in Afghanistan still need to spend over 60 percent of their budgets on food. In 2008, it can be easily found in the chart, the wheat flour price experienced a sharp increase from 15 per kg to 45 per kg, which greatly increased the burden of the inhabitants (D’Souza, 2011). When the flour price rises, the local people will certainly spend more percentage of their incomes on wheat flour rather than some high-quality vegetables and meat. Unreasonable diet structure can directly contribute to lacking nutrition and influence their healthy. As a result, a vicious circle is created and makes the

Policies on global food production threatened the food security of many countries. First, economically vulnerable countries are subject to the unexpected changes of the international marketplace, food prices, and heavily subsidized produce from the global North that undermine the ability of the former to compete. Second, certain crops, like sugarcane, potato, and corn, are planted to produce biofuels, primarily ethanol, instead of food for poor populations. Wealthy nations that can afford to buy crops for biofuels inflate market prices for food, and then the food still goes to the country willing to pay. Third, nations that are based primarily on exporting products

By the year 2050, it is estimated that there will be nine billion people living on the planet, the problem arises when it comes time to feed all nine billion. In essence, this is what the global food crisis is. In the video “Feeding Nine Billion Video 1: Introducing Solutions to the Global Food Crisis,” the causes of the food crisis are explained in terms of climate, population growth, and the lack of food in stores. Despite the grim outlook drawn, the video claims that there is a solution to this crisis and that we already have the means to solve it. In combination with one another, four global solutions can be applied and modified for local communities to prevent and end the crisis. Through science

Modern globalization has changed the prices of food and how much people eat, and in turn, their risk to childhood and adult obesity. A study from the Obesity Prevention Source showed that “over the past four decades, the price of beef has dropped an astounding 80 percent, thanks in large part to global trade liberalization.” Trade liberalization gives different people access to different types of food. Often these foods are high-calorie and processed foods. Based on what type of food is available, how much it costs and how it is marketed, influences what people eat. According to Prabhakar Pillai, the author of "The Negative Effects of Globalization Not Many of Us are Aware Of." He states, “Due to globalization, the world

Throughout human history, food has always been a major influence towards society. Whether it may advocate changes of culture, formulate emotional bonding, it can also aggravate towards poverty. According to modern society, the latter has it that food has become an abundant resource to some parts of the world, so much that they're even throwing it away. Articles "Half of US food goes to waste" and "In a world of abundance, food waste is a crime" speak briefly on the matter, mainly concerning of the US about how food is treated and the effects it has in contrast. Although "Half of US food goes to waste" does share interesting points along with some informative research data, "In a world of abundance, food waste is a crime" quantifies a rather

High and volatile global food prices along with rising energy prices are contributing factors to instability in economics in many countries. Some countries are turning to self-sufficiency in food and are also rebuilding their own public reserves because of fiasco of the international

Brown (1995) claims that most of the increase in demand for food is due to inflated incomes and a notably higher standard of living, as opposed to solely population growth (pg. 1). That is not to say that population is irrelevant, as there are 13 million people added to the population every year in the country (Brown, 1996, pg. 14). He also argues that there has been a shift from grain-based diets to livestock, seafood, fruit and vegetables (pg. 17). (ADD ONTO THIS)

To begin with, Magdoff (2008: 1) points out that lack of production is not the reason for the recent food crisis as evidenced by the case of the USA where hunger is common even when the country enjoys surplus production besides the wastage and misallocation of food supplies in developing countries in the midst of a food crisis. He argues that the underlying cause to the food crisis is poverty among the populations in a global economy that celebrates production for profit hence food items are just like other market commodities. The capitalist system has ensured that although few people die from hunger, most survive in malnourishment. Most of the food crisis causes that Magdoff (2008: 3-5) provides point to the capitalist system in which profitability is the goal; rise in petroleum prices hence diversion of grains to biofuel purposes without considering their position as staple foods; use of grains to feed and fatten animals to cash into the rising demand for meat; and finally, speculation and hoarding in the food market.

There’s nothing you or I can do to change it. So we might as well “hedge” our rising food costs by investing in the very commodities whose prices