Harvest News
EU Referendum: And the culprit is ...
It has been an article of faith amongst pundits commenting on the "global food crisis" that one of the factors contributing to the food shortage has been growing prosperity in developing nations, particularly in China and India. There, it is held, that the move from vegetable to meat diets has had a significant effect on supplies, as grain is fed to more "inefficient" animals.
Not so says the Indian Business Standard citing recent FAO figures...the Indian market is projected to have grown 2.17 percent from 193.1 million tons in 2006-07 to 197.3 million in 2007-08, while that in China has risen a mere 1.8 percent from 382.2 million tons to 389.1 million.
Thus, it transpires, the real villain of the piece, it seems – according to FAO data – is unequivocally the United States. In the same period, its consumption of cereals has been projected to have grown 11.81 percent from 277.6 million tons to 310.4 million.... To the surprise of very few, a large part of this spike is directly the result of biofuel made from corn, with the US having used 30 million tons of corn for that purpose.
Meanwhile down here on the farm...
the wheat field is barely up the dog's nose:
but if we cut the plants open:
there it is:
The ear of wheat, already formed, ready to fill out and feed us. And maybe this year, for the first time for many years we are realising how important that little scrap of green is.