Making a killing from the food crisis

[130starfish]

i agree, with your assessment, i think that the current model in its drive for profits and efficiency does not make allowances for the benefits of an inefficient but independent model. I think that there is some medium value that allows for SOME imports and profits and self sufficiency. Its an error, a calculation error, and greed plays a big part too. I dont have the solution for this but i am working on what i call "fuzzy" efficient yet self sustaining models.

[ourearthhome]

Industrialized agriculture would be put out of business where in fact it is not truly efficient if there were to be a significant property tax on land values. It turns out that the medium sized family farm is more efficient than the large industrialized farms in the US and if they had to go head to head after paying the real value of the land the family farms would win. It is totally irresponsible to ignore this issue but ignored it is. Wait until China/Saudi Arabia etc. buy up our farm land.

[dreamerpulse]

if the gov't buys grain and gives it for free to nations that are in need, thus depressing prices for farmers globally providing incentive to plant less because the prices aren't economically sustainable for the business.

the more aid thats given the less farmers produce until the moment when their production can no longer be given for free. farmers in southern russia were going broke two years ago because prices were so low that some fields were left to rot with grain unharvested.

[chrismac3740]

Thank Al Gore for the increase in food prices.

[AvEryBadApPLe]

al gore can go fuck himself. of course, if he gets a chance to in between counting all the money he collected from his brainwashed supporters.

[thbyrnes]

I agree, but the food model in Haiti was not by choice, but rather by force...

They had no choice in the matter; the globalists want one-world government. Breaking all sovereign states is a top priority and controlling the food is a proven tactic.

Small states like Haiti must form a coalition of states where together they grow their own food and reject the world monetary system of control... Not just Haiti, we all need a worldwide revolution against the darkness.

LOVE & LIGHT = FREEDOM

[blackxavior]

Why does the Haitian government have no responsibility for their idiotic agricultural policies?

[KARStarla]

I'm sickened by this whole sad situation

[blacksilverjose]

fucking wallstreet

[uchoob00]

great video

[taterfrog]

It's the g#@%D@*n bankers!!!! What is needed is a system whereby bankers are processed with guillotines. I am thinking about starting a factory designing and producing guillotines. Send me some orders.

[javster327]

I'll take one of those!

[dellsprospects2]

i gotta go work in the garden...then i gotta go figure out how to convert the car to used veg oil...wait..where is my tin foil hat?? whew...there it is...ZERO POINT ENERGY

[NickAAylward]

We like to think we live in a "democracy", maybe we use to.....but now its a "corparite democracy"....all we've become is consumers....as all our own manufacturing industrys have been consumed by corporations and moved offshore to places where there are no workers rights....as this is happening, we are forced to lose our rights at work to keep up...we keep villafying china and its workers rights, though big western corporations are over there supporting this and furthering the wealth ofchina etc

[yay1912]

I think I am going to read making a killing from hunger.

[mcc11505]

Thank you Therealnews for posting this and all the lively comments too! I don't subscribe to any TV service so I appreciate files like this. Some of us have taken a while to ask for the truth, some aren't ready yet. Devlin's right globalization isn't working. Imagine a world without USA dependence on foreign oil. No more Calli or Monsanto. Just like any chemical dependency, withdrawal is painful, recovery is one day at a time, & the junk dealers will suffer the most.XoX

[mwspruvn]

Start your back yard Garden today

[lastritesread]

This shortage has been engineered By our government through huge subsidies for american farmers, to the point where US farmers could virtualy give away rice and still make a profit which drove the other countries to change there faming practices and becoming reliant on the US. We are at a very important time in our history as americans we as a united people must stand up and let the world know that though our goverment may want war and hunger for profit, we as Americans do not!

[withoutmercyuk]

a massive cotributer in this is the corps selling sterile stock to the farmers. The seed may grow this season, but the seeds they produce are worthless, thus buy more seed from the corps. Pesticides ruin crops (and health) and make the soil is barren. Buy more stuff from the corps. They profit - the rest starve. Just look at cotton, rice and soy. The latter is promoted the former is becoming so scarse.l More rayon for dupont. More seed for monsanto, more profit for Cargill. Blood money!

[awildchipmunk]

Very well said. The corporations assisted by the governments IMF and world bank are reaping the profits while everyone else in the food chain and relying the food chain suffers.

