Tuesday, June 10, 2008

Hoping for The End: Food Riots, High Prices, Bad Harvest

The Times of New York has been running a series entitled "The Food Chain: Rain, Drought and Doubt." Very encouraging for the nihilist crowd (that's us) who'll settle for the end of the human world w/ a whimper if we can't get a bang. Rumor is this was a "nice" planet until Homo sapiens came along & screwed everything up w/ its agriculture & "nation-states."

Today's entry indicates trouble is a-brewin' right now.
In a year when global harvests need to be excellent to ease the threat of pervasive food shortages, evidence is mounting that they will be average at best. Some farmers are starting to fear disaster.

[...]

Last winter, as the full scope of the global food crisis became clear, commodity prices doubled or tripled, provoking grumbling in America, riots in two dozen countries and the specter of greatly increased malnutrition.

As the world clamors for more corn, wheat, soybeans and rice, farmers are trying to meet the challenge. Millions of acres are coming back into production in Europe. In Asia, planting two or three crops in a single year is becoming more common.
Good idea. More planting so arable acreage decreases in the long run. So long, human suckers! The cockroaches won't miss you one bit. And don't let the door hit your malnourished asses on your way off the planet.

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