Feeding Frenzy: Land Grabs, Price Spikes, and the World Food Crisis
Autor Paul McMahonen Paperback – 13 mai 2014
Feeding Frenzy traces the history of the global food system and reveals the underlying causes of recent turmoil in food markets. Supplies are running short, prices keep spiking, and the media is full of talk of a world food crisis. The turmoil has unleashed some dangerous forces. Food-producing countries are banning exports even if this means starving their neighbors. Governments and corporations are scrambling to secure control of food supply chains. Powerful groups from the Middle East and Asia are acquiring farmland in poor countries to grow food for export — what some call land grabs. This raises some big questions. Can we continue to feed a burgeoning population? Are we running out of land and water? Can we rely on free markets to provide? This book reveals trends that could lead to more hunger and conflict. But Paul McMahon also outlines actions that can be taken to shape a sustainable and just food system.
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Specificații
ISBN-13: 9781771640138
ISBN-10: 1771640138
Pagini: 356
Dimensiuni: 140 x 216 x 20 mm
Greutate: 0.43 kg
Editura: Grey Stone Books
Colecția Greystone Books
Locul publicării:Canada
ISBN-10: 1771640138
Pagini: 356
Dimensiuni: 140 x 216 x 20 mm
Greutate: 0.43 kg
Editura: Grey Stone Books
Colecția Greystone Books
Locul publicării:Canada
Cuprins
Introduction
1. A brief history of food: The origins of agriculture, how it developed and the huge gaps that exist between farmers today.
2. On the brink: Who feeds the world? A taxonomy of the global food system on the eve of crisis.
3. The world food crisis: Richer diets, biofuels, wild weather and ecological limits—the true causes of high food prices.
4. Was Malthus right? Population growth and carrying capacity—a stock-take of the planet’s food resources.
5. This time is different: Is this the end of cheap food? Structural shifts, price volatility and the “new normal.”
6. Starve thy neighbour: Export bans, panic purchases and why countries are stuck in a Prisoner’s Dilemma.
7. Trading in the wind: Are financial speculators to blame for higher food prices? Shadows and reality in futures markets.
8. Stirring the alphabet soup: The ABCD of commodity trading—established companies, new competitors and the race to secure supply chains.
9. Land grabs: Foreign investment in farmland and the new scramble for Africa. Win-win or dangerous folly?
10. How this story might end: Dangerous trends, nightmare outcomes and the geopolitics of food in the twenty-first century.
11. Better ways to feed the world: Mapping out routes to a more sustainable and just food system.
Acknowledgements
Sources
Index
1. A brief history of food: The origins of agriculture, how it developed and the huge gaps that exist between farmers today.
2. On the brink: Who feeds the world? A taxonomy of the global food system on the eve of crisis.
3. The world food crisis: Richer diets, biofuels, wild weather and ecological limits—the true causes of high food prices.
4. Was Malthus right? Population growth and carrying capacity—a stock-take of the planet’s food resources.
5. This time is different: Is this the end of cheap food? Structural shifts, price volatility and the “new normal.”
6. Starve thy neighbour: Export bans, panic purchases and why countries are stuck in a Prisoner’s Dilemma.
7. Trading in the wind: Are financial speculators to blame for higher food prices? Shadows and reality in futures markets.
8. Stirring the alphabet soup: The ABCD of commodity trading—established companies, new competitors and the race to secure supply chains.
9. Land grabs: Foreign investment in farmland and the new scramble for Africa. Win-win or dangerous folly?
10. How this story might end: Dangerous trends, nightmare outcomes and the geopolitics of food in the twenty-first century.
11. Better ways to feed the world: Mapping out routes to a more sustainable and just food system.
Acknowledgements
Sources
Index
Recenzii
“McMahon... has written an illuminating history that culminates in the current scramble to secure control of farmland… Yet McMahon’s answer to what he calls the ‘nine billion person question’ tips towards the optimistic.” —Financial Times
“Paul McMahon's [Feeding Frenzy] is a straight food apocalypse book, no jokes, one recipe: a four-ingredient plan to feed the planet.” —Guardian
“Passionately argued... presents a compelling argument for radical agricultural reforms... Above all, [McMahon] is optimistic about the future, putting faith in our ability to overcome obstacles.” —Sunday Times
“Revealing... offers refreshingly ordinary answers.” —Observer
Notă biografică
Born in Ireland, Paul McMahon holds a Ph.D from Cambridge University and has authored reports on sustainable food systems as an advisor to The Prince of Whales’s International Sustainability Unit and to the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization. He cofounded and now helps run SLM Partners, a business that invests in sustainable agriculture in Australia and across the world. He lives in London.
Extras
A gleaming steel fence is going up in a remote part of Africa.
An alien construction, it dissects a landscape of open fields,
mud huts and dirt tracks, where straight lines are elusive. On
one side, diesel-powered tractors chew up the soil, containers
packed with seed and fertiliser wait to be opened, and foreign
managers look forward to a bumper harvest. On the other
side, a local farmer in a tattered shirt scratches at the soil with
a simple hoe, fearing that he may not be able to grow enough
food for his family. Villagers cluster around the gate to the
property, looking for work but muttering that the land rightly
belongs to them. There are rumours that the young men are
arming themselves so they can resist what they regard as a
foreign ‘land grab’.
