 Re: Possible food shortage
I am not sure I would be overly concerned about food shortages. Of course it is proper SOP to have reserves on hand in the case of an emergency, but I think we are seeing activity generated by fuel prices. There is experimentation going on to produce biofuels driving up the demand for corn et. al. that can be made into ethanol, biodiesel, and whatever else and speculators are driving up the cost of corn and other futures. Basically the same thing is going on with oil. A lot of the insanity going on with the per barrel price is related not only to increased demand but to speculation on oil futures. I think we will get ahead of this thing with increased farming. We had a big drop in farming in the 80's (Remember Farm Aide?) with family farms going under because there wasn't a sufficient market for their crops and they couldn't compete with big agribusiness megafarms. The market may get better for the small guy because of the demand. I think this bubble is going to pop at some point. The cost of living cannot continue to outpace income without the econonmy righting itself. I think a lot of this is artificialially based on market hysterics and is being fed by news stories that tend to be less analytical and more reactionary. It hasn't helped that a lot of what is on TV is filled with doom and gloom stories about global warming, the end of oil and lots of other things that seem to point to the end of the US as a world power.
I absolutely agree with Rockcrawlintoy in that the effects of shortages are felt in third world countries first and trickle down to countries with more infrastructure, but wheras they may be a critical situation in some bannana republic they more often are inconveniences here. The US has historically grown lots of subsidized grain they store and ship off periodically to whatever third world nation has imploded. In northern California they grow rice, government subsidized rice the federal government buys and also subsidizes the water to grow. They store it and ship it over seas as necessary. The irony is that rice is a monsoon crop that requires a lot of water. Why the hell they would grow that in California's semi arid climate and limited water infrastructure is beyond me. The point is, I think there is more wiggle room than is being alluded to. I think there is much more mid-west farming potential than realized, and California's central valley is capable of growing vast amounts of high quality crops. I suspect we are capable of feeding ourselves. Other countries with limited resources and infrastructure may not fare so well in a pinch.
Anyway, I think this thing will work itself out for the US at least. I have heard of things like tortilla riots in Mexico and, of course, there is the long standing tradition of guys with guns taking the rice and whatever else we deliver to countries in need. Today's example: Myanmar(sp?).
I don't think I would get overly concerned about this other than the normal amount of food storage you maintain for disasters.
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Re: Possible food shortage 
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