World Food Supply Stretched to Limits

Article by John Schoen
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/41062817/ns/business-consumer_news

"Strained by rising demand and battered by bad weather, the global food supply chain is stretched to the limit, sending prices soaring and sparking concerns about a repeat of food riots last seen three years ago.

"Signs of the strain can be found from Australia to Argentina, Canada to Russia.

"On Friday, Tunisia's president fled the country after trying to quell deadly riots in the North African country by slashing prices on food staples.

..."We are entering a danger territory," Abdolreza Abbassian, chief economist at the U.N.'s Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), said last week....

"The U.N.'s fear is that the latest run-up in food prices could spark a repeat of the deadly food riots that broke out in 2008 in Haiti, Kenya and Somalia. That price spike was relatively short-lived. But Abbassian said the latest surge in food stuffs may be more sustained. ..."

majia here: AND let us not underestimate the role of speculation in driving up food prices

"Farmland is the New Gold"
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=54119