Skip to: Content
Skip to: Site Navigation
Skip to: Search

News Sections

Newser Specials

Crop Woes

Started by H Needles; Last updated by D Lim | View history

Rate it:

Print

E-mail

|

Digg

Seed this on Newsvine

Add this link to Del.icio.us

StumbleUpon

| Edit thread | Notify editors | + Start a new thread

Crop Woes

"It's the opinion of some that crops could be grown on the moon. Which raises the fear that it may not be long before we're paying somebody not to." -Franklin P. Jones

Are we reaching the brink of a food crisis? Economic growth, contamination and harsh climate change have hit crops hard around the world. China is facing food shortages and price hikes that could translate into billions of yuan, while growers in Florida are shielding crops from record cold spells that could be devastating for the economy.

Stories

Stories 41 - 60 of 65

<< Prev 1 2 3 4 Next >>

April 2008
- Gods Go Hungry in Food Crisis
  
  Washington Post | Apr 30, 08 1:13 PM CDT
  
  (Newser) - Skyrocketing food prices have a new victim in India: Hindu deities. Supplicants offer milk and other food at temples where they pray, but with the cost of staples soaring, many are unable even to feed themselves, the Washington Post reports. "If poor people don't even have enough for bread, how will they donate milk to the gods?" asks a priest. More »
- UN Ready to Tackle Hunger
  
  BBC | Apr 29, 08 10:52 AM CDT
  
  (Newser) - United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon is putting together a task force to deal with an "unprecedented" world crisis that's left 100 million without enough food, the BBC reports. Ban also called on donors to follow through on pledges for the World Food Program, saying only 62% of the $755 million needed has been promised—and only $18 million delivered. More »
- Scientists Work on New 'Green Revolution'
  
  LiveScience | Apr 25, 08 1:00 PM CDT
  
  (Newser) - Food scientists are plotting a new "green revolution" to solve a growing food crisis, LiveScience reports. Facing what a World Food Program official called a “silent tsunami” of world hunger, researchers are working on a sequel to the first "green revolution" of the mid-20th century, whose innovations included the fertilizers, pesticides and better irrigation that helped increase crop yields. More »
- Sam's Club Joins Costco in Limiting Rice Purchases
  
  Bloomberg | Apr 23, 08 8:25 PM CDT
  
  (Newser) - Sam's Club joined Costco today in limiting how much rice customers can buy, Bloomberg reports. The restrictions by the nation's largest warehouse retail chains come with the price of rice at record highs around the world, which has spurred some to begin hoarding, Bloomberg notes. Sam's Club customers can buy no more than four bags per visit. More »
- US Farmers Want Feds' Help on Food Crisis
  
  Washington Times | Apr 23, 08 1:24 PM CDT
  
  (Newser) - US farmers asked for federal help yesterday in stemming a tide that has seen speculators hitting grocery stores and consumers hoarding basic foodstuffs, the Washington Times reports. "The public is all too aware of the recent credit crisis on Wall Street," a farmers-union rep said. "We don't want a lack of oversight and regulation to lead to a similar crisis in rural America." More »
- Costco Sees High Demand for Basics Rice, Flour
  
  Reuters | Apr 22, 08 9:56 PM CDT
  
  (Newser) - Costco is seeing unusually high demand for basics such as rice and flour, Reuters reports, a development the warehouse giant attributes to customer uncertainty over global food shortages. The company, which sells to individual shoppers as well as restaurants, has put limits in place for those items at some stores. Customers are apparently stocking up amid heavy media coverage of a global food crunch. More »
- UN Compares Food Crisis to 'Tsunami'
  
  Daily Telegraph (UK) | Apr 22, 08 12:41 PM CDT
  
  (Newser) - Rising food prices are creating a crisis every bit as deadly as the tsunami of 2004, and the situation requires a similar response, the UN says. Political and business leaders from around the world gathered today in London and heard the head of the World Food Program, Josette Sheeran, call for "large-scale, high-level action by the global community," the Telegraph reports. More »
- Food Crisis Is 'Mass Murder': UN Envoy
  
  Reuters | Apr 20, 08 4:02 PM CDT
  
  (Newser) - A UN envoy called the world's food crisis "silent mass murder" today and blamed multinationals for "monopolizing the riches of the Earth," Reuters reports. Jean Ziegler, UN food rapporteur, chalked up surging food prices in poorer nations to biofuels, commodities markets, and EU subsidies—meaning the West is responsible for this "horror." More »
- UN May Cut Food Rations for Schoolkids
  
