According to a news report from news.com, “What’s causing the global rise in food prices? Everything.”
“Growing demand for food in emerging nations, wheat crop failures, currency fluctuation, speculation in the commodities market, hastily conceived government policies, and the growing demand for biofuels have all–among other factors–converged to drive up the price of food, experts say,” said the story. “Those who say it’s all the fault of biofuels are wrong and those that say that none of the fault belongs to biofuels are wrong,” said Walter Falcon, a professor emeritus of international agricultural policy at Stanford University and co-director of Stanford’s Center for Environmental Sciences and Policy. “There is no doubt biofuels have added to the problem, but biofuels are not causing the demand for meat and soybeans for feed in China…There are a half a dozen things going on and it’s hard to sort out who gets the blame.” The severity of the problem has been highlighted by recent violent food riots in Egypt, Cameroon, Haiti, and other emerging nations.
The World Bank also issued a report Monday saying that the surge in prices could push 100 million people into deep poverty. The International Monetary Fund has asked developed nations to put forth solutions to avert even larger shortages.”
