Making a Killing from Hunger: (The real causes of the food crisis)

[Hannah Bell]

Farmers across the world produced a record 2.3 billion tons of grain in 2007, up 4% on the previous year.

Since 1961 the world's cereal output has tripled, while the population has doubled....

The policy makers who have shaped today's world food system -- have come out with a number of explanations for the current crisis: drought; rising demand in China and India; biofuel production...

There is something more fundamental at work...which the world’s finance and development chiefs are keeping out of public discussion....trade liberalisation and structural adjustment policies imposed on poor countries... and, more recently, through a barrage of bilateral free trade and investment agreements.

they have led to the ruthless dismantling of tariffs and other tools that developing countries had created to protect local agricultural production.... Today, roughly 70% of all so-called developing countries are net importers of food...Agricultural policy has completely lost touch with its most basic goal of feeding people.

Hedge funds...are pouring billions of dollars into commodities...According to some estimates, investment funds now control 50-60% of the wheat traded on the world’s biggest commodity markets.9 One firm calculates that the amount of speculative money in commodities futures -- has ballooned from US$5 billion in 2000 to US$175 billion to 2007.10


The truth about who profits and who loses from our global food system has never been more obvious....Profits at Cargill's Mosaic Corporation, which controls much of the world's potash and phosphate supply, more than doubled last year...In April 2008, the joint offshore trading arm for Mosaic and Potash hiked the price of its potash by 40% for buyers from Southeast Asia and by 85% for those from Latin American. India had to pay 130% more than last year, and China 227% more.15

Profit Increase for Some of the World's Largest Fertiliser Corporations


Company Profits 2007 (US$ million)Increase from 2006 (%)

Potash Corp (Canada)
1,100
72%

Yara (Norway)
1,116
44%

Sinochem (China)
1,100
95%

Mosaic (US)
708
141%

ICL (Israel)
535
43%

K + S (Germany)
420
2.8%


On 14 April 2008, Cargill announced that its profits from commodity trading for the first quarter of 2008 were 86% higher than the same period in 2007.


Table 2. Profit Increase for Some of the World's Largest Grain Traders


Company Profits 2007 (US$ million) Increase from 2006 (%)

Cargill (US)
2,340
36%

ADM (US)
2,200
67%

ConAgra (US)
764
30%

Bunge (US)
738
49%

Noble Group (Singapore)
258
92%

Marubeni (Japan)
90*
43%*


Indeed, all of the big grain traders are making record profits....
The world's big food processors...are also cashing in.....The food corporations don't seem to be making these profits from of the retailers. UK supermarket Tesco reports profits up 12.3% from last year, a record rise. Other major retailers, such as France's Carrefour and the US’s Wal-Mart, say that food sales are the main factor sustaining their profit increases.

It seems that nearly every corporate player in the global food chain is making a killing from the food crisis. The seed and agrochemical companies are doing well too. Monsanto...reported a 44% increase in overall profits in 2007. DuPont...increased by 19%, while Syngenta...saw profits rise 28%...

Such record profits have nothing to do with any new value that these corporations are producing... Instead, they are a reflection of the extreme power that these middlemen have accrued through the globalisation of the food system. Intimately involved with the shaping of the trade rules that govern today's food system and tightly in control of markets and the ever more complex financial systems through which global trade operates, these companies are in perfect position to turn food scarcity into immense profits....

http://mrzine.monthlyreview.org/grain260408.html#_edn12

[chknltl]

1. KnR

[JeffR]

2. K & R

Horrifying, but vital to know.

[ColbertWatcher]

3. This is great.

And I have to commend you on all the research you've done and effort you've put in to counter the misinformation being tossed about in this forum.

Thank you.

[undergroundpanther]

4. profit is the root of all evil.

I ask this why should someone be forced to buy food and the means to make food from someone else far more wealthy than themself,to get what this earth produces for free anyway?


The parable of the box by Derrick Jensen....

" The box is full of salmon, and a man sits atop of this box. Long ago man hired armed guards to keep any one from eating his fish. The many people who sit next to the empty river starve to death. But they do not die of starvation. They die of belief. Everyone believes that the man atop the box owns the fish. The soldiers believe it, and they will kill to protect the illusion. The others believe it enough and they are willing to starve. But the truth is that there is a box, there is an emptied river, there is a man sitting atop the box, there are guns, and there are starving people."

http://bioregionalanimism.blogspot.com/2006/03/parable-of-box.html

[seriousstan]

5. The farmers of the world will be happy to know the earth produces for free.

Those fools thought they WORKED the soil.

