I've been thinking and worrying about food prices more and more over the last four weeks, and I see that skvidal shares my worries.
In fact, he doesn't worry enough! When he talks of food prices "spiking", there's more to the story. The S&P-GSCI agricultural commodity price index, which is the main aggregate food price index, has shown a nearly three fold increase from Jan 2005 until the beginning of this year. Given the terrible access to credit poor farmers face, this is likely to mean that food prices, already difficult for many to afford, will get higher as the year progresses. If there is nothing done to relieve the situation, it will spell immense suffering and political instability in much of the world.
It's a scary picture, and if it isn't ignored by the world media, not enough attention is drawn to just how serious this all is. It's pretty damn clear that the story matters more than the bloody farce in Iraq (which has contributed to it by pushing up oil prices), and it is more important than the financial turmoil shaking the world right now (though that will make it harder to do anything to help).
Can we do anything to help? Skvidal has suggestions: I wonder if growing food is an option for me? lkcl's article Singularity of computing, might have something to do with food price stability in the future, though I don't suppose this kind of thinking about technology can help with this year's crisis.