  Reuters | Apr 19, 08 12:38 PM CDT
  
  (Newser) - Food rations for hundreds of thousands of schoolchildren may be cut because of surging crop prices that have widened the World Food Program’s funding gap to $750 million, Reuters says. The UN food aid agency also blamed the situation on high fuel prices and reductions in new crop plantings. “The world’s misery index is rising,” the program’s top exec warned. More »
- Humble Spud Could Solve Food Crisis
  
  Reuters | Apr 15, 08 2:39 AM CDT
  
  (Newser) - Sharp hikes in the prices of staples like wheat and rice are sending shockwaves around the world and convincing governments to rediscover the virtues of the potato, Reuters reports. Spuds are nutritious, will grow just about anywhere, and they yield up to four times more food per acre than other staples. Peruvians, faced with soaring wheat prices, have been switching to potato bread. More »
- Food Crisis Lurks in Soaring Prices, Says IMF Chief
  
  BBC | Apr 13, 08 9:44 AM CDT
  
  (Newser) - Rising food prices may soon have dire global consequences with starving people rioting in the streets, warns the head of the International Monetary Fund. “Hundred of thousands of people will be starving,” he said yesterday at a meeting in Washington. “Children will be suffering from malnutrition, with consequences for all their lives.” Climbing food prices will lead to increased trade imbalances in developing countries, with major ramifications. More »
March 2008
- UN Pleads for $500M in Food Aid
  
  Financial Times (UK) | Mar 24, 08 4:59 AM CDT
  
  (Newser) - A United Nations food program has issued an extraordinary emergency plea for an extra $500 million in aid, warning that shipments to the world's hungry may be rationed if the money can't be raised over the next month, reports the Financial Times . The World Food Program feeds some 73 million people in 80 countries. More »
- Flour Is Costing a Lot of Bread
  
  Los Angeles Times | Mar 16, 08 8:46 AM CDT
  
  (Newser) - Consumers are getting hit in the breadbasket as tight flour supplies push bakers’ costs higher, reports the Los Angeles Times. Wheat crop failures, the weak US dollar and more farmers growing corn for ethanol instead of grain have more than doubled the price of a 50-pound bag of flour to $27. And it could go to $60 this year. More »
- Corn May Be Recipe for Disaster
  
  Los Angeles Times | Mar 3, 08 12:05 PM CST
  
  (Newser) - The US is becoming so dependent on corn that a drought would have catastrophic effects that would ripple throughout the economy, reports the LA Times. Corn is essential as staple livestock feed, artificial sweetener, and a basic component of ethanol. A "corn shock" could lead to $5 gas and $3.50 eggs, economists warn. "We are replacing price volatility from the Middle East with Midwestern weather price volatility," said one analyst. More »
- Clean Air Rules Squeezing Berry Farmers
  
  Associated Press | Mar 2, 08 7:38 AM CST
  
  (Newser) - California strawberry farmers fear that EPA efforts to curb pesticide pollution could kill most of this year's crops, the AP reports. Ventura County growers, who produce 25% of the nation's berries, say the pesticides are needed to increase crop output. Requirements that fumigants be cut as much as half could reduce production by 7,500 acres, a "death blow" to the area that could cost tens of millions of dollars, one farmer said. More »
February 2008
- Gene Discovery Holds Hope for Drought-Safe Crops
  
  BBC | Feb 28, 08 2:45 AM CST
  
  (Newser) - Scientists have discovered a gene that controls how plants absorb carbon dioxide and release moisture in a breakthrough discovery that could help develop drought-resistant crops, reports the BBC. The gene that regulates the work of stomata, or pores on plant leaves, has been sought by biologists for decades. The gene also controls the amount of water vapor a plant releases into the atmosphere, and its manipulation could affect climate change. More »
- Climate Change May Trigger Crop Failures
  
  National Geographic | Feb 3, 08 9:21 AM CST
  
  (Newser) - Climate change could cause severe food shortages in South Asia and southern Africa, two of the poorest regions in the world, by 2030, National Geographic reports. "We were surprised by how much, and how soon, these regions could suffer if we don't adapt," said one of the study's authors. Decreased yields could pump up costs in the global food market as well.