The World is Closer to a Food Crisis Than Most People Realize [View all]

[BrendaBrick]

Published on Thursday, July 26, 2012 by The Guardian/UK

The World is Closer to a Food Crisis Than Most People Realize
Unless we move quickly to adopt new population, energy, and water policies, the goal of eradicating hunger will remain just that
by Lester Brown

In the early spring this year, US farmers were on their way to planting some 96m acres in corn, the most in 75 years. A warm early spring got the crop off to a great start. Analysts were predicting the largest corn harvest on record.Food riots in Algeria in 2008. (Photograph: Fayez Nureldine/AFP/Getty Images)

The United States is the leading producer and exporter of corn, the world's feedgrain. At home, corn accounts for four-fifths of the US grain harvest. Internationally, the US corn crop exceeds China's rice and wheat harvests combined. Among the big three grains – corn, wheat, and rice – corn is now the leader, with production well above that of wheat and nearly double that of rice.

The corn plant is as sensitive as it is productive. Thirsty and fast-growing, it is vulnerable to both extreme heat and drought. At elevated temperatures, the corn plant, which is normally so productive, goes into thermal shock.

As spring turned into summer, the thermometer began to rise across the corn belt. In St Louis, Missouri, in the southern corn belt, the temperature in late June and early July climbed to 100F or higher 10 days in a row. For the past several weeks, the corn belt has been blanketed with dehydrating heat.

rest here: http://www.commondreams.org/view/2012/07/26-5

In the comment section following this article, a poster mentions that Bill Gates has purchased 500,000 shares of Monsanto. Is this true?

Then there are these pieces of the puzzle which seem to fit together:

My comment in this older post on DU regarding Warren Buffet: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=439x2473474

This interview with Ray Suarez of PBS & USAID Administrator Rajiv Shah airing 5-18-2012:

http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/world/jan-june12/foodsecurity_05-18.html

And lastly, this development from another DU post: "Huge water resource exists under Africa dated 4-20-2012:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/112712472 where a poster mentioned something about George W buying land in Paraguay and to which I found this:

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2007/04/28/328588/-Resurrecting-the-Bush-Huge-Land-Acquisition-in-Paraguay-Story

Note on the above Paraguay purchase link, I can't seem to find anything definitive which confirms this purchase and also possibly having to do with the Guarani Aquifer...maybe someone else can?

At first I wondered if Brown's piece was alarmist when I first read it...but now in stringing together these other (seemingly unrelated) events...it's starting to add up...and adding up to something deeply disturbing!