Comments on: Rising Temperatures Raise Food Prices http://permaculture.org.au/2010/08/11/rising-temperatures-raise-food-prices/ Permaculture News, Commentary and Worldwide Projects. Tue, 22 May 2012 14:23:17 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 hourly 1 By: Øyvind Holmstad http://permaculture.org.au/2010/08/11/rising-temperatures-raise-food-prices/#comment-51487 Øyvind Holmstad Tue, 10 Aug 2010 20:50:59 +0000 http://permaculture.org.au/?p=3686#comment-51487 Yes Thomas, it’s a tragedy. I read here in my newspapaer that in Sweden the number of farms was 427000 in 1927. In 2007 this number had shrinked to only 72600 farms. A reduction of 354400 farms in just 80 years. A frightening number. Yes Thomas, it’s a tragedy. I read here in my newspapaer that in Sweden the number of farms was 427000 in 1927. In 2007 this number had shrinked to only 72600 farms. A reduction of 354400 farms in just 80 years. A frightening number.

]]> By: Thomas Fischbacher http://permaculture.org.au/2010/08/11/rising-temperatures-raise-food-prices/#comment-51481 Thomas Fischbacher Tue, 10 Aug 2010 17:30:37 +0000 http://permaculture.org.au/?p=3686#comment-51481 The way I see it, the problem with the market is that it is quite blind for many important aspects of human existence. Food isn't "just another commodity". And at any rate, its price is not correct, because the political will to push industrialization inevitably manifests itself in artificially low food prices, for evident reasons: If food were so expensive that people would have to spend, say, 1/4 of their income on it to pay for the production effort, the farmers:employees ratio would be a very different one. The political will is to provide an economic environment in which few people working in primary production feed many "employees". This goes hand in hand with distorted food prices that do not reflect the real situation by a long shot. While I don't trust the "Independent", for quite obvious reasons, I really would like to take a look at the article by Jayati Gosh that is mentioned here: http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/johann-hari/johann-hari-how-goldman-gambled-on-starvation-2016088.html The way I see it, the problem with the market is that it is quite blind for many important aspects of human existence. Food isn’t “just another commodity”. And at any rate, its price is not correct, because the political will to push industrialization inevitably manifests itself in artificially low food prices, for evident reasons: If food were so expensive that people would have to spend, say, 1/4 of their income on it to pay for the production effort, the farmers:employees ratio would be a very different one. The political will is to provide an economic environment in which few people working in primary production feed many “employees”. This goes hand in hand with distorted food prices that do not reflect the real situation by a long shot.

While I don’t trust the “Independent”, for quite obvious reasons, I really would like to take a look at the article by Jayati Gosh that is mentioned here:

http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/johann-hari/johann-hari-how-goldman-gambled-on-starvation-2016088.html

]]> By: Craig Mackintosh http://permaculture.org.au/2010/08/11/rising-temperatures-raise-food-prices/#comment-51479 Craig Mackintosh Tue, 10 Aug 2010 16:40:27 +0000 http://permaculture.org.au/?p=3686#comment-51479 Or, the free market will continue, and we'll see more of this: http://permaculture.org.au/2009/07/07/rich-nations-buying-up-land-in-poor-countries-at-escalating-rate/ and this: http://permaculture.org.au/2009/05/30/the-peasants-are-revolting/ Or, the free market will continue, and we’ll see more of this:

http://permaculture.org.au/2009/07/07/rich-nations-buying-up-land-in-poor-countries-at-escalating-rate/

and this:

http://permaculture.org.au/2009/05/30/the-peasants-are-revolting/

]]> By: Marcin Gerwin http://permaculture.org.au/2010/08/11/rising-temperatures-raise-food-prices/#comment-51478 Marcin Gerwin Tue, 10 Aug 2010 16:37:25 +0000 http://permaculture.org.au/?p=3686#comment-51478 "The Russian ban on grain exports and possible restrictions on exports from Ukraine and Kazakhstan could cause panic in food-importing countries, leading to a run on exportable grain supplies." - this is where the free market ends. If the food shortages were to affect Western countries, politicians would step in and free trade in grains would be put on hold. Rationing system would be introduced and grain prices would be set by governments. Food prices cannot be set by hedge funds, speculators and investment banks. “The Russian ban on grain exports and possible restrictions on exports from Ukraine and Kazakhstan could cause panic in food-importing countries, leading to a run on exportable grain supplies.” – this is where the free market ends. If the food shortages were to affect Western countries, politicians would step in and free trade in grains would be put on hold. Rationing system would be introduced and grain prices would be set by governments. Food prices cannot be set by hedge funds, speculators and investment banks.

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