Topic: Food crisis coming? What's wrong about it? It could be good (Read 744 times)

Guess what - the cooking oil prices increase to double in our country and like the prices of the wheat and other food items.
You are right it is not a problem for you - but surly it is problem in my country - the poor people are crying and shouting what should they do as they have limited food supplies for the countries.

You're going too far discussing 3rd world countries, many of which have far wider issues to deal with, such as access to clean water, schooling and so on. A quick look to the middle class is enough, which is currently being devastated by the huge inflation. In Greece, inflation surpassed 11.3%, with necessary groceries becoming luxury goods, eggs have recorded a 14% increase in price, 23% in oils (sunflower, olive oil etc.), 14% in meat and that's only the beginning. Electricity has skyrocketed, being 80% more expensive than last year, CNG over 170% and fuels over 40%.

It is not about world policies, during this kind of crisis, money doesn't have the quality to maintain its standard, food becomes the utmost priority for people and hence high inflation kick in because people fight to pay for the limited food resources that will sustain them before the new season of farming. When this happens, other countries put their citizens first. they make sure they all have to satisfaction before they consider other countries, you see that money wouldn't be the big thing buy food.

Poorest will always suffer the most in the situation like this. That's why wealthy EU bureaucrats that have 10k+ euro monthly salary call for even harsher sanctions and telling crap how all of us have to make a sacrifice, perfectly knowing that they won't have to sacrifice anything and that won't achieve nothing.



Hah yeah, some people think that in case of a global crisis people gonna hold their hands and sing kumbaya, while in reality its gonna be every man for himself when/if shit hits the fan.

As we belong to a third-world country, we feel such a crisis to come. Prices in the local market continue to grow, and many people got starved due to the increased price of our necessities which is the thing I've worried about that this went worse if the war won't stop. It is really hard for the jobless individuals and even those who only got the minimum salary as they are the ones who suffered the most.

Education fixes everything



The fertility rate in South America and Asia has dropped just around, in a few cases below the replacement rate, Africa is just a decade or two behind but it will soon stop growing like this pretty soon as the spread of information is far faster than in the '60s and it's far easier to educate people now with a laptop and wifi rather than going through 100 km of the jungle without a proper map, road and on top of that search for volunteers to risk their lives in yet half unknown territory.

And btw, China population might go down next year, which combined with other countries starting to experiment the same will also counter the growth elsewhere.
But, the main thing is that 1/3 of the world still relies on manual labor, and around 10% on animal-assisted farming from horses to buffaloes. Investment in these parts and modern technology could help us produce food for around 14 billion people, now we could theoretically feed 9 but due to waste, we're here!


I wonder who still believes that fairytale about people coming together when at the first sign of panic a lot of countries have banned food exports to protect their own, in case of a famine happening money will dictate everything, the ones that can afford to pay one cent more will get their loaf of bread the ones who can't have any other hope than somebody who can pay will donate that food to them and not to somebody else.

I believe that the food crisis scare is justified. Well, for very poor countries.

But they have been in a crisis long before now. And nobody has been paying much attention to them. After corona virus and now with the Russia-Ukraine issue, prices are going up.

While the higher prices are nothing but a nuisance for Europeans, it might spell disaster for those living each day penny by penny.

Saying it could be a good thing is ignorant and petty. Using the survival of the fittest excuse is something that someone with the mind of a 13 year old edgy teen could come up with.

People like that need to be sent to Africa for a few years to fend for themselves. When(if) they come back, they will never think such a way again.

The only ones who will suffer is Africa from what I have seen in the news.Zelensky the Ukrainian president is saying that they have 22 million ton of grains in their silos and they have just started the new harvest,if things do not change that means in Autumn they will have like 75 million ton of grains stuck there.That means the world will have 75 million ton of grain less which can be a big problem for countries who consume a lot of bread,we as Europeans do not consume that much compared to Africa and our population is smaller,the only continent suffering will be Africa which is highly dependent on grain and the food crisis the impact will be felt mostly by them unfortunately.

Economic crises and food crises have occurred in many countries, poor countries are experiencing difficulties that do not seem to end, world policies that only accept a few currencies such as the USD or EURO make it difficult for poor countries to meet and rely on debt, and this is a worrying thing in the future.

On the contrary. If it comes to a global food shortage, countries will be less willing to help other countries simply because "global" food shortage means that whole world is affected by it  and not only a specific region like it usually is. With that being said, I don't expect a global food crisis. Sure, some regions will be affected for sure ( mainly the poorer ones, as always) but I don't expect more developed parts of the worlds to have big issues.

Really? That's great. That just shows that your country now knows what to do to avoid the problem in case it occurs again and thanks to the concerned countries that helped your country before. Other than other countries, your country can also try to help countries that are in need of help in regards to food crisis.