[scarletwoman]

6. k&r -- If the peasants of the developed world should ever find themselves bestirred to take up

torches and pitchforks, stock exchanges and brokerage banks ought to be the first to look out their windows and see the angry mob shaking their fists and cursing them.

sw

[Duke Newcombe]

7. Unfortunately, the "peasants" running things isn't working too well in Zimbabwe.

Sometimes the idea sounds good, but the execution isn't as easy as it seems.

Duke

[scarletwoman]

8. I edited my post, sorry.

I just want to see some capitalists shaking in their loafers.

[Duke Newcombe]

9. No need for apologies...

Just bringing up that socialism and collectivism in theory sounds great but in practice rarely survives contact with the powerlust and greed of the few.

Duke

[scarletwoman]

11. "...the powerlust and greed of the few." Sounds like a pretty good description of what's happening

with capitalism these days.

Could it be that NO human system is immune from "powerlust and greed"?

In any case, I wasn't aware that I brought up "socialism and collectivism", I was just talking about torches and pitchforks.

:D
sw

[Duke Newcombe]

16. Understood.

I mentioned it first. Sorry.

Duke

[Hannah Bell]

14. Famine in China: imperial rule, western rule, communist rule:

1800s: (imperial rule)

1. Four famines - 1810, 1811, 1846, & 1849 = nearly 45 million
dead.

2. 1876-77: Famine, 6 million

3. 1877-78: Manchu hid extent of problem, slavery, cannibalism,
diseases claim 9.5-13 million

4. 1879: unspecified #

5. 1888: yellow river flood famine: 900,000

6. 1888 Famine in N. China: Nine to 13 million estimated deaths

7. 1892-94: >1 million

8. 1896-1897 famine in northern China, # not specified



1900s (western-dominated)

1. 1907 famine in east-central China, # unspecified

2. 1911 flooding/famine: "millions"

3. 1920-21: 1 million

4. 1928-1929 drought/famine in northern China. 3 million deaths

5. 1931: typhoon + famine: 3.7 million

6. 1936 "New Famine", with an estimated 5 million fatalities

7. 1939: yellow river flood/crop failure: >200,000

8. 1941: 3 million

9. 1942-1943: "millions"

10. 1949 crop failure: unspecified #



******

Communist period 1950-2008

********

1954 crop failure: 40,000

1959-61 drought & Great Famine: "10's of millions"

1967: 1.5 million

1972: crop failure, no famine


Nothing else to date.



1959-1961 Great Leap Forward / The Great Chinese Famine (China). The official statistic is 20 million deaths, as given by Hu Yaobang

[Hannah Bell]

12. The situation in Zimbabwe has nothing to do with peasants running things.

[scarletwoman]

13. Yeah, there's that, too...

:kick:

[Duke Newcombe]

15. Finish the progression, please.

-Imperialist squatters removed from the peoples land
-People's land given back to people
-Profit!

...or not.

Has EVERYTHING to do with it. Again, great in theory, sucks so far in practice. Not that I'm for unbridled capitolism, either. Just sayin'.

Duke

[Hannah Bell]

17. sorry, that's nonsense. n/t

[Duke Newcombe]

18. Could you expand on that, please? eom

Duke

[Hannah Bell]

19. What's to expand? The situation in Zimbabwe has nothing to do with

peasants having power, & "collectivists" have no monopoly on famine.

[Duke Newcombe]

20. Don't recall where I said they did...

...but thanks for clearing up that non-disputed and irrelevant point for me anyway.

Duke

[Hannah Bell]

21. Does this jog your memory?

"Unfortunately, the "peasants" running things isn't working too well in Zimbabwe"


"socialism and collectivism in theory sounds great but in practice rarely survives contact with the powerlust and greed of the few."

[Duke Newcombe]

22. To end this silliness...

No, collectivists do NOT have a corner on famine.

Now, do you see the handover of formerly white-owned farms to the "peasantry" in Zimbabwe to be a success for the people of Zimbabwe?

Unless you're denying this occurred, which pretty much ends our little dance here.

good day.

Duke

[Hannah Bell]

23. You seem to think that Zimbabwe's in crisis because

Mugabe gave formerly white-owned farms to peasants. Not because he gave away land, & not cause he gave it to peasants.

