Food prices 'will double by 2030', Oxfam warns

[Viva_La_Revolution]

Source: BBC

The prices of staple foods will more than double in 20 years unless world leaders take action to reform the global food system, Oxfam has warned.

By 2030, the average cost of key crops will increase by between 120% and 180%, the charity forecasts.

Half of that increase will be caused by climate change, Oxfam predicts, in its report Growing a Better Future.

It calls on world leaders to improve regulation of food markets and invest in a global climate fund.

Read more: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-13597657?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter

[notesdev]

1. 2030?

At the rate things have been progressing recently, food prices will double in the next 2 years - the prices I see are about twice what I paid two years ago.

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

24. Maybe they meant 8:30 p.m.

:D

[LARED]

2. That's about a 3% inflation rate over 20 years

Seems to be a not so alarming.

[ohnoyoudidnt]

5. No, it is not alarming.

Of course, this article will alarm many people.

I bet most things cost about twice as much if not more today as they did 20 years ago.

If wages don't rise enough, that will be a problem.

[Zoeisright]

12. IF wages don't rise enough?

Wages have been flat or declining for the last 30 years. If this continues for the next 20, which it will if any repuke is in charge of anything, a lot of people are going to be going hungry.

[defendandprotect]

17. Obama -- not Bush -- stopped payment of COLA's on Social Security ...

alleging there wasn't sufficient inflation -- !!!

Every $ anyone had pre-Bush is now worth about 50 cents!!

[No Elephants]

23. Oxfam is just being silly.

"According to the charity's research, the world's poorest people now spend up to 80% of their incomes on food - with those in the Philippines spending proportionately four times more than those in the UK, for instance - and more people will be pushed into hunger as food prices climb."

[villager]

3. well, if we keep wasting all our surviving grain on industrial meat production...

on the other hand, if we grow/eat/consume different, that could also have an impact...

[AndyTiedye]

8. Let the Cows and Sheep Eat Grass

Cows and sheep do a great job of converting inedible grass into delicious food.

Currently, grass-fed beef and lamb are only available from some small, local producers.
Around here they mostly sell through farmers' markets, and at rather high prices.

As grain prices rise, it will no longer be economical to "fatten up" livestock with corn,
and grass-feeding will become the norm again.

[villager]

11. Right -- but there go your mass feedlots and conveyer-belt models of "meat production..."

n/t

[defendandprotect]

16. +1 --

[AndyTiedye]

21. Good Riddance to Them

[KamaAina]

19. They already do on the Big Island of Hawai'i

and for precisely that reason: feedlots are already uneconomical there, since the grain would have to be shipped in.

[SoapBox]

4. Doubling for 99% of us and then free for that top, billionaire 1%!

...they'll pay no taxes and get all their food for free.

Actually, doesn't sound so crazy if the wingers have their way.

[xchrom]

6. Food prices were/are one of the flash points in the Arab Spring movement.

Just a note who say it doesnt seem like much.

A squeeze on wages, jobs, etc - hike food prices - & voila - serious unrest.

[lovuian]

7. is this because of Genetic Modified Foods?

Monopoly on seed

but for how long do starving people abide by patent laws and corporate law and the IMF

[slackmaster]

9. I can't help but wonder what kinds of things will NOT double in price by 2030

Probably not very many things.

[Kolesar]

18. Ammo has run up due to your buddies

[NYC_SKP]

10. I gather they mean costs adjusted for inflation.

Not surprised, I would guess that costs will double in fewer than 20 years.

[blank space]

13. Food doubles between 2004-2008

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:FAO_food-price-index_1990-2011.png

Was a reason for GFC, predated by teh spike in global oil prices.

Again oil prices are heading towards $130 / b and again food prices are sky rocketing.

This is the EXACTLY the scenario predicted by peak oil forecasters - Peak oil was reached in 2007, we will continue the roller coaster now for a decade -

[gtar100]

14. On the bright side, investors won't lose a dime.

After all, food's a commodity on the stock exchange; not some kind of human need.

Our capitalist system has our back. Don't worry about it.

[defendandprotect]

15. Global Warming is seriously impacting farming and growth of vegetation --

We also need our towns and communities to use vacant land to grow more

vegetables -- both to make "local" production available for our town --

but also to make food more available for the impoverished among us.

[RebelOne]

20. That is the least of my worries. I won't be around in 2030.

Maybe, if I am lucky. I am already 72. In fact, because of the high cost of gas, food prices have already risen. It seems the prices go up every time I go to the supermarket.

[No Elephants]

22. Food profiteers = death panels.

[lonestarnot]

25. And grifters eat for free and dump the rest in the trash on your dime.