Following up on the heals of my last post about Lester Brown's film, The World Bank recently warned that the cost of food is sharply on the rise. Looking at the increase they say that prices are 36% higher than one year ago. A big factor in this increase is the cost of fuel.
44 million people have been pushed over the poverty line with projections of significant increases on the horizon. The turmoil in the middle east is partially to blame for this rise in oil prices and as Lester Brown mentioned, the water shortages pose an immediate risk. If you listen to Robert Zoellick, President of the World Bank in this video on BBC he cautions of a "danger zone" if we see natural "weather events". I suspect he is referring to a few different types of events that could cause disruption in the food supply chain such as; Draughts that may occur causing food shortages, hurricanes that cause further disruption in the fuel pipeline, etc...
We are looking at a perfect storm (pardon the pun). The combination of increase fuel prices and the threat of weather events is making for a dangerous situation for the global food supplies. The two are so intertwined, The World Bank President comments on the "Energy Food Price Connection" being much closer than it was 10 years ago.
I'm sure this comes as no surprise to anyone at this point. Head to your local supermarket and you will see first hand how inflation has gripped our food supply.
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