Grain prices are up, everybody knows that. Wheat alone has shot up around 80% in the past year and corn, well it’s way up too, in part due to diversion of stocks for ethanol production. It’s a great time for agribusiness but, in fairness, it might not be quite so good if you’re starving.
As the Washington Post reports, soaring grain prices are being met in the U.S., not with a commensurate increase in funding, but with a commensurate decrease in the amount of food that’ll go to those who need it most:
“The U.S. government’s humanitarian relief agency will significantly scale back emergency food aid to some of the world’s poorest countries this year because of soaring global food prices, and the U.S. Agency for International Development is drafting plans to reduce the number of recipient nations, the amount of food provided to them, or both, officials at the agency said.
USAID officials said that a 41 percent surge in prices for wheat, corn, rice and other cereals over the past six months has generated a $120 million budget shortfall that will force the agency to reduce emergency operations. That deficit is projected to rise to $200 million by year’s end. Prices have skyrocketed as more grains go to biofuel production or are consumed by such fast-emerging markets as China and India.”
Relax, it’s not like the poor have SUVs anyway. They don’t even need ethanol.
The Mound of Sound 