There is nothing wrong about food crisis but it was just another type of crisis which is normal to occur on a country especially if that country is not prepared. What is only wrong is if people or the government of a country will just depend on the help of others without trying their best on how to help their selves survive in this difficult situation.

Unfortunately we are living through a period in which several crisis are happening at the same time, we had the pandemic, a war, high inflation and now it seems we have a shortage of food as well, the economy is not really designed to withstand so many crises at the same time, and it does not seem as if the governments will ever get this under control, so it is necessary that we find ways to protect ourselves at least from some of the effects those crises can bring, and while bitcoin will be useful, it seems we will need even more than bitcoin to overcome all the problems we will face in the future.

A measure to slow down population growth depends on public policies and campaigns to educate people on how they are being prejudiced for having a desorganized household core, not only for themselves as parents, but also for the children who are born there. It just doesn't happen because politicians profit from this miserable lifestyle. More children from uneducated families mean abundant income of easy votes from individuals who question nothing, only ask for food and basic goods, in an eternal cycle of repetition and precariousness.

At same time, everyone else who see this and don't talk openly are in a confort zone which doesn't let them talk freely about this issue, since they are going to be excluded from society and be considered ruthless, heartless, merciless, soulless and so on...

About Bill Gates being all this, I'm not so sure...

  You're lucky if you are born with a golden spoon since you don't have to worry about the increasing prices of basic commodities but for most of us here, this food price increase is killing us more. This increasing high inflation won't do any good but continue to trigger our finances and will left us struggling to earn because of high prices of goods all over the world. Hopefully, the government can do something about this or even give more assistance to the poor families.

This is why we are going to live with the urban agriculture stuff, or the vertical farming very soon. There is a company building a 25 million dollar warehouse for plants, they are using the most extreme techs available, and they are saying that they will make more than 700k profit per year with the current prices, and the prices could still climb up, plus they are very close to center in UK, so they could sell it all very quickly without even having too much transportation costs. That company already go an offer to be purchased, not just for that plant, but for the idea and the expertise they had. So you know how vertical we will go in the future.

Food crisis isn't when prices go up, it's when there's no food.

The poorest people on earth make the most babies. Watch the movie "Idiocracy" if you haven't yet. That movie explains this perfectly.

Somebody should do something about it but I feel like it is already too late... What can we do anyway? Erase like 5+ billion people? That would be very good tbh but I don't see it happening. The most intelligent human being on earth, Bill Gates has been doing researches on the subject but he couldn't solve it neither.

If Gates can't fix it, nobody can. Pray for Gates.

Definitely, it's a problem for most of us. And it's a lot harder because not only the food prices have been increasing, even for gas or petrol its price moves up too fast. Most of our basic necessities are no longer cheap anymore so it does not only affect the poor ones, but even the higher class in the society.  It might be a lot better if also the minimum wage salary has increased, but i don't see its happening now. We are facing a lot of crisis right now, and i don't think this high inflation will be gone in just a year or two, or it could be staying for good maybe.

Do not underestimate the food crisis, because starting from small things can trigger big things. Conflict within a country can become more prone to occur due to a food crisis. People can do anything to get rid of the hunger that ensnares them. starting from theft and criminal matters. in a wider range could trigger more severe riots. even a food war can occur.
then preparations to be resistant to the food crisis must be carried out. solutions must be sought. One of the countries in Asia, namely Sri Lanka, is also preparing to face a food crisis. due to their dependence on imports. and when imports from a country are stopped. then a food crisis will occur in a country.

This is why the United Nations exists for certain reasons, we have been brothers since our forefather's time when technology was limited, but we have divided ourselves via conflict. During the crises, neighbouring countries do help each other by providing food and other necessities that they lack, this has also strengthened the country's unity.
Around 2005, the Nigerian President sent food to the northern part of Africa, that were experiencing drought at the time, this gesture has increased our relationship today and also increased import and export trades.

Food is very important, the world's population continues to increase and currently reaches almost 8 billion of course it requires appropriate food ingredients, if the war was due to oil and natural resources, the predictions from experts are that the third world war will be triggered by difficulties food crisis.

In our country, I think we're far from the food crisis. The supply of primary goods here is continuous and I couldn't see any problem with it so far. If it will be a global crisis, I believe that countries will still unite to support each other just like what happened before. Our country experienced famine years ago and lots of countries have provided us with food supplies. I'm sure that the same thing would happen in the future.

Yes, currently Russia and Ukraine are the largest exporters of wheat (until February 24, 2022 they competed with each other for the 1st place in wheat exports). 

In addition, Ukraine has diversified its agriculture.  In addition to wheat, it also grew corn and was the 4th largest exporter of this crop in the world. 

At the same time, world food security is affected not only by the export of wheat and corn, but also by the export of mineral fertilizers.  Mineral fertilizers are essential for the successful development of agriculture around the world.  Russia and Ukraine are also leaders in the export of mineral fertilizers to other countries. 

