Worst Freeze In 60 Years Wipes Out Entire Crops Across The Southwestern U.S. And Northern Mexico

Get ready to pay a lot more for produce at the supermarket.  In early February the worst freeze in 60 years wiped out entire crops all across the southwestern U.S. and northern Mexico.  Already, it has been reported that some U.S. supermarkets have doubled or even tripled prices for certain produce items.  Yes, you read that correctly.  The price of certain vegetables is actually doubling or even tripling in many U.S. supermarkets.  The really bizarre weather that we have been seeing all over the globe this winter is really playing havoc with food prices.  The global price of food hit an all-time record during the month of January, and most observers expect food prices to continue to soar.  Even before this recent horrible freeze in the southwestern U.S. and northern Mexico, global food prices were pushed higher by unprecedented flooding in Australia and Brazil, and key agricultural areas of China are now experiencing their worst drought in 200 years.  Things are getting really crazy out there.  Produce prices in the U.S. are eventually expected to return back to normal levels, but this just shows how dramatically food prices can change when a major disaster happens. (Read More...)

Price Shocks, Food Shortages And Global Economic Riots In 2011?

People need to wake up – 2011 has just begun and yet we are already seeing significant price shocks and serious food shortages in many areas of the globe.  In fact, violent economic riots are now being reported in Algeria, in Chile and in Mozambique.  Food shortages and price increases are also causing political unrest in other nations such as India, Bangladesh and Indonesia.  This is a very serious situation, and if the major food producing nations of the world do not have another record harvest this year there is very likely going to be an incredibly serious global food crunch.  According to the UN’s Food and Agricultural Organization, the global price of food hit a new record high in December.  The previous record high for food prices was in June 2008, and we all remember what happened during the summer of 2008.  Massive food riots erupted in countries such as Cameroon, Haiti and Egypt.  So with price shocks and food shortages already being reported all over the globe, will we see even worse global economic riots in 2011? (Read More...)

The Price Of Oil Is Going Up, The Price Of Food Is Going Up And Now Here Comes Quantitative Easing

Millions of American families are about to be broadsided by rising gas and food prices and most of them don’t even realize it.  You see, most Americans stop listening when terms such as “quantitative easing” and “agricultural commodities” are brought up, but when millions more Americans are faced with a choice of either feeding their families or heating their homes this winter, maybe then they will start listening.  Even before the Federal Reserve announced the latest round of quantitative easing, the price of oil has been going up and the price of food has been going up.  Now that the Federal Reserve has announced plans to flood the economy with hundreds of billions more dollars, the inflation monster is going to get even hungrier.  The household budgets of scores of American families are going to be stretched beyond the breaking point as prices rise.  Meanwhile, the vast majority of U.S. employers will not be giving their workers raises to keep up with inflation.  After all, why should they?  If someone wants to quit there are hordes of unemployed Americans out there who would just love to take that job in a second. (Read More...)

Just One Really Bad Year Away From A Horrific World Famine

The shocking announcement by the Russian government of a 12 month extension of its wheat export ban and the outbreak of food riots in Mozambique are stark reminders that the world is just one really bad year away from a horrific world famine.  As you read this, the world is already really, really struggling to feed itself.  Approximately 1 billion people throughout the world go to bed hungry each night.  Somewhere in the world someone starves to death every 3.6 seconds, and 75 percent of those are children under the age of five.  And those are the statistics that we have seen while North America has been producing record harvests.  So what is going to happen when the United States and Canada have really bad harvests for a year or two as world demand for food continues to skyrocket?  That is a very sobering question. (Read More...)