[Duke Newcombe]

24. You seemed to have missed the point.

He failed because he gave land to folks who didn't know squat about modern farming, and assumed that everything would continue as before. Having the "chops" you have re: Hunger, you would know already know that Zimbabwe went from a chief exporter of food to an almost fully dependent importer of crops.

In Zimbabwe's example, collectivism failed, because in order to maintain power, Mugabe gave people the dream of having their own land by taking it away from the folks who had it (who were, in fact white-let us not quible over facts), without thinking or caring about the ramifications.

Again, do you dispute this? And spare me the "you're *ist" allusions, please--it's not conducive to dialog.

Duke

[Hannah Bell]

25. Yes, I dispute it. The simplistic narrative about M. giving white farms to

pre-modern peasants & the economy therefore crashing is basically propaganda.

I don't know what you mean by "ist" allusions.

[Duke Newcombe]

26. Goodnight, Hannah...

*plonk*

Duke

[Hannah Bell]

27. People should investigate things beyond what the BBC & NYT

& CNN tell them to believe.

[Hannah Bell]

28. "He failed because he gave land to folks who didn't know squat about modern farming,"

Yep, the 6000 white landowners who owned 3/4 of Zimbabwe were doing all the farmwork themselves. Black folk don't know how to farm "modern," they all use sticks.

Maybe you should check into the economic & political sanctions on Zim, the decapitalization of the farms, the debt crisis, the restrictions on fertilizer supply, the US/UK admitted destabilization program, the capital strike by the western mining companies, & the proxy resource war with China. Just off the top of my head, duke nuke-em.

[lonestarnot]

40. Yeah, I too liked that racist bullshit! Smug fuck!

Doncha just love know it alls...

[lapfog_1]

10. HuffPo linked an article from the Washington Post that is worth a read

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/story/2008/04/26/ST2008042602333.html?nav=rss_email/components

[Hannah Bell]

29. kick

[blindpig]

30. Socialism NOW! n/t

[The Stranger]

31. OVERPOPULATION must be addressed.

There are too many people on the planet.

[killbotfactory]

32. Our lifestyle is the problem, not people

We are 5% of the population of Earth, but consume 25% of it's resources. Meanwhile, we are being held up as a model for developing nations around the world. This is insane, and we need to change.

We are an extremely wasteful society, and it seems arrogant to me that we would blame overpopulation, or some poor third world nation where people live off a dollar a day, when our way of life wastes so many resources needlessly, only because corporations have figured out a way to profit from and encourage our endless and needless consumption. The cost of this waste has been externalized onto society as a whole.

[The Stranger]

34. No, OVERPOPULATION is the problem. Even if there were enough food, it is not where the people are.

Which means that you have to transport it to them, and that is what is destroying the environment and asfyxiating us. Carbon emissions are obliterating the ecosystems that support life.

These ecosystems cannot support the OVERPOPULATED planet not only for food reasons and basic necessities, but in terms of energy use, warmth, transportation, electricity and living needs.

And all of that falsely assumes you can tell an up-and-coming Third World super economy that, although the U.S. overconsumed with abandon, it must be the one to swallow the lump, and conserve.

[killbotfactory]

36. There is enough food to feed everyone.

There is enough to feed 12 billion people. The market, with it's politics, speculators, and subsidies are at fault.

[The Stranger]

37. Food is not the only thing people need survive. Energy, transportation, electricity, housing, sewage

and clean drinking water -- you did not read my post apparently because it is not a question of how much food could be theoretically produced.

We are destroying the planet in a hundred different ways and it is because of

overpopulation

.

[SammyWinstonJack]

33. Starvation should help with that pesky overpopulation problem and make lots of people rich, too.

[The Stranger]

35. The point is to avoid population. If that man in the dress from the Vatican would let Third World

peoples use birth control, then there would be no need for starvation.

[Hannah Bell]

38. It's not Catholic countries with the highest birthrates. It's not

countries with the highest birthrates using the majority of the world's resources.

[The Stranger]

46. Somehow we have to get beyond national boundaries and because the environment does as well.

And please try to realize that trying to defuse the OVERPOPULATION BOMB DOES NOT MEAN THAT OVERCONSUMPTION IS NOT ALSO A PROBLEM.

We can multi-task here. The problems are not mutually exclusive.