Therefore, a food crisis is quite possible. 

Our world is global.  All countries depend on each other.  For successful economic development, friendship and interaction of all countries is necessary (and not mutual hostility and isolation from each other).

The food crisis will have an impact on every country that experiences it, but this is not the first problem and it must have been experienced before and the government will not remain silent so that in the end it will return to normal. And every country has a lot of good people and it doesn't have to be rich but they help each other and are not selfish.
and I think Africa is like any other continent with its fair share of poor and rich, you are ready to work then food is available. The only exception is they don't have the equivalent food stamps here.
and for some other reason every country should have very poor areas like Africa and that doesn't mean all Africans are poor, and that's because of bad governance.

It doesn't also mean that if you live in a 1st world country, you're exempted in the food crisis. Not everyone on those countries are financially stable, there will always be someone that struggle to put food on their table on a daily basis. Food crisis will always be not good whatever country you live in. Everyone should be able to buy it not only the rich people during the food crisis. Many here are just lucky they didn't experience yet how to starve or earn money just to buy food.

This your comment sound Bias and I guess os because you didn't follow up the discussion and what others have discussed so far. Food crisis doesn't mean it is the only minor nations who are not up to standard are the only people that will suffer from the food shortage, it is going to be all over the world and even the US will not be left out, you remember how corona affected everyone, thats just the way food crisis are also, the only difference is that we see it coming and discussing it with possible solutions will ease it.
Another facts you should know is that because a country is poor is not limited to Africa, we have other countries on other planet who are also poor just that they will make you think it happened only in Africa.

Nothing really good came when crisis occur because for sure all of us will suffer from heavy inflation that will happen and it will cost a lot of us since basic needs prices will shoot up more higher than we expect and actually this is happening right now. So to counteract against this maybe a country should be self sustaining in agricultural products so for seeing this nearly coming maybe the government should find a solution and give priority to their agricultural sector and enhance the capability of their farmers to produce more product to sustain the needs of their country.

Once you heard the term crisis, it always creates a negative perception. So how can you say that there's nothing wrong about it? In fact, these food prices that are always rising every month, bring so much fears and pressures on us especially if we are only minimum wage earners. There's no way we can save anymore because the funds intended to save have already been added on the expenses for food. Not only the low class people have been affected on this but eventually the whole class in the society. So tell me, how could it be more beneficial for us?

the food crisis is a problem in every country, only for those who are developed countries it is not too significant because at least the poverty rate is different for countries that are still in the process of developing economic growth and the country's resources are few, usually the poverty rate is very high and to overcome it is the responsibility of the state and each individual each community to change its economy so that it is fulfilled so that the standard of living changes.
and no less important is the attitude of mutual cooperation and mutual assistance which is now starting to dwindle in every country and individual as if the law of the jungle applies, because we know they are our brothers who deserve to live and be full

There's really a problem right now because Ukraine and Russia AFAIK, they're part of the biggest producers of wheat. And you know a lot of foods are needing wheat as an ingredient. One perfect example of it is formula milk, imagine how many babies and kids are needing that and if there's a shortage of supply. The price of these formulas is going to increase and it's just one example, of how much more the other products and foods that have a main ingredient of wheat. It's an effect that we have to accept and we must do something on our own to survive this.

I would say that all stages of social status have been greatly affected with this high inflation, not only the poorest of the poor, not only the richest of the riches, but definitely all have been suffering seeing all the food prices continue to surge. If you can save 25% of your monthly income before, this time reaching even 10% is very hard to achieve. Of course we may always want to save, but given this present food crisis, its hard for us to save first and budget your food expenses.

It will always be a problem for poor countries because it will create more struggles for the people just to survive. Even if we say that the government is responsible for all their citizens, but in most cases when a country is poor, the financial budget is also very low that it can hardly cater to all the basic needs of the people. Some elite citizens may find ways to still live in comfort, but for those poorest of the poor, everyday survival will always be a struggle.

Predictions from world experts are that the third world war is caused by the food crisis, this is what makes food-producing countries such as wheat, corn, rice and so on have strong political power compared to industrial countries, and in my country there is also an increase in food ingredients because currently the country also fulfills imports.

And that is what many people do not see, if resolving a food crisis was easy then we would have done so and it would not be a problem at all, even if financial aid or even aid in the form of food was given to those countries we must not forget the corruption can be huge even at the highest levels of the government, which means that whatever aid is sent there will end up up enriching those at the top, while those which need the aid the most receive scraps at most.

Most of the poorest countries are on the African continent, therefore the African continent has the nickname of the poorest continent,
and speaking of African countries I don't think it's going to be that easy to solve the food crisis,
it's been happening for a long time and in that country maybe the income isn't much so it will be difficult too

Africa was one of the poorest country in the whole world as far as I know, probably the main thing problems with this is their country
economy strategy was very poor, that is why it need to revitalize it instead. So, the food crisis to their own country will be resolve
little by little if their leader is intelligent to think a good solutions for this.