This story is playing out on the western fringes of Ethiopia,
in a steamy region close to the border with South Sudan. The
land has been acquired by a billionaire sheikh as part of an
initiative launched by the Saudi government, which wants to
grow more of its food abroad. Ethiopia, like most of Africa,
may be better known for food scarcity and famine, rather
than food abundance and exports, but this is one of dozens
of similar projects to be launched across the continent since
2008.
The appearance of steel fences and satellite-guided tractors
in one of the poorest parts of the world is a direct result of the
turmoil that has gripped global food markets over the past five
years. Food prices more than doubled between 2007 and 2008.
Grain stocks fell to a dangerous level, and there were fears that
supplies would not be available at any price. After a brief dip,
prices rebounded in 2010 and jumped again in 2012. Food is a lot
more expensive than a decade ago and does not look like getting
any cheaper. We seem to be stuck in a never-ending food crisis.
Everyone can see the effect in their supermarket and
restaurant bills. Higher food prices squeeze our incomes,
meaning there is less to spend on everything else. But for the
poor of the world the impacts are more dramatic. About one
in eight people now go hungry each year. Millions of people
have been forced deeper into poverty. High prices have sparked
food riots and demonstrations in more than thirty countries.
In January 2011 an iconic photograph emerged of a protester
in Tunisia facing down riot police armed with nothing more
than a baguette – a symbol of how anger over food helped
spark the ‘Arab Spring’.
Ferment in food markets has been seized upon by professional
doom-mongers who believe the human race is living
beyond its means. ‘The Coming Famine’, ‘World on the Edge’,
‘Climate Change Peril’, ‘Peak Food’, ‘Peak Oil’, even ‘Peak Dirt’
– these are some of the ideas and book titles that have circulated
in recent years, all warning of an impending food collapse.
Malthus, the nineteenth-century prophet of population catastrophe,
is back in fashion. And another controversial idea is
re-emerging after a long period of stigmatisation – population
control. Rich people in rich countries are once more telling
poor people in poor countries to have fewer children.
There is no doubt that we are entering a challenging
time. The human population will grow from 7 to 9 billion
over the next forty years. Every year there are an extra 80
million mouths to feed. As the global middle class swells in
size, people are demanding more expensive diets, which adds
to the pressure on the planet’s resources. There is a question
mark over the sustainability of modern agriculture because
of its dependence on fossil fuels, the damage it inflicts on
the environment and its vulnerability to a changing climate.
Even the UK government’s chief scientist, Professor Sir John
Beddington, has warned that ‘the food system is failing’.
Can we feed a world of 9 billion by 2050? Is the current
market turmoil an early sign that the global food system will
not cope?
This book tries to answer these questions. It describes how
the global food system works today, highlighting the huge
inequalities and imbalances that pervade it. It reveals the real
reasons behind the recent increase in food prices, exploring
issues such as the role of biofuels, climate change, financial
speculation and the rise of the Asian consumer. It looks at how
demand for food is likely to develop over the next forty years
and investigates whether food supplies will be able to keep up.
At the most basic level, this means assessing the biophysical
potential of our planet – the amount of land, water, energy
and other natural resources that is available. It is a matter of
hard science. But just because we can produce enough food
does not mean that everyone will eat. Food security is determined
not only by how much food is available but by whether
people can access it and afford it. Therefore, the real answer will
depend on the social, economic and political dimensions of the
global food system. In particular the fate of millions of people
will be determined by whether nations choose to compete or
collaborate in a time of relative scarcity.
Judging by the response to the recent crisis, we are in for
a period of intense competition. This book lifts the lid on
the extraordinary scramble for food that is now taking place
around the world. It reveals how countries are manipulating
trade and hoarding agricultural surpluses, even if this starves
their neighbours; how financial investors are distorting markets
through their willingness to bet on anything; how private
corporations are rushing to secure supply chains before their
competitors can get there; and how a bizarre array of fortunehunters
and policymakers are scrambling to acquire farmland
in some of the poorest countries of the world, in ways that
echo the colonialism of the past. Many people no longer trust
markets to provide. Food has become a geopolitical issue of the
highest importance.
If these trends continue, they could lead to a nightmare
scenario of exploitation, hunger and conflict. But this book
also maps out an alternative vision that could deliver better
outcomes. It is a way forward that addresses the heated debates
that often flare up in connection with the future of food and
farming. It overcomes simple dichotomies such as organics
versus genetic engineering, family farms versus large commercial
estates, free trade versus government subsidies. It builds
on the work of innovators all around the world who have
found ways to produce more food with fewer resources while
generating wealth for farmers and consumers. Which path will
the world choose? The answer will matter to politicians and
generals, to farmers and investors, to consumers and citizens –
and, not least, to the African farmers watching the steel fences
go up around their land.
