Grain Companies’ Profits Soar As Global Food Crisis Mounts
May 1st, 2008 at 9:15 am by Susie
Of course, we always knew what humanitarians they are:
At a time when parts of the world are facing food riots, Big Agriculture is dealing with a different sort of challenge: huge profits.
On Tuesday, grain-processing giant Archer-Daniels-Midland Co. said its fiscal third-quarter profits jumped 42%, including a sevenfold increase in net income in its unit that stores, transports and trades grains such as wheat and corn, as well as soybeans.
Monsanto Co., maker of seeds and herbicides, Deere & Co., which builds tractors, combines and sprayers, and fertilizer maker Mosaic Co. all reported similar windfalls in their latest quarters.
The robust profits are emerging against the backdrop of a food crisis some experts say is the worst in three decades. The secretary-general of the United Nations, Ban Ki-moon, on Tuesday called for the creation of a high-level global task force to deal with the cascading impact of high grain prices and oil prices. He said that countries must do more to avert “social unrest on an unprecedented scale” and should contribute money to make up for the $755 million shortfall in funding for the World Food Program, which feeds the world’s hungry.
I’m planting a vegetable garden for the first time this year. How are the rest of you handling the rising costs of produce?
Vegetable garden also. And buying meats, bread, eggs etc…on sale only. I wasn’t going to plant potatoes this year, but I may dedicate my two back beds to them. Also, may get chickens for the eggs. They are fairly easy.
Luckily my daughter decided to become a vegetarian, so we’re eating lots of lentils, chickpeas, and tofu. Even though these prices have gone up too (last year bulk lentils were 99 cents/lb., now they’re $1.69/lb.), we get at least two dinners and a lunch out of a pound. Since we live in an apt., I can’t grow food, but if I had the setup, I would.
We’re experimenting with a garden and have also joined a CSA, or Community Supported Agriculture farm. It’s a sort of Co-Op where you pay some money, show up to work the fields from time to time, and pick up your food once a week during the growing season. The produce is all-organic, the activities are good opportunities to teach and occupy the kids, and since it’s local you don’t create more carbon footprint to ship it from, say, California or Florida, where much of our vegetables are grown.
That said, when we joined the farm in February, I’m not certain that it provided much in the way of cost savings versus going to a regular grocery store. With food prices the way they are now (and seem to be going), and the fact that the farm has relatively fixed costs, it may actually become price competitive. There are no guarantees on the amount or quality of the produce, but we’re learning how to grow certain things, and it may give us the knowledge to start our own garden next year in a much bigger way. We may all have to take such measures, where possible.
Even apartment dwellers can grow a lot of food. Rooftop and balcony gardens can be very productive. A sunny window is a mini-greenhouse. Also urban folk can get together and make gardens in available spaces. Havanna went from food crisis to producing over 80% of their own fresh produce within the city limits in just a few years. CSA’s are a wonderful alternative in many situations.
Wow Ron, that is a remarkable statistic. With that encouraging news I’m going to start planting this weekend.
Ron, I’ll try the sunny window. There are very athletic slugs lurking around the deck. Thanks for the tip.