That's an issue in your country, blame your politicians for they agreed to lobbyist and housing development.

Meanwhile, Russia UN ambassador walks out of security council meeting And seem the reason was that their country was blamed for this food crisis.

So there really is a crisis but this is in Europe only where the grains from Ukraine was being held. Its really unclear why the grains can't be shipped but then they are having a war. Ships can't sail due to sanctions afaik. What else should they do, if Ukraine is in that position, they may also get the Russians hungry as they did deprived Russia with water in the past.

I think the problem because of the food crisis is that more and more land has been turned into settlements and the government only focuses on industry and never cares about farmers, as happened in my country where the government removed subsidies for fertilizers and seed development so that crop yields continued to decline and now become an importer of foodstuffs such as soybeans, rice and so on.

Its best to prepare still because I felt it already that McDonald doesn't sell french fries anymore. It could either be the supply chain which they are rerouting them  or held on the port storage only. The media report something of scarcity making countries panic to find other sources. That's how they always are.


Some countries are prepared for famine though. Africans I think have already found away to grow crops on their barren lands. Same with Egypt that already flourished their fish production through the fish ponds and cages they build.  The countries that will worry are the ones relying on imports.

I was only arguing along the line of a truly survival of the fittest situation. If a global food crisis -- which OP talked about -- resulting to extreme hunger descends equally upon everyone, many of the people in Africa would definitely live a lot longer than many of the people in the most developed countries. My belief is that the hunger tolerance of people who have known hunger all their lives is way higher than those who have only known abundance. Not to mention the kind and quality of food and water, level of comfort, and the overall living condition.


It would really be interesting to follow that fantasy of yours translated into reality. Perhaps listing that at the top of your bucket list is a good start. I'm sure you'd live like a don there. Worry not about famine, I believe you can get out pretty quickly anytime. If not, your country would definitely look for you and get you out.

USA for Africa as in We are the World?


I'm not sure about this, but I surmise somebody or a group of people must be benefiting a lot from all these food crises and hunger and poverty. Regardless, self-sustenance is always a beautiful goal.

I had to laugh at your reaction, because it reminds me of me--but I'm not lolling at the substance of what you're saying, because I agree with your opinions.  Maybe not the one about developing nations perishing first (but that could be true), but certainly about Africans deserving a good life just as much as the rest of the world--they do; all nations do.

Hell, I'm even fantasizing about moving to Zimbabwe to build a signature campaign HQ castle for Christ's sake, so you know I'm in Africa's corner.  The only problem with famine hitting Africa harder than the rest of the world would be some of the governments.  IIRC, it was those governments that facilitated the famine that hit parts of Africa in the 1980s (remember USA For Africa?  Probably not, but look it up.), not necessarily the people being unable to farm.

But that's always the case, and it'd be true for the US, Europe, and other places as well should there be a food crisis.  People would be at their government's mercy if they tried to produce their own food.  I'm hoping this is all just unrealistic fear, but I'm not saying it never could or won't happen in the near future.

It's not about being in "rich countries". That's another laughable post. You can lose your job while living in a "rich country" with a higher cost of living, no? It's not at that phase of the recession yet, nor is it even considered a recession. But it will go to that point in time that you might be "OK", but your neighbor isn't and WILL be in panic because he/she is being evicted, with no savings, and all bills.

Agriculture has already made a huge technological leap in recent decades, although this is not advertised too much for the layman. There is a lot of progress in ultra-bright LEDs and agricultural robotics, but two factors are key - the massive transition to high-yielding hybrid seeds and the massive use of inorganic fertilizers. The disadvantage of hybrid varieties is that they are not stable and seeds have to be bought every year in seed banks. The disadvantage of chemical fertilizers is that now they are very expensive due to expensive gas and sanctions restrictions on Russia and Belarus. The transition to organic fertilizers is possible, but the yield will decrease markedly. The transition to resistant varieties that do not degenerate in the next generation is also possible, but the yield will again decrease markedly. Markedly - means at times, and this is a problem on the scale of humanity.

Very true rule of the world has always been the survival of the fittest. Since ages this has been the truth of nature in this modern age this thing has just got a new definition that's it, now survival is by earning money even in difficult times to support your family or maybe taking advantage of the difficult times in order to become rich. It's true that crisis will definitely come there is no way crisis can be stopped it's always the humans that have to become worthy to face any type of crisis.

Very stupid guess about my age, because you could have checked I registered on this board more than 9 years ago... Actually, I think I'm one of the oldest here, but I'm not the subject. I've been through 6 countries of the list you gave, this Spring (yes, I travel a lot), and this is what I've noticed. In one supermarket in France, there was no more pasta, but I went to another one, and everything was normal. In one supermarket in Italy, there was a sign telling not to buy more than 3 bottles of oil. That's about it.