[yay1912]

But I still don't get how the economy works.

:(

[yay1912]

Fascinating!

[sweetpotos]

Rise up, you prisoners of starvation...

[jazbatee]

its for reasons like these that independent judicial system is stressed. with lots of shame that i am not doing anything about it, I hope someone takes the initiative of taking these mega-corporations to court for these criminal acts.

at personal levels, we can subsidize food purchases of the less fortunate we come into contact daily with, like domestic help etc. thats certainly a need in third world countries.

[dkrustyklown]

You say that these corporations are committing crimes, but fail do define those crimes.

Please tell us what LAW you believe the food corporations are breaking, because if you are not able to cite an actual LAW, then you have no credibility.

[FriedDaisy]

dkrustyklown: they have broken the golden rule of ethics, and are guilty of crimes against humanity.

We do not allow our brothers and sisters to starve when there is plenty.

I'll guess that you, yourself, have rarely if ever missed a meal. If you have, it probably had something to do with not wanting to be late for a movie or t-time; but it certainly had nothing to do with greedy corporations pricing grain to make your bread so far out of your reach that you might well starve.

[dkrustyklown]

Firstly...

"golden rule of ethics"

??????

What law is that again? Oh, right, it's not a law, just an ethos that some hold. But it is not a law and it most certainly is not a universal ethos.

Crimes against humanity?

For something to be a crime, it first has to break a LAW.

[FriedDaisy]

The majority of us go about the business of our days under the dictates of unwritten rules and agreements. It used to be that some things were just so obvious and basically true that legislation wasn't required.

What would you have us do? Apply laws and possible criminal consequence-- fines and jail time-- to every bad behavior and activity?

Under those terms, the next time you're rude, you might well be fined and sentenced to sensitivity training.

You ready for that?

[keptyeti]

It takes a seriously cold-hearted sonofabitch to dismiss the injustice of this situation. Cold-heartedness alone is only half of the picture; the other half is close proximity to affordable food. Shame on you if you read this and don't care.

[Dresden718]

First these countries were complaining that the agricultural commodities were too low so the poor are suffering, now they are complaining that they are too high.....so the poor are suffering. The poor are not very diversified against shocks, they will get fucked whenever any change happens. thats life.

[JiveDadson]

Surprisingly, a lot of farmers are upset with the rising prices. They want to have their corn cake and eat it too. The farmers (grasshoppers) sell their future production on futures markets, but they never want the grain elevators and speculators (ants) who buy it from them to make a dime. The farmers want the price to stop rising the moment they sell themselves short. When prices go higher, the farmers must meet margin calls. [Google "fable ant grasshopper"]

[urlocalSAVAGE]

if the only legal crop was weed, there'd be no problems

[JiveDadson]

For every dollar that the typical third world farmer spends on fertilizer, he makes six dollars or more from increased yield. Fertilizer and seed constitute a very small part of the cost of growing grain. Small farmers, particularly in the emerging markets, could be far more efficient if they had the right education.

[JiveDadson]

It was when food and fertilizer producers were just eeking by that food production fell to dangerously low levels. I own shares in Potash Corp of Saskatchewan. Know what they are doing with their profits? Re-opening potash mines. That's something I could not do on my own. Mining is a brutally capital-intensive undertaking. If you want more of something, you want the production of that something to be profitable.

Yes, we need a complete re-think of the model. Think "free markets."

[JiveDadson]

It should come as no surprise that governments, are responsible for this deadly crisis, particularly the US government. It just does not stop. The US still subsidizes the use of corn for ethanol. India has suspended the trade of food futures. China sets price controls. Thailand restricts exports. I could go on and on.

[pongman]

The world's population should fight back against these food conglomerates and stop eating food. The other rational thing to do is we ask the Mafia to put out a hit on each and every CEO of each and everyone of these corporations. I think its time to bring back the Italian Mafia. I don't think they'll let the little old ladies get hurt.

[lastnymleft]

I noted supply and demand issues as being contributing factors. But they are not the DRIVING factor. All that "perfect storm" stuff contributes: less land under crop, biofuels, increased demand from China and India, etc. But the M3 money supply figure is running at 17.4% at present, which is *ENORMOUS*. The world is awash with USD, and investors/speculators are abandoning it, and the stockmarket, in favor of commodities, driving up prices. Like the energy crisis in CA in 2000, this is man-made

[DCJusticeDC]

In a few seconds, they will not enjoy the profit.

