PRICED OUT OF THE MARKET

The world's food situation is bleak, and shortsighted policies in the United States and other wealthy countries -- which are diverting crops to environmentally dubious biofuels -- bear much of the blame. According to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization:

* The price of wheat is more than 80 percent higher than a year ago and corn prices are up by a quarter.

* Prices have gone so high that the World Food Program, which aims to feed 73 million people this year, said it might have to reduce rations or the number of people it will help.

[several contributing factors,] Yet the most important reason for the price shock is the rich world's subsidized appetite for biofuels:

* In the United States, 14 percent of the corn crop was used to produce ethanol in 2006 -- a share expected to reach 30 percent by 2010.

* This is cutting into production of staples like soybeans, as farmers take advantage of generous subsidies and switch crops to corn for fuel.

According to the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, absent new technologies, the United States, Canada and the European Union would require between 30 percent and 70 percent of their current crop area if they were to replace 10 percent of their transport fuel consumption with biofuels.

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[up to 70% of our crop land to replace 10% of the transportation fuel we need. remember that when next we're' told we need to use alternative energy sources: with the sole exception of nuclear (over time), none of them are a viable alternative - they simply haven't the capacity for our needs. Meanwhile, we float on oceans of oil...]

[Flashback: 061024 post:]

Geologist Refutes Media Myth: World Has Lots and Lots of Oil
A common theme in the media the past couple of years has been that the world is running out of oil, and that energy prices will do nothing but head higher for the rest of time. Well, a University of Washington economic geologist issued a statement on Thursday not only refuting such contentions, but also claiming that we will never fully deplete the earth’s supply of black gold:

"The most common question I get is, 'When are we going to run out of oil.' The correct response is, 'Never,'" said Eric Cheney.

[as previously mentioned, since the oil embargo of '73 the energy industry has found new reserves at a rate more than double the global (including China & India) increase in usage, meaning the supply horizon continues to expand and is already twice what it was in the 70's - the only thing effecting the supply side of the equation is America's (unique) refusal not to exploit its own resources - below link recommended]

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2006-10/uow-dpb101906.php