The medias are always over reacting, just like markets, and people get scared, but there's no reason to panic, yet. At least in rich countries.

I really do not appreciate OP's stance on the food crisis, because I work in a third world country on contract and I have experienced first hand what poverty and hunger are doing to developing children and old people.

I wonder if OP have skipped 3 meals in his live ... or if he goes through the day on one meal that consists mostly of rice or wheat.  Let's face it... the food crisis will eventually become a problem for the rich 1st world countries ..... in the form of humanitarian support... and this will be funded by taxes or donations. (So, prepare yourself for higher taxes to give social support to the people that are not as fortunate as you) 

This is 100% the same thing for my nation as well and it would be fine as well if they knew what they were doing. Imagine a hangar, like one plane levels of big hangar, that hangar could feed an entire town, did you know that? None of the resources we lack are things that we can't have more, it is just that people do not produce more and capitalists do not want us to realize that quickly.

Like Elon talked about we need just a corner of Utah levels of space to provide electricity to ALL of USA, and yet we are not doing it, why? Or we do not need a whole field for farming, we could do hydroponics and use much smaller land and produce much more product and even more times as well since we decide on the weather there so instead of 2 times a year, you get 4. Why not do that? Because people just don't, they don't and that is the only reason ever.

In my opinion, the independent production of agricultural products is not able to solve the world problem of food shortages. 

Yes, you can start a subsidiary farm and raise chickens and pigs....  This will provide you with meat and eggs. 

However, the cost of producing these eggs and meat will be higher than that of professional livestock breeders.  And this is natural.  The fixed costs of production remain unchanged. 

And a professional livestock breeder has a much larger sales market than an individual producer.

Laughable post. I believe you don't truly understand its direct connection with the whole economy in general. Higher prices of food, a basic need, will also mean higher prices of "many other things". Higher prices of "many other things", including fuel/energy prices will also mean less savings for you, AND the company you're working under will have higher monthly expenditures, which will also mean job lay-offs.

It seems that up to 90% of wheat is used in animal husbandry and only 10% is used to make bread, flour, cereals and spaghetti. The production of pork and chicken is highly dependent on wheat, which is the basis of the diet in many regions of the world.

This is another event in the world that will teach us a lot of things. First the pandemic then this food crisis and haven't mentioned yet the direct impact that people are experiencing from those countries living in the war. If someone is telling us that this won't affect them, then that's good for you folks if you can still continue to live comfortably but we should have the sympathy for those that will have the most impact and effect from this upcoming crisis. I am starting to see the news of lessened supply that's resulting the high demand and high prices of products like wheat which comes from those affected by the war.

The more I read your posts the more convinced I am that you are underage.
There are there because over the past couple of months there has been a lot of protests around Europe. In France for example after the election last month there were mass protests around the country, they killed a dozen people and it stopped. Same in UK, Germany, Spain, Italy, Slovakia, Ireland, Poland, Belgium, Netherlands, Denmark, Hungary, Romania... These are the ones I could find on the internet and they are mainly about fuel and transport costs and some of them extended to rising food cost.

There used to be a time in my place where every citizen was forced to farm, you must have farm land/garden in your backyard. This has stylishly make some people commercial Farmers but after the change of government, so many people abandoned the system while some continued.
There is an increasing demand for food while the supply is depreciating and the increased of inflation is making things be coming unbearable, even the greedy farmers with products don't want to bring out there goods for sale now because they believe the price at some points in the future will double before the end of the season. Small supply and big demand system is killing modernization, we should all go back and farm, it doesn't stop you from your job, not necessary must be something huge, we will see some changes with this.

It looks like European countries are mainly facing the increase in the food shortage compared to the Asian countries. This is much due to the Ukraine war. The inflation over Europe have been recorded high above 8% and the Central Banks are struggling to balance and eliminate the recession. Even without the food and energy crisis the inflation is recorded to be 3.5% to 3.8% and the same have impacted the consumers. This means the price change on the consumer end have reached 39%

I've been eating out at lunch. Guess what, the restaurants were absolutely crowded. We went to an average one, but the one next to it was - I suppose - very famous, as there were people waiting, I mean standing outside, waiting to get a seat to be served. Maybe that's a prelude to a food crisis. People must wait in line to eat, but everybody seemed happy, and I hadn't seen anyone complaining about the prices. One meal is about €25 per person. Prices haven't changed much since last year. There was more police in the streets, though. Not sure why.

Maybe it's different in Africa, or India, but I have yet to see any sign of a crisis in Europe. If there's one, it will be for drivers, as everybody's complaining about the price of gas, but there's still plenty of traffic.