[mejirodude]

I liked this report, but there needs to be another story from a pro-globalization perspective. This analysis was too one-sided.

[Requiredfields2]

That would be presented on your nightly news, your newspaper, your radio. Did I miss anything? You're right about the lack of balance though.

[sturgeon333]

Weak. This guy should learn some economics. The food shortage is caused by too much demand and not enough supply. Yes Ag companies make lots of money in a shortage. But their profits don't cause the shortage. Cargill charging less for fertilizer won't magically create more fertilizer. Instead of blaming the "Corporations", maybe he should blame the Earth for being too small.

[calvinjones]

The question is weather economics works when you have a few large companies in such a dominant position.

The inneqaulities in power between billion dollar corporatins and small farmers also lead to outcomes that you wont find in the economics textbooks.

[sturgeon333]

Yes, well let him try to make that case. I think he'll find that multi-billion dollar ag corps have until recently been rather unprofitable, which doesn't say much about their alleged market power.

[lastnymleft]

It's not a "food shortage". The rice/wheat is there, it's just too expensive. There are some supply and demand characteristics, but it's not the driving factor here. Supply hasn't halved, and demand hasn't doubled, in the last year, so what's up? The problem is that commodities are traded internationally in USD, and Ben Bernanke and his partners-in-crime at the Fed have been flooding the world with USD, devaluing the dollar, meaning more are required to buy the same amount of oil/rice/wheat, etc

[sturgeon333]

"It's not a "food shortage". The rice/wheat is there, it's just too expensive."

Ok. WHERE is the rice/wheat???

[lastnymleft]

In silos, waiting for you to pay more USD for it.

[sturgeon333]

Wheat stockpiles are at 30 year lows.

[lastnymleft]

Note that you are still talking about "stockpiles". That is, there is wheat sitting around unallocated. It doesn't matter if it is "low", so long as it doesn't run out. Fears that it *may* run out are contributing also, but it is still the value of the dollar that is driving it

Either:

(1) Abolish the Fed. It's not needed, and is harmful to the US and world economies. Or,

(2) Non-US countries should trade in other than USD. NB: Iraq went off USD just before invasion. Iran has just gone to Euros

[JiveDadson]

You are right, Sturgeon333. Food supply is at dangerously low levels, the lowest in many decades. During the time that supplies were contracting, the US government was paying farmers not to raise food. That must stop.

[sturgeon333]

With wheat and corn priced where they are today I'd be surprised if the US government could afford to pay farmers enough not to produce. The ethanol madness is what really needs to stop. Something like 25-30% of US corn production is being destroyed to make ethanol. That is the real scandal.

[JiveDadson]

I listened to a whole 6 1/2 hour government conference a couple of weeks ago. When a member of the Agriculture Department suggested to a grain grower that he might plant some of his "set aside" land, (sorry I don't recall the right name for it), the grower angrily answered, "That land needs to be in grass."

And of course, he wants your and my tax money to keep the land fallow.

[grija767]

There is a reason land needs to lie fallow, it has to have a chance to get its nutrients back into the soil. If you continue to farm on it your crops will be rubbish. This has been done for thousands of years and bar saturating the land in man made chemicals it will continue to be like this.

[CleverUID]

I have no problem with a farmer allowing his land to lie fallow. What I have a big problem with is the government taking my and your money to PAY him to allow it to lie fallow. The AG Department guy was suggesting that the farmer plant some of his "conservation reserve program" set-aside land, which the government pays him not to plant.

[grija767]

Fair enough, by the way I'm from New Zealand and our farmers get no subsidies from the government or anyone else. They are forced to operate in the free market and as anyone who has a knowledge of economics will know this forces the farmer to run his farm in the most productive and efficient way, and yes the farmers here still make a VERY GOOD living They are also forced to adhere to some very stict environmental policies. The bio-fuel experiment is a failure and should be discarded,goelectric

[Slavesrevolt]

Economic slavery to the crime families and policies of their corporations and governments.

Capitalist seek to control all capital. Drive the small owners out of business, buy up their capital for pennies, consolidate the natural resources to one owner. Round up the human resources and exploit them in wars or as economic slaves.

