As John McSame clumsily attempts to re-brand himself as an economist, From ETC Group [link and blockquote added by biscuit]: the world’s largest seed and agrochemical corporations are stockpiling hundreds of monopoly patents on genes in plants that the companies will market as crops genetically engineered to withstand environmental stresses such as drought, heat, cold, [...]
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Here are the stark numbers today: Global food prices force about 100 million people into hunger. High food prices are pushing 30 million Africans into poverty. About 850 million people are suffering from chronic hunger worldwide. Food prices have hit the highest levels in real terms in 30 years. Price of rice has gone up [...]
Continue reading about Stark Numbers: Food Solutions, not Promises
In today’s world, where so many wake up in poverty and go to sleep hungry, each of us should ask: “how can I change this?” It is a sin to waste food while others do not have enough to eat. Every year the food waste in America alone can feed over 50 million people per [...]
International giant Cargill is one of a relatively small number of powerful corporations that control the global agricultural system (Monsanto, anyone?) Cargill, among those with the widest and deepest influence, describes itself as an “international provider of food, agricultural and risk management products and services. With 158,000 employees in 66 countries, the company is committed [...]
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I’ve been addicted to comestibles and their “relatives” since childhood. That’s the price I was glad to pay being from a family of hoteliers and restaurateurs. At the tender age of seven I was taught how to differentiate a Burgundy from a Claret, and all my spare time was spent in the hotel kitchens, spying [...]
Look out for genetically modified sugar in a shopping aisle near you by next Fall! American Crystal, a large Wyoming-based sugar company, has announced it will be sourcing its sugar from genetically engineered sugar beets. However, the increasing presence of GM crops in the US food chain has led to a growing resistance movement. Several [...]
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For all those global warming deniers out there, read this: climate change could mean some parts of southern England will be too hot to for wine-making by 2080, according to a UK professor. Why? Rising summer temperatures have already started to evolve the UK’s wine profile, with some French grape varieties being successfully introduced there [...]
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The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) Food Outlook report published a couple of days ago confirms that wheat prices should decline in the new season. I thought to myself: Wow! That’s great news! I promptly logged onto the FAO site (I’m a regular there) and I got this: International prices of most agricultural commodities have [...]
Noun 1. foraging – the act of searching for food and provisions. The prices of staple foods such as rice could stay high for the next three years, hindering the battle against poverty, a top World Bank official said Tuesday. I personally think this may be the understatement of the year. With oil prices to [...]
Continue reading about Foraging: Living Off the Fat of the Land
People use lots of water for drinking, cooking and washing, but even more for producing things such as food, paper, cotton clothes, etc. The water footprint of an individual, business or nation is defined as the total volume of freshwater that is used to produce the goods and services consumed by the individual, business or [...]