I have heard about something like this before but it is still uncertain when that will be. It happens in the time of covid and it almost looks like everyone is going to die but now, everyone is back on their feet. The price of food had been skyrocketing without limit and the government is not doing anything about it on looking for a better alternative for inflation. It will be worsen in the third world countries that are still fighting with huge corruption where the percentage of poor masses are increasing on a daily basis

It is true there is still plenty of food but due to the war at Ukraine the amount of food being produced is going down, even if the amount of food produced went down only a 5% the price will not increase 5%, as we all need to eat and those countries which have more money will be able to pay a higher price while the others will not be able to buy enough food, this will create zones around the world in which there will be a serious issue with the supply and prices will skyrocket there, if you are lucky then at most you will see a light increase in the price where you live, but if you happen to live in one of the countries that was dependent on Ukraine's wheat supply then things could get ugly and fast.

It is not actually "shortage" of food, in the sense that we will not be able to find food. Some things would never really dry out, it will always be replenished. However, it is the prices that will be impacted, if there was 150 and sold 100 and 50 gone to waste, now there are 100 and will sell 100 and the prices will be impacted because of this.

This is why I honestly believe that the food will never be gone, or at least not fully gone, but the prices are already impacted. Just in my nation the food prices are up 40%+ and that alone itself is a big problem, don't get me started on oil and energy, that is gone bonkers and doing horribly as well.

His post shows the mentality of western people towards the rest of the world. He forgets that their so-called developed country economy is dependent on the cheap labor of that African and Asian countries. Without those populations, their economy will not survive. In this world, we all depended on each other at some point. Look at the Russia Ukraine war and how the whole world is suffering because of them.

Western countries are just interested about increase and holding their influence over the rest of the world. They do little care about family planning and education. They are more interested in spending millions of dollars to supply weapons to those countries rather than spending those for some actual development.

Perfectly fine for you, though that really sounds so selfish, but don't get comfortable with the rising prices of food in the market coz it will definitely have chain effects. Do you personally think a food crisis won't cause any harm against you and your family?
What If crime rate increases as people became desperate, because unlike you they're heavily affected by the crisis?
Do you think it's safer for you and your family than today if that happens?


I don't see any good about food crisis or any crisis that the world face.

Food crisis isn't just about being unable to buy food because of our financial status. It's actually a total lack of food supply which could affect both rich and poor people. Money couldn't work if that happens but in my own opinion, where's still far from that. As long as farmers and food suppliers are continuously providing food on the market, there wouldn't be a food crisis and I hope that no country would experience such a crisis.

Sorry, but every time when visit stores and see shelves full with food, employees running there and there to replenish shelves supplies, see pallets with food behind stock doors, I cant understand what is this "food crisis" everyone is talking about. Some might think that I am stupid, naive, too young and never saw real life and etc, but I dont see starving people around me. What we complaint about lately? Wheat? Can we eat other food instead? Or wheat is a direct or indirect ingredient of every other food? I think no.

If you think having money is enough to deal when the worse food crisis hits your country then I can say no and also give an example for this. Anyone read what is actually happening in Srilanka for the past few months where there is shortage for everything due to the National debt followed by hyperinflation so even people who have enough cash in their had to pay hundred dollar for basic grocery needed for an adult still there is no thing available there.

You are looking at the situation at a very short period and with a very selfish view either because your financial situation is way above average or you are too young and have never faced the real world.

A large number of people in developed countries are living hand to mouth, rising prices even a little bit puts a lot of pressure on them. On top of that the food crisis is not coming alone, it is accompanied by energy crisis and other crisis. Some of it is causing businesses and industries to shut down. Imagine someone in middle class who loses their job too, now they don't even have an income to pay previous food prices let alone the increased ones.
For example 90% of Americans (a supposedly developed country) are considered middle to lower class.

That's racist.

Why do you think it was a solution? Because you think that the population is now too much and you want this to decrease? I think that was selfish if you want someone to suffer and die just because you think this world can become a better place if the population is much lesser.

Actually it can still become better. The problem for me is not the population but it is how people move. If they won't become lazy and work hard, and maybe study harder, they won't became poor and they can achieve that fantasy world that you are saying. For now this is a problem for someone that doesn't have a money but every problem has a solution. It's only about planning and budgeting.

20%, 30% is nothing... Here the cheapest cooking oil rised 200% since the beginning of the pandemic.

You say it now, but after increasing your budget for food in a third, there won't be limits. After the first third, there will be other, and another... That is inflation hiting you really hard. And don't think developed countries are safe from this menace. The world has changed. Developed countries' leaders are adopting the same measures third world countries are used to. Just look the example of USA raising interest rates artificially. Typical banana's republic economical policy.

Initially it's a problem, but every solutions come from an initial problem, so there might be a positive side on it, because it can be the starting point for world authorities pay attention to the fact population is growing too fast, while the resources disponible in the world continue the same.