Eventually one capitalist controls all the capital. We live as debt slaves under their boot heel. The sycophants to authority prop them up to live the good life.

[oldhacks]

American corporations are exploiting the world market???? NOOOOOO... say it ain't so!

[fred10538]

3rd world countries are effectively "blackmailed" into becoming dependent on 1st world imports - see confessions of an economic hitman on youtube

[crock703]

documentary "Life & Debt" on GoogleVideo is great as well.

[KARStarla]

Ron Paul could see this like so many others outside the mainstream media. Watch "Codex Alementarius". This is all a set up toward this goal to get control of the food supply, force feed GMO's and (as tthey keep mentioning in the media, "population" it will include population control.

Profits at everyone elses losses for the basic food supply.

Hmmm, does government also pay landowners not to grow certain items as well?

[FattKidd]

The US gov't buys surplus crops, milk, you name it to keep prices from plummeting. Truth is, there's a GLUT of agri-goods globally but the US, UK & EU gov'ts buy up any surpluses or yes, pay others not to grow in order to keep prices artificially high. THIS IS PRICE FIXING! It's also ILLEGAL! US just approved a $285 BILLION farm bill/subsidy that will mostly go to Monsanto, Cargill, DuPont, etc and yet they FUCKS have the balls to talk about 'free-trade' and 'free-markets'! BULLSHIT! WAKE UP!

[diktv]

He speaks of the real problem. One thing he didn't mention is that GM (Genetically Modified) crops yield LESS product/food than the ones they replaced therefore limiting supplies.

[diktv]

If I were from another planet and wanted to destroy life on earth I would pollute the water supply, pollute the air (chemtrails), drug the population, genetically modify the cells of seeds so they DON'T produce/reproduce to starve the population. I would also manipulate the magnetic field of the planet with E-smog and lastly I would create drastic weather and earth (earthquakes) conditions to kill off most of the people. Thanks God that will never happen.

[crock703]

I haven't heard that before. Can you give some more info

[IChoseTheRedPill]

this was intentional

[oolong2]

THE GLOBAL MARKET KILLS FOOD

Eat locally grown food for health and security.

It's a shame when you go to a grocery store in FL and you see nothing but oranges from CA.

[TheKingIsHereable]

@oolong2 this is a possibility, but what is the real sustainability of having all local food? In an area I am right now (Texas) we having been facing severe drought for 5 months in out most major food producer for the state. How would you solve that problem? And what of the demand for food and the growing population, do we have 50 years to build the industries in other countries so they can start becoming self-dependent? You have to be a realist.

[oolong2]

@TheKingIsHereable

Water is problem, but to me it's a separate issue.

Factory farming wastes LOTS of resources and some crops use much more water than others. Yet farmers force themselves into one crop (like citrus) that use lots of water despite being in a desert.

If you look at population using non-sustainable methods you will get non-sustainable results.

Capitalism also plays it's part. In the past 3 years since that comment I've seen an explosion in locally grown produce/products.

[TheKingIsHereable]

@oolong2 I have also seen farmers markets pop up in my area, and I'm a cook, so this is extremely important to have the freshest ingrediants, but let us look at the world stage, lets say the people in North/South Korea (The most unbearable weather changes on the face of the earth) How would they be able to deal with flucuating tempatures in just a few days with the monsoons. I do believe also that factory farming is bad, but the time and money you need to get product to the consumer demand?

[oolong2]

@TheKingIsHereable

IMy understanding is that most food related problems today are economic. North/South Korea are perfect examples of that.

Food used to be our primary activity. Most of our time was spent hunting, gathering, growing, and preparing food. Now that activity has been replaced by other jobs. People leave rural areas for cities and producing food becomes less and less economical.

Things could be very different If those forces were put towards sustainability instead of scale.

[TheKingIsHereable]

@oolong2 But If we were to go back to agriculture in the masses, we wouldn't be honoring the Rostovian development stage where agriculture was the primary employment in the 1st stage, then getting less and less in each stage, America is in the depths of stage 5- mass consumption, and the majority of consumers don't care where their food comes from. What if you had an outbreak of a bacteria or virus in a certain part of the country, how would sustainability handle that situation?