An alien construction, it dissects a landscape of open fields,
mud huts and dirt tracks, where straight lines are elusive. On
one side, diesel-powered tractors chew up the soil, containers
packed with seed and fertiliser wait to be opened, and foreign
managers look forward to a bumper harvest. On the other
side, a local farmer in a tattered shirt scratches at the soil with
a simple hoe, fearing that he may not be able to grow enough
food for his family. Villagers cluster around the gate to the
property, looking for work but muttering that the land rightly
belongs to them. There are rumours that the young men are
arming themselves so they can resist what they regard as a
foreign ‘land grab’.
This story is playing out on the western fringes of Ethiopia,
in a steamy region close to the border with South Sudan. The
land has been acquired by a billionaire sheikh as part of an
initiative launched by the Saudi government, which wants to
grow more of its food abroad. Ethiopia, like most of Africa,
may be better known for food scarcity and famine, rather
than food abundance and exports, but this is one of dozens
of similar projects to be launched across the continent since
2008.
The appearance of steel fences and satellite-guided tractors
in one of the poorest parts of the world is a direct result of the
turmoil that has gripped global food markets over the past five
years. Food prices more than doubled between 2007 and 2008.
Grain stocks fell to a dangerous level, and there were fears that
supplies would not be available at any price. After a brief dip,
prices rebounded in 2010 and jumped again in 2012. Food is a lot
more expensive than a decade ago and does not look like getting
any cheaper. We seem to be stuck in a never-ending food crisis.
Everyone can see the effect in their supermarket and
restaurant bills. Higher food prices squeeze our incomes,
meaning there is less to spend on everything else. But for the
poor of the world the impacts are more dramatic. About one
in eight people now go hungry each year. Millions of people
have been forced deeper into poverty. High prices have sparked
food riots and demonstrations in more than thirty countries.
In January 2011 an iconic photograph emerged of a protester
in Tunisia facing down riot police armed with nothing more
than a baguette – a symbol of how anger over food helped
spark the ‘Arab Spring’.
Ferment in food markets has been seized upon by professional
doom-mongers who believe the human race is living
beyond its means. ‘The Coming Famine’, ‘World on the Edge’,
‘Climate Change Peril’, ‘Peak Food’, ‘Peak Oil’, even ‘Peak Dirt’
– these are some of the ideas and book titles that have circulated
in recent years, all warning of an impending food collapse.
Malthus, the nineteenth-century prophet of population catastrophe,
is back in fashion. And another controversial idea is
re-emerging after a long period of stigmatisation – population
control. Rich people in rich countries are once more telling
poor people in poor countries to have fewer children.
There is no doubt that we are entering a challenging
time. The human population will grow from 7 to 9 billion
over the next forty years. Every year there are an extra 80
million mouths to feed. As the global middle class swells in
size, people are demanding more expensive diets, which adds
to the pressure on the planet’s resources. There is a question
mark over the sustainability of modern agriculture because
of its dependence on fossil fuels, the damage it inflicts on
the environment and its vulnerability to a changing climate.
Even the UK government’s chief scientist, Professor Sir John
Beddington, has warned that ‘the food system is failing’.
Can we feed a world of 9 billion by 2050? Is the current
market turmoil an early sign that the global food system will
not cope?
This book tries to answer these questions. It describes how
the global food system works today, highlighting the huge
inequalities and imbalances that pervade it. It reveals the real
reasons behind the recent increase in food prices, exploring
issues such as the role of biofuels, climate change, financial
speculation and the rise of the Asian consumer. It looks at how
demand for food is likely to develop over the next forty years
and investigates whether food supplies will be able to keep up.
At the most basic level, this means assessing the biophysical
potential of our planet – the amount of land, water, energy
and other natural resources that is available. It is a matter of
hard science. But just because we can produce enough food
does not mean that everyone will eat. Food security is determined
not only by how much food is available but by whether
people can access it and afford it. Therefore, the real answer will
depend on the social, economic and political dimensions of the
global food system. In particular the fate of millions of people
will be determined by whether nations choose to compete or
collaborate in a time of relative scarcity.
Judging by the response to the recent crisis, we are in for
a period of intense competition. This book lifts the lid on
the extraordinary scramble for food that is now taking place
around the world. It reveals how countries are manipulating
trade and hoarding agricultural surpluses, even if this starves
their neighbours; how financial investors are distorting markets
through their willingness to bet on anything; how private
corporations are rushing to secure supply chains before their
competitors can get there; and how a bizarre array of fortunehunters
and policymakers are scrambling to acquire farmland
in some of the poorest countries of the world, in ways that
echo the colonialism of the past. Many people no longer trust
markets to provide. Food has become a geopolitical issue of the
highest importance.
If these trends continue, they could lead to a nightmare
scenario of exploitation, hunger and conflict. But this book
also maps out an alternative vision that could deliver better
outcomes. It is a way forward that addresses the heated debates
that often flare up in connection with the future of food and
farming. It overcomes simple dichotomies such as organics
versus genetic engineering, family farms versus large commercial
estates, free trade versus government subsidies. It builds
on the work of innovators all around the world who have
found ways to produce more food with fewer resources while
generating wealth for farmers and consumers. Which path will
the world choose? The answer will matter to politicians and
generals, to farmers and investors, to consumers and citizens –
and, not least, to the African farmers watching the steel fences
go up around their land.