So far governments have been irresponsible, populist and demagogic. They don't care about it. If someone ventures making such proposal, he is going to be labelled with the most terrible existing adjectives. It must be someone of great courage and reason to address this delicate subject with success.

Its the sad fact or reality on which these things cant really be felt for those people who are wealthy nor able to reside or live on a first world country which means or basically talks about those who are still developed

or not really good in terms of economic state will surely be having those big effects or something that could be felt.Any crisis not only limited to Food problem would really impose those kind of worrisome for people around.

But its true that our fellow wealthy people or community wont really be bothering up theirselves since they are financially capable on hoarding everything.

First world countries won't experience a legitimate crisis. I consider a legitimate food crisis to be famine and starvation. Wealthy countries can hoard food imports or afford to pay a premium price for food exports. They might also limit some of their own food exports to stock up. The poorer countries won't be able to afford the premium price tag on food, and those are the countries that will suffer from extreme famine.

It's unfortunate that in a world where many in the developed world are obese or overweight that people can go without food and starve to death, but these are issues with logistics more than actually having a shortage of food.

The food crisis, of course, is what I'm worried about starting from Covid-19 and now the effect of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, of course at least this has a big influence on the food price crisis which will rise in the future, in my country the price of cooking oil has almost doubled fold, but here only the government has the right to be responsible for all of this, they must determine the welfare of their people, of course, from this food crisis, more will suffer.

I read this article about the UN warning of a global food crisis.

https://www.npr.org/2022/05/23/1100592132/united-nations-food-shortages

Yea whatever about being able to pay inflated prices for food its
another thing actually finding the food in the first place. A food
crisis doesnt necessarily mean higher prices it can also be shortages.

The worst hit will indeed be the poorer countries who rely on
food importation. Its crazy how we have become accustomed to
heading to the supermarket and nowing that what we want will
be there every time. If the supply chains are interrupted there is
actually only 3 days worth of food in the average supermarket,
after that what happens?

@Hydrogen has kind of touched on sopmething which is very important
and that is that humans have lost touch with mother Earth, the
majority of people dont realise where their food comes from and what
it contains. Personally I think its wrong that the world in general
has to be supplied with grain by a hand full of countries and this is
the price we pay for it IMO.

Although hearing it is quite gruesome, I hope it doesn't happen in any country. I really don't want it. All have the right to live in prosperity in the provision of food sources. I don't know if we have to start from scratch, but what is certain will return to state policies that prioritize local economic growth and prioritize export production carried out by the community (not from immigrants by looting).

The reason is, currently there are not a few countries with social inequality, narrowing of land, and eviction of houses making it increasingly difficult for people to make a living.

To this effect there can be control over it from government. But by creation it has been given to man to occupy and enjoy the fruits in it. The challenge is that despite population, bad leadership is the problem for Africa. Lack of proper planning is causing some of the food shortages. Some buildings are erected on land there are designated for agricultural purposes and by this it amounts to imbalance in planting processes. There is suppose to be rotational planting where some land are left for a certain time to regain nutrients but they are continually planted on because there are no adequate space. This will lead to low production of crops.

this is almost the same as the conditions in the country or area that I live in now.
a lot of land that used to be used for agriculture is now being converted into skyscraper buildings and some shops or factories there which make this even more difficult for the farmers.
Previously, in the area where I live, the majority of us were farmers, but now due to a large-scale conversion, some people have swerved to adjust to the current situation and the farmers in my area can now be counted on the fingers.

At least you are frank about where you stand in the issue about "overpopulation". While I'm ambivalent about it, it seems that this is the natural human state. Humans tend to instinctively have more kids when quality of life is poor so that some at least would make it to adulthood. Not to mention in mostly agricultural societies in the countryside, those children are extra farm hands. Families that choose to have less kids miss out on the free labor and are put at a disadvantage.

If there's one good thing that may come out of these conflicts, it's that people would be reminded that you can't rely on food imports.

The large number of agricultural land that has turned into settlements and industries makes food more expensive, in my country more than 30% of agricultural land has changed function and now many imports of food, fruit and vegetable needs, of course this is a complicated problem that must be addressed immediately because now food has higher economic value.

That's it. Some years ago, I knew a girl who got pregnant while being a student. That was in a rich western Europe country, welfare services could have done a lot, but she chose to have an abortion, and it was terrible to her, but she just felt unable to raise a child in the small room she was living, with her modest income. In Africa, there are women with no income at all having 5 or 7 kids. That's just irresponsible.

What's shameful is that this food crisis doesn't come from nature. There's one single person fully responsible for it, and that's Putin.

If you want to talk particularly about Africa then I've been hearing all my entire life that they have food and water shortage. There is always hunger. They are always in need of something. The common wheat problem wont affect them much. As they are much dependable from their local agriculture. I believe that they eat mostly what they produce. They are not dependable much from export. They dont care much about wheat shortage, oil and gas prices, they dont care about the current war.