[oolong2]

@TheKingIsHereable

Captalism works best when you have lots of small operations instead of a few big ones. Those countries with healthier populations than us generally focus more on food freshness and small markets (France, Japan, etc)

Keep in mind that those outbreaks (samonella, mad cow, etc) come from factory farms and if you saw the conditions of those places you would uinderstand why. Small local sustainable farms are isolated from those mass outbreaks that spread across the country.

[libertyerian]

its strange that he doesn't make any real suggestion about how to address this but it sounds like he is saying that governments should ban food imports and fix prices and run farming and distribution. this has been tried before and if he does some research he would find out that his cure is far worse than the disease

[TimberGeek]

Perhaps he's saying governments should stop propping up these big established companies through farm subsidies and adjust agricultural policy to allow more competition and therefore more production, lower prices, increased crop diversity, etc...

(want to borrow my rose colored glasses for the next story?) :-D

[libertyerian]

TimberGeek :) yes. I'd like to see the video you saw, i think i'd agree with it. I guess I was thrown off by him saying it has to do with trade liberalization, policies of privatization, allowing profits in crises times and haiti opening up its markets. and the strange absents of any mention of farm subsidies or competition. but I digress

[FattKidd]

what's happened to global food production would be better termed as 'corporatization' of food production. A handful of large US, UK & EU corporate farms got the WTO/IMF to force poor countries to open up their markets to foreign agriculture in exchange for loans to further corporatize their countries while the corporate agri-businesses are receiving multi-billion dollar subsidies, flooded foreign markets to drive local farmers out of biz, then do things like patent seeds, & force other farmers

[FattKidd]

sign exclusivity contracts. Then, once the small/local farmers are out of the way, they create a shortage thus driving up prices & creating the 'crisis' we have today. Same thing in the oil/gas biz. It's all bullshit & it's all due to deregulation, 'free-trade', & other globalist, NWO policies designed to make us dependant on corporations for our very survival. They even tried to privatize the water supplies in many of these countries! Monsanto is now suing farmers who try to save seeds!

[Edinaldo08]

Do what I say, don't do what I do?

[crock703]

I don't think he suggested having the State run farming & distribution. It sounds like he's just explaining the pitfalls of a free market policy that kills domestic agri in devl nations, and leaves them at the mercy of a few global powerhouse agri businesses that jack up the prices during shortage.

At the least, US should stop the anti-free market hypocrisy of subsidizing its agri biz while demanding that devl nations w/ World Bank loans not support their domestic agriculture.

[terraceterra]

This is one of the many ways the New World Order (big international bankers and their friends) hopes to force countries into submission by creating these kinds of manufactured controlled crisis's and then later coming forward as a savior with a plan to fix things after enormous profits have been made off the problems they caused on purpose to enrich themselves. Globalization and centralization is wrong and abuses and corruption will be extremely high. Be warned!

[k6tpl]

Your correct! Food should be for eatiing! Not for investment!

[TabooRealities]

Groups jumping to get a piece of these record profits is what will end the shortages.

Barriers to entry, or forceful regulations that prevent companies from entering the market, created by people who want to 'improve the system', will prolong the shortages.

[FattKidd]

Bullshit, bullshit, bullshit. WHAT barriers to entry? WHAT forceful regulations? Name some of these fictitional anti-corporate policies you speak of! You can't! Because corporations have been given carte-blanche to rape, pillage, murder and steal on a global scale! It was the neoliberal policies of the World Bank, WTO, IMF that put us in the situation we're in, not 'barriers to entry'. It was open markets coupled with US gov't subsidizing already huge corporate farms that put local farmers under

[TabooRealities]

I didn't mention any anti-corporate policies. Regulations are PRO corporate policies - to the dominant player in the market normally.

What barriers? Tariffs, Licenses, legal 'standards'. etc.

And I wasn't speaking too the ones we have now, I'm speaking of the ones the public will beg for in response to this manufactured crisis - giving some quasi governmental corporate entity a permanent monopolistic control - like Hilary wants to give to the major players in health care.

[bbburton]

Dismantle the machine before it gobbles us all up.

[hajqbvii]

....the word MONOPOLY comes to mind....

[markangeloc]

It has always been about the mighty dollar and stocks. From 9/11 to going green, the investors and the elites are playing us like puppets. We need to remove the veil and wake our asses up.