Agmates Editor Steve Truman writes
Australia is indeed the “Lucky Country”. We are rich not only in our vast agricultural production, but also in Minerals and this is insulating us from four global crisies that are rocking the world.
The world is being rocked by four crisies at once: the global credit crisis; the oil crisis, with the crude price hitting US$112 a barrel; the carbon price crisis in response to global warming; and the food crisis.
Converting grain crops into ethanol instead of food has produced a global food crisis that is worse than the energy crisis, the credit crisis, or the climate change crisis.
Regular Agmates Correspondent Viv Forbes (pictured below at his farm in SE QLD) predicted this in his article “Fuelish Food Policies” published on 31/10/2007.
Nestle, the world’s biggest food and beverage company chairman and chief executive Peter Brabeck-Letmathe said, “If we look to use biofuels to satisfy 20 per cent of the growing demand for oil products, there will be nothing left to eat. To grant enormous subsidies for biofuel production is morally unacceptable and irresponsible,” he told the Swiss newspaper NZZ am Sonntag.
The crazy global enthusiasm for ethanol, to reduce our reliance on fossil fuels and curb Carbon emissions will mean by 2020 the world will be putting 400 million tonnes of grain a year into cars - equal to the entire current global rice harvest.
World bank president Robert Zoellick (pictured below congratulating Australian PM Kevin Rudd on signing the Kyoto agreement at the December 2007 Climate Change conference in Bali) said the doubling of food prices over the past three years could push 100 million people into poverty. He is calling on World leaders to donate $500 million to meet the shortfall in food for the worlds poorest people which is due to increased food prices.
Food riots & protests have broken out in 10 countries out around the world. People are protesting and rioting in Haiti, Cameroon, Mauritania, Ivory Coast, Senegal, Italy and Egypt among others.
(Pictured below A UN peacekeeper shoots tear gas at protesters near the Haiti national palace in Port-au-Prince)
Half the world’s population still depends on rice and its price has doubled in three years and is still rising. Last week medium quality rice exported from Thailand - a de facto benchmark price - shot to US$795 a tonne, up from US$360 at the end of last year. The price is expected to reach US$1000 a tonne in three months as people who would normally eat wheat based products are turning to rice.
Fertiliser group Incitec Pivot estimates, global cereal stocks are at a record low - down to just 10 weeks production.
Ethanol production is just part of the cause of this crisis. A longer term and more difficult issue to solve is the massive increase in demand for protein - meat, eggs and milk - in developing countries, especially China.
China’s meat consumption has tripled in the past seven years. While global grain production has increased 89 per cent since 1980, production of meat, egg and milk has only increased 6.4, 11.2 and 20.8 times respectively.
It is estimated that global food output must rise by 110 per cent per over the next 40 years to meet demand.
This has to be achieved with surface water available for agriculture contracting due to city demand, arable land area is shrinking, agriculture research is declining, marine harvests are dwindling, and biofuel production is continuing to rise.
The world’s population is now growing at 200,000 per day and it’s all in the developing countries, where there is also a diet switch from grain to protein as a result of rising prosperity.
Our answer to this global challenge here in Australia is to Ban the clearing of any new land for agriculture, declare valuable tropical pastures as weeds to be eradicated, build rain dependent dams on top of highly productive farming land to provide water for urban populations and block our farmers from growing superior yielding GM crops.
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Update 17th April @ 3.55pm
Click here to see a map of where the Food Riots are happening around the world.
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Have Your say!
Do you believe it’s the responsibility of Australian farmers to produce more and better food to help feed the 9 billion people of the planet rather than biofuels?
Leave you comment below or click on the Blue word Comments to bring up the text box to leave your comment.
Steve,
Great article. I hope some of those paper pusher sitting in Brisbane and Canberra cast their eye over this article.
This is the kind of article that needs to be front pages of the Sydney Morning Herald, Melbourne Times and the like.
Hit them with some home truths about how their idealisms will change the face of humanity for ever and a day.
Keep up the good work.
Australia is “The Lucky Country”.
Australians are far too wealthy, and therefore complaisant, to care much about the rest of the world.
Australia’s politicians will do as they are told as they really only care about being re-elected at the next election.
Looking into the future is hard work and history - well history is just that - history.
The world has already reached maximum population, and population control needs to be implemented in some countries where they are starving. They may be hungry but they still manage to produce more mouths to feed!!
If they mandate ethanol we farmers might all start to make an income. Only ethanol will save the sugar cane industry. If the farmers start to make a profit they will increase their production and there will be more product to feed the people and produce ethanol
Judy,
Re: Your comments about ethanol saving the Sugar Industry.
There will be a story Channel 9’s TODAY morning show about the clean green Sugar Cane Industry and the potential clean green products available from Sugar Cane.
They are even showing the performance of ethanol fuel in Australian cars, to show there is no side effects. Hopefully it will make the some Australian sit up and think.
I totally agree about your comment about being starving and still reproducing, if only would could get this trait into the livestock industry.