food prices

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Rebate Checks Go to Gas, Food, Looming Debt

Extravagant spending sprees at the mall? Not so much

(Newser) - Rather than the gluttonous splurge on flat-screen TVs and foreign vacations that Uncle Sam had envisioned, most Americans are plunking their rebate checks down on exorbitant gas and food costs--and their mounting debt. “The initial sense is that people are not running out the malls,” one economist told...

World Bank Offers $1.2B in Food Aid

Millions at risk of starvation

(Newser) - The World Bank is offering an emergency $1.2 billion in aid to several nations in a desperate bid to stave off starvation for millions of people, reports the BBC. The money is being offered to Haiti, Liberia, Djibouti, Togo, Yemen and other nations identified as at immediate risk from...

Soaring Fertilizer Prices Another Cog in Food Crisis

Costs up 65% percent, drawing calls for inquiries by US, UN

(Newser) - Farmers worldwide are fuming over soaring fertilizer prices, the Wall Street Journal reports. Costs are 65% higher in the US than a year ago, making it difficult for farmers to boost production in response to an international food crisis. Meanwhile, fertilizer companies have reaped big profits from a cartel-based system...

Americans Reducing Mileage on Cars, Not Stomachs

Higher food prices not having diminishing effect of gas costs

(Newser) - Many Americans are cutting back on gas due to spiking prices, but few are eating less in response to similarly soaring food costs, a poll finds. Nearly half of respondents said they were driving less, but only 8% said they were eating less. "People have more control over gasoline....

As World's Belly Rumbles, Gluttonous US Tosses Food

27% of available food ends up in the trash

(Newser) - Americans throw out roughly a quarter of all food available for consumption, even as grocery prices skyrocket and global riots break out over food shortages, the New York Times reports. That works out to about a pound of food every day for every American—from grocery stories tossing spoiled produce...

Speculation Not Driving Boom in Commodities

Surveyed economists name supply, demand as bigger factors

(Newser) - A majority of economists think the upswing in food and energy prices is due to fundamental issues of supply and demand—and not driven by speculation, a Wall Street Journal survey finds; 51% pegged demand from China and India as the chief cause of the oil boom.

Food Prices May Force Cuts in Farm Subsidies

Normally 'untouchable' price supports at risk in Congress

(Newser) - Soaring food prices are putting pressure on Congress to withdraw some of the billions in  farm subsidies and ethanol incentives that have been considered politically untouchable for decades, the Los Angeles Times reports. With average farm income more than $89,000 this year—30% above the national average—the White...

Bush: $770M Needed For Food Aid

Congress must approve money, part of a larger Iraq funding measure

(Newser) - Amid rising food prices and overtaxed international reserves, President Bush proposed a new $770 million aid package today, Reuters reports. The money is part of a supplemental $70 billion measure that also includes Iraq war funding and would require a vote in Congress.

Thailand Plans OPEC-Style 'Rice Cartel'

PM wants to control market with neighbors, including Burma

(Newser) - The prime minister of Thailand is exploring the idea of setting up a rice price-fixing cartel with four other governments in southeast Asia, including the military dictatorship of Burma. The Bangkok Post reports that Samak Sundaravej wants to establish an OPEC-style collective of producers that will influence the market for...

Ethanol Guzzles 25% of US Corn; Links Food, Fuel Prices

Switch to corn-based fuel links grain and energy prices

(Newser) - When Congress passed its latest energy bill four months ago, the provision to boost ethanol requirements was exceedingly popular. But now, critics are lambasting that measure, and the ethanol movement in general, for linking skyrocketing food and oil prices. “We used to have a grain economy and a fuel...

Gods Go Hungry in Food Crisis
 Gods Go Hungry in Food Crisis 
Apr 30, 2008 1:13 PM CDT

Gods Go Hungry in Food Crisis

Inflation takes bite out of traditional offerings at Indian temples

(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,...

Another Key Shortage: Fertilizer
 Another Key Shortage: Fertilizer 
Apr 30, 2008 10:02 AM CDT

Another Key Shortage: Fertilizer

Prices skyrocket, ingredients scarce as growing population demands more food

(Newser) - One of the less touted factors behind the global food crisis is a shortage in chemical fertilizer, which has helped boost crop yields dramatically and particularly benefited the developing world. But while growing demand is unlikely to be met for many years, the environmental impact of producing and using chemical...

Rice Is the New Oil
 Rice Is the New Oil 
Apr 27, 2008 3:31 PM CDT

Rice Is the New Oil

Rising food prices threaten a more serious global crisis

(Newser) - Even as the burgeoning price of oil slaps consumers at the pump, a darker global market crisis looms as rising commodities prices compound the pressures of poverty worldwide. The UN has said that spiking food prices have started "a silent tsunami threatening to plunge more than 100 million people...

Restaurants, Retailers Gulp as Consumers Tighten Belts

Penny pinchers shifting to generics, eating in

(Newser) - The rising price of staples like milk and gas, coupled with layoffs and flat-lining wages, is creating a nation of penny-pinching consumers, the New York Times reports. Industry is taking notice as buyers substitute generic brands for top-of-the-line products and skip eating out at restaurants.

Scientists Work on New 'Green Revolution'

Solving food crisis will depend on a steady diet of innovation

(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...

Restaurants Hungry for Economic Recovery

Rising food costs, tight credit cut into profits

(Newser) - Rising costs, tightening credit, and trimmed consumer spending are giving restaurateurs indigestion as they struggle with a slowdown the industry says is its worst in decades, reports the Wall Street Journal. A spate of bankruptcy filings and woeful earnings reports have chains slowing expansion and cutting amenities. With a minimum...

Sam's Club Joins Costco in Limiting Rice Purchases

Warehouse chains react to rising prices, apparent hoarding

(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...

US Farmers Want Feds' Help on Food Crisis

Skyrocketing prices bring speculators to grocery stores

(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...

Costco Sees High Demand for Basics Rice, Flour

CEO attributes run to customer uncertainty over food supplies

(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....

UN Compares Food Crisis to 'Tsunami'
UN Compares Food Crisis
to 'Tsunami'
Apr 22, 2008 12:41 PM CDT

UN Compares Food Crisis to 'Tsunami'

International help needed before situation deteriorates

(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...

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