But, at the same time, we cannot cannot cannot ignore OVERPOPULATION and the strain on the world's resources -- again, not just speaking of minimal food to survive, but of transportation, heating, sewage, water, shelter, and all that living standards entail -- just because some nations consume too much.

[Hannah Bell]

48. The developed world, with less than half the world's population,

consumes 3/4. Yet "overpopulation" in the 3rd world, & the poor generally, is always the first "problem" mentioned, the first "solution" always "education" & "birth control".

It's hypocritical unless there's a serious effort to cut consumption & change the basis of our own economy. Which there isn't. and since there isn't, & seeing how the resource base in the third world is being stolen, i read the "overpopulation" meme as - quit having kids so there's more for us.

[The Stranger]

53. Your reading "quit having kids so there's more for us" problem is coming solely from you.

The overconsumption problem is inextricably intertwined with the overpopulation problem. You are doing yourself, those trying to address these problems, and the world a distinct disservice with your incredibly myopic misunderstanding.

This is everyone's problem, and most people here on DU are not endeared by overconsumption. Most are living sustainable lives (or as close as possible) consistent with renewable resources and conservation.

[Hannah Bell]

56. sustainable? in whose earth?

even compared to europe & japan, the average american uses more of everything.

[The Stranger]

57. I feel like I'm talking to a wall.

"Whose Earth?"

Didn't I just waste 20 minutes explaining to you that the environment doesn't follow political or national boundaries?

[Hannah Bell]

58. I feel like I'm talking to one, too. There are political boundaries.

They have real, material consequences for resource use.

The real, material facts:

US birthrate = 2.1 (replacement)
US consumption: 25% of world consumption

Mexico's birthrate: 2.1, less per capita consumption
http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/news/articles/0404nobabies.html

Europe & Japan have lower birthrates & less resource consumption.

The third world has higher birthrates, drastically lower consumption

World birthrate: 2.54 children per woman.

What is the root of the problem here?

[The Stranger]

59. The root of the problem is that you refuse to address 75% of the world's consumption.

And that is according to your overy own facts and figures.

[Hannah Bell]

60. 25% of the world's consumption is the US (5% of world population).

75% of world consumption = US, Europe, Japan = 17% of world population

All at 2.1 births per woman or less - replacement rate.

Japan's population is declining, & so is the population of some countries in Europe (less immigration).

Most of the "developing world" is also at replacement rate as well, e.g. Mexico w/ 2.1, China w/ less than 2.1, etc.


"Overpopulation" is a calculation of population v. resource use. By that measure, the US is the most overpopulated country in the world.

But typically, when people say "overpopulation," they mean:

Poor people, at home or overseas.

[Hannah Bell]

61. This discussion began with you calling out the pope on birth control.

You focused on Catholics.

First, it's ill-informed. Whatever the pope says, many primarily Catholic countries have low birth rates (e.g. Spain, France, Mexico), & many countries where other religious traditions predominate have higher ones.

Second, you focus on one group, then talk about population respecting no boundaries. Which is self-contradictory.

[The Stranger]

62. You refuse to address 75% of the world's overconsumption even in your own mistaken view that

overconsumption and overpopulation cannot be addressed at the same time. You take the absurd position that just because the U.S. consumes more per capita, that there should be nothing done about overpopulation. This is an absurd argument. When I point this out, you only keep posting it.

Overpopulation AND Overconsumption are problems. They are interrelated. But they are both problems. We cannot ignore one because the other is focused on the U.S. You have taken the absurd position that just because the U.S. consumes 25% of the world's resources, the rest of the 75% of the world should be ignored. But the environment doesn't make the same mistake that you are making. It is still being polluted and destroyed by the 75% of overconsumption.

Overpopulation is not confined to birth rates, and most of the highest and unsustainable birth rates are in Africa. Feeding people is not the only issue -- these people will require transportation, sewage services, shelter and other necessities that are primarily provided by carbon-burning energy. So even if the highest birth rates are in Africa, it is still a problem for the U.S. and everyone else. Your refusal to argue in good faith on this point is a shame.

The world is ALREADY OVERPOPULATED, and this is expected to get worse. That the Pope (and many, many other religious leaders) refuse to take this into consideration in preaching against birth control is wrong. Of course the Pope does not only speak to Catholics, and your specious baiting with regard to the Pope is laughable. And there are no "Catholic countries." Again, you don't seem to be engaged in debate, but rather with some strange agenda that opposes people concerned with overpopulation, perhaps for your own religious reasons.

