SUBSCRIBE TO OUR FREE NEWSLETTER
Daily news & progressive opinion—funded by the people, not the corporations—delivered straight to your inbox.
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
As Drought Hits Key Crops, Fears of Food Crisis Loom
As commodity speculators seek to profit from diminished yields, the world's poorest pay the price
Jul 03, 2012
Fears of a continued heatwave and drought across the US midwest -- which many scientists credit to climate change associated with global warming -- are leading analysts to predict lower yields of corn, soybean, and wheat in the nation's agricultural belt this growing season. The market predictions that parallel these kinds of droughts can drive global food prices up wildly, as happened during the food crisis of 2008, when commodity speculators exacerbate the price of these staple crops.
According to a market report in Reuters, "Relentless heat in the key US corn- and soybean-growing areas of the United States drove benchmark Chicago corn to a 10-month high on Tuesday, while soybeans jumped to their strongest values since 2008, with worries building about the bottom-line impact of drought on world supply. U.S. wheat also hit a 10-month high, tracking corn's rally."
As a result of these and similar reports by industry analysts, reports The Guardian, large speculators bolstered their bets on further rises in prices. "Hedge funds have become key speculators on commodity prices in recent years," writes economic correspondent Philip Inman, "and [data] showed they and other firms spent the last week betting prices were set to rise."
James Goodman, an associate professor at the University of Technology in Sydney, notes in The Age that in the two years leading up to the 2008 food crisis the price of food staples like corn and wheat doubled, forcing an additional 180 million people into destitution.
"Speculation on food prices was big business after the US lifted its ban on the practice in 2000," Goodman writes. "About $13 trillion surged into food commodities from 2006, and then out again in 2008, and then back in again by 2011."
"The debt, food and climate crises are the key drivers of global poverty," he argues. And if current conditions follow the 2008 pattern, experts warn it could prove a very rough road ahead for the world's food insecure.
# # #
An Urgent Message From Our Co-Founder
Dear Common Dreams reader, It’s been nearly 30 years since I co-founded Common Dreams with my late wife, Lina Newhouser. We had the radical notion that journalism should serve the public good, not corporate profits. It was clear to us from the outset what it would take to build such a project. No paid advertisements. No corporate sponsors. No millionaire publisher telling us what to think or do. Many people said we wouldn't last a year, but we proved those doubters wrong. Together with a tremendous team of journalists and dedicated staff, we built an independent media outlet free from the constraints of profits and corporate control. Our mission has always been simple: To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. Building Common Dreams was not easy. Our survival was never guaranteed. When you take on the most powerful forces—Wall Street greed, fossil fuel industry destruction, Big Tech lobbyists, and uber-rich oligarchs who have spent billions upon billions rigging the economy and democracy in their favor—the only bulwark you have is supporters who believe in your work. But here’s the urgent message from me today. It's never been this bad out there. And it's never been this hard to keep us going. At the very moment Common Dreams is most needed, the threats we face are intensifying. We need your support now more than ever. We don't accept corporate advertising and never will. We don't have a paywall because we don't think people should be blocked from critical news based on their ability to pay. Everything we do is funded by the donations of readers like you. When everyone does the little they can afford, we are strong. But if that support retreats or dries up, so do we. Will you donate now to make sure Common Dreams not only survives but thrives? —Craig Brown, Co-founder |
Our work is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). Feel free to republish and share widely.
Fears of a continued heatwave and drought across the US midwest -- which many scientists credit to climate change associated with global warming -- are leading analysts to predict lower yields of corn, soybean, and wheat in the nation's agricultural belt this growing season. The market predictions that parallel these kinds of droughts can drive global food prices up wildly, as happened during the food crisis of 2008, when commodity speculators exacerbate the price of these staple crops.
According to a market report in Reuters, "Relentless heat in the key US corn- and soybean-growing areas of the United States drove benchmark Chicago corn to a 10-month high on Tuesday, while soybeans jumped to their strongest values since 2008, with worries building about the bottom-line impact of drought on world supply. U.S. wheat also hit a 10-month high, tracking corn's rally."
As a result of these and similar reports by industry analysts, reports The Guardian, large speculators bolstered their bets on further rises in prices. "Hedge funds have become key speculators on commodity prices in recent years," writes economic correspondent Philip Inman, "and [data] showed they and other firms spent the last week betting prices were set to rise."
James Goodman, an associate professor at the University of Technology in Sydney, notes in The Age that in the two years leading up to the 2008 food crisis the price of food staples like corn and wheat doubled, forcing an additional 180 million people into destitution.
"Speculation on food prices was big business after the US lifted its ban on the practice in 2000," Goodman writes. "About $13 trillion surged into food commodities from 2006, and then out again in 2008, and then back in again by 2011."
"The debt, food and climate crises are the key drivers of global poverty," he argues. And if current conditions follow the 2008 pattern, experts warn it could prove a very rough road ahead for the world's food insecure.
# # #
Fears of a continued heatwave and drought across the US midwest -- which many scientists credit to climate change associated with global warming -- are leading analysts to predict lower yields of corn, soybean, and wheat in the nation's agricultural belt this growing season. The market predictions that parallel these kinds of droughts can drive global food prices up wildly, as happened during the food crisis of 2008, when commodity speculators exacerbate the price of these staple crops.
According to a market report in Reuters, "Relentless heat in the key US corn- and soybean-growing areas of the United States drove benchmark Chicago corn to a 10-month high on Tuesday, while soybeans jumped to their strongest values since 2008, with worries building about the bottom-line impact of drought on world supply. U.S. wheat also hit a 10-month high, tracking corn's rally."
As a result of these and similar reports by industry analysts, reports The Guardian, large speculators bolstered their bets on further rises in prices. "Hedge funds have become key speculators on commodity prices in recent years," writes economic correspondent Philip Inman, "and [data] showed they and other firms spent the last week betting prices were set to rise."
James Goodman, an associate professor at the University of Technology in Sydney, notes in The Age that in the two years leading up to the 2008 food crisis the price of food staples like corn and wheat doubled, forcing an additional 180 million people into destitution.
"Speculation on food prices was big business after the US lifted its ban on the practice in 2000," Goodman writes. "About $13 trillion surged into food commodities from 2006, and then out again in 2008, and then back in again by 2011."
"The debt, food and climate crises are the key drivers of global poverty," he argues. And if current conditions follow the 2008 pattern, experts warn it could prove a very rough road ahead for the world's food insecure.
# # #
We've had enough. The 1% own and operate the corporate media. They are doing everything they can to defend the status quo, squash dissent and protect the wealthy and the powerful. The Common Dreams media model is different. We cover the news that matters to the 99%. Our mission? To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. How? Nonprofit. Independent. Reader-supported. Free to read. Free to republish. Free to share. With no advertising. No paywalls. No selling of your data. Thousands of small donations fund our newsroom and allow us to continue publishing. Can you chip in? We can't do it without you. Thank you.