Is it true we're having a World Food Shortage?

Question

Anyone have more information about this??

Answer 1

to me i think we have enough food i just think some people are to lazy to help other people get it. but that is just an opinion.

Answer 2

No. There's enough food in the world to feed EVERYONE 3 times over!

It's a pity all the food seems to be concentrated in certain areas, and not where it's needed most.

Answer 3

yes and its absolutely scandalous.i work in a hospital as a food porter and the amount of food i have to throw away everyday is sickening.perfectly good cooked food that dosen,t even get fed to pigs anymore because of the foot and mouth out break   .multiply this by 30 and that is just 1 hospital and 1 department in that hospital.

Answer 4

Yes.  It's a serious problem.  There is a lot of finger pointing, but there are several causes.  One, the world population outgrew its annual food production in the late 1970's.  Up until then most starvation was due to problems with the transportation and distribution of food.  Today it is the production of food.  Second, the worst areas have very little food production capability of their own.  Food aid to these areas has historically consisted of the surpluses from the grain producing countries.  Some (like the UN) blame this for undermining the development of grain producing capability.  Third, the past few years there have been little or no surpluses.  Mostly this has been due to droughts, particularly in Australia.  This has caused the price of rice and wheat to soar.  Rice and wheat are the main grains exported to feed the starving.  The large lakes and inland seas that have been the only source of water in some of these places for thousands of years are gone, or nearly gone, attributed to Global Warming.  In the United States Lake Powell and Lake Meade are expected to disappear within a few decades.  These are most of the water supply for some areas of the American Southwest. Fourth, fuel prices are at an all time high.  Some blame production related issues in the Middle East.  Others blame the United States, which has enjoyed artificially low petroleum prices since the end of WWII.  Here is a quote from an Op/Ed piece in the Asia Times

"The global food crisis is a monetary phenomenon, an unintended consequence of America's attempt to inflate its way out of a market failure. There are long-term reasons for food prices to rise, but the unprecedented spike in grain prices during the past year stems from the weakness of the American dollar. Washington's economic misery now threatens to become a geopolitical catastrophe."

So, for a combination of reasons, half of the world's population is without drinking water, and more than half without adequate food.  Birth rates in the affected areas rise in response to the high death rates, making things worse.  Biofuels are often blamed for this and many other problems.  It is arguable that land used for biofuels could be used to grow different crops to feed the hungry.  However most of the land outside the 29 developed countries used to grow biofuels has not been used to grow anything before the current attempts to grow biofuel crops.

Finally, the difference in the standard of living between the "haves" and the "have nots" gets wider all the time.  If all the 6 and 1/2 billion people of the world lived as the 350 million Americans do it would require 4 planets equal to the Earth to supply the resources that would be needed.

Answer 5

*Burp* that was delicious.  I couldn't eat another bite even if I wanted to.

Answer 6

No, there is plenty of food, the problem is distribution and cost.

Answer 7

Yes, there is in fact a shortage, but it mostly affects those who live in poverty. We have been using food to produce biofuel in our concern to help the environment and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Unfortunately, more and more land is being used to grow food such as corn for the production of ethanol and less as actual food. Also, more food is being used to create biofuel. This raised the price of food, which is causing more hunger in developing nations, where the people are too poor to be able to afford it. Although there is poor distribution anyways, this only aggravates the situation in developing countries.