[Hannah Bell]

51. it was you brought up the pope, creating the "boundary"

of "catholic/non-catholic".

Is the US doing anything to reduce its resource consumption, or transform its economy to a steady-state?

capitalism requires infinite expansion, else it becomes a zero-sum game.

i'll listen to the cries of overpopulation when 1 american consumes less than 9 africans.

[The Stranger]

54. I was trying to disabuse you of the notion that the planet's environment honors boundaries.

And trying to disabuse you of the notion that addressing the OVERPOPULATION BOMB is somehow inconsistent with living a sustainable life in the U.S. and Europe.

[Hannah Bell]

55. the birthrate in the us& europe is 2.1 or less. n/t

[crimsonblue]

39. My two bits.

I don't think Cargill is an evil company. They own or run thousands of Co-ops across the country, and provide fair prices and good access to quality products. The real culprit is the US government. The Feds pay thousands of farmers every year to NOT grow crops, or to limit the amount they grow. We have quota systems in place. Once the quota for a grain silo in Kansas has been met, the grain is dumped into huge piles in the open air, where they quickly rot. There is little attempt made to transport the extra grain anywhere else. Why? Because they are paid not to do anything with the grain. In many places, it is illegal for farmers to sell their grain to anybody but the co-op or grain elevators. Once the elevator fills up, the farmers receive pittance for any extra grain. Not to mention the fact that the US currently ships millions of pounds of condensed and evaporated milk overseas every year, and keeps vast stock piles, thus further increasing sales prices. The government has artificially created food shortages in the US (partly because of the preceding and partly because farmers are paid more money to grow grain and other crops for biofuel than for food). The average farmer to feed rate has stagnated over the past 20 or so years. It has been at around 129 people for most of my lifetime.

[lonestarnot]

41. WTO, World Bank, IMF making good on a 2000 promise.

"We are the linchpins of poverty alleviation in the world,' they are effectively saying, 'and if you continue to criticise us, it is the world's poor that will suffer most.' Hence, WTO Director-General Mike Moore and The Economist reacted almost identically to the failure to launch a new round of trade liberalisation in December 1999: "Make no mistake," they said, "the world's poor are the real losers from Seattle..."

http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m2465/is_6_30/ai_65653637

profits of investors before the food needs of people

world’s finance and development chiefs are keeping out of public discussion

re-engineering of credit and financial markets to create a massive debt industry, with no control on investors

[Hannah Bell]

42. The US government sets quotas/subsidies at the behest of whom?

who writes the farm bills? if you look into it, you'll find the usual suspects, including cargill.

[Tashca]

45. I disagree on many fronts

Cargill is a major player in farm policy. They are profit driven....period. I don't think they are the best stewards of humanity.

Farmers paid not to grow crops? The only program I am aware of that does this is for conservation of fragile soils or wetland restoration. This is mostly through the CRP program.....and is a very worthwhile program.
The land has to qualify because of high erodibility or flooding....it's the poorest ground for crop productivity.

Limit the amount they grow???...Not true at all. the farm program is called freedom to farm and they can qualify for every bushel they grow. It actually encourages production.

Grain dumped in huge piles and left to rot. Ridiculous!!!...The COOP or elevator that takes that grain is responsible for keeping it in shape. They lose money id=f they don't. I'm sure most don't want to lose money.

[lonestarnot]

43. Fuck you World Bank!

[Tashca]

44. Thank you for shedding a light

A person could talk for hours about who the culprit might be in this food crisis.
The only food crisis is an artificial one to maximize profit. When the air goes out of this bubble ...The profits are taken.......then we have a crisis. I believe this is going to play havoc with our worldwide food system. With the massive increases in input costs...if the commodity prices happen to drop to about half.....then we have a problem.

This post I feel does an excellent job of pointing right to the major culprits....profit over life.
It is disgusting me to no end.......

[notadmblnd]

47. It's a twofer

as people slowly starve to death, the herd will be thinned. Just think of the impact that will make.

[Orwellian_Ghost]

49. K&R n/t

[snot]

50. K&R'd. (This had all the markings of an artificially-exacerbated crisis.) nt

[lonestarnot]

52. Haven't they all been? and the greatest real crisis still goes unexamined.

Criminals still occupy our White House.