No, we're telling and we have been telling a lot of countries to not make the mistakes we have done in the past, but when we're stating facts we're seen as evil white supremacists that have some diabolical plan for Africa. Europe has been through centuries of famine, with millions of deaths and episodes of cannibalism, because we were doing the same mistake African countries are doing now, giving birth to 7 children without knowing how much food we're going to have the next year.

And further down look at the math, Europe had during the middle ages 70 million people at the peak, Africa had nearly the same in 1800, the EU has grown to 500 million and had the newest technology when it comes to agriculture, Africa has 1.2 billion and has less than 15% of it mechanized.

Who is going to feed all this unless they do it themselves?
Where is the food going to come in countries like Niger which are on the path of doubling the population every 18 years?
It's not like telling poor countries they should starve to death, it's telling them they are going to starve to death if they don't change!


https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2016/12/this-map-shows-how-much-each-country-spends-on-food/


What logic, because the crisis in Africa was hurting Europe millions of Africans and Arabs have fled to Europe.

Overcoming this is not as easy as they imagine and what is happening today in the world has indeed made many countries experience inflation,
especially in the food sector it is really very influential,
the state must have a solution to suppress inflation so that it does not get worse

The world has become a global village that is hyper-connected. A food crisis in Africa can trigger food and energy crisis in Europe. Most European countries depend on Africa for raw materials. Hunger and starvation in Africa can cause anarchy which would greatly affect the supply of raw materials. We saw how Niger-Delta crisis in Nigeria led to increase in oil prices and how the insecurity in Libya and Middle East triggered immigration crisis in Europe. We should as much as possible be concerned about the well-being of others because it might directly or indirectly affect you. I never knew the invasion of Ukraine by Russia would affect me negatively but today it is. 

In my own idea, the crisis of food prices is not the same as increasing the inflation rate, because when the food price crisis starts in any country they will have a problem with supplying one of the most important things for their people which is needed to supply in any condition. So when this kind of crisis starts people will start saving food inside their homes in some countries and this will make the food price increase even more and since they need to consume food more than anything we can see maybe some price of assets are decreasing against food because people will sell them to buy more food in that situation. so this can not be good in any situation.

In addition to starvation, the increase in the cost of food is linked to several other increases, such as fuel. And that makes it difficult to access basic food, medicine...

It also makes local production expensive or almost impossible, and makes access to fertilizers and machinery impossible.

The OP is clearly saying that for his world it will be good that poor countries reduce their population. As if that would really benefit the world. Poverty, hunger and despair will drive a large portion of the population to take drastic measures. Populist leaders with idiotic ideas are going to be more and more common. Dictatorships will multiply.

There is nothing positive in misery. There is nothing positive about a population dying of hunger.

Zzzzzz. Survival of the fittest my a*s. If only this is truly about survival of the fittest, I'm 99% sure majority of the people in your developed country would perish much much earlier than many in the African continent.

If there's somebody living in a fantasy world here, it is you. You who think that it is perfectly all right for poor people to starve to death while you indulge in your pasta. You who think that the African people don't deserve a good life as much you do. You who think that in the name of a finite world the poor could die while the rich could continue to enjoy life.

We know that this country (Africa) was still on the report that belongs the home of a food crisis but there are many organizations already looking to it, like Global Network Against Food Crises (GNAFC) that was tackle this problem and find a solution how to fight this problem.  AFAIK, there are 16 organizations globally that have fought the hunger increase and find it a solution.

The only solution for this is to help the farmers and give attention to the agricultural industry which gives motivation to them to supply food.
I think you're too much worried about this which is we have GNAFC already looking to it.

While without a doubt we have an overpopulation problem that could get many times worse if something is not done about it, this is not the way to solve it, in a great deal of the developed countries the birthrate is already below the replacement levels, which means that in many of those countries the population would go down if no one emigrated there.

As such if similar campaigns could be established in the countries with the highest birthrates we could slow down the increase of the population all around the world and eventually have a decreasing population.

However this will also require an adjustment of our economy, as it is precisely those developed countries the ones which are the most worried about this, as a lower population will also mean lower production and more obligations to be paid to those which retire, and all of this could happen in a moment in which they are highly indebted and they do not get enough taxes and print the rest of the money to satisfy their budget, so as you can see overpopulation is not a problem that can be solved by just letting a food crisis do its thing, since the problem is way more complicated than that.

It's easy to say you can handle it if it's not happening or you never experienced it yet but once you taste the bitter treatment of how the inflation works you might want to change country. It's the government job to make a solution about this food crisis especially the agriculture part and tell me what good could bring to a food crisis?

It will just continue to increase the poverty in most third world country with the salary that's not above the minimum it won't be enough for them.

the obligation of the state government in the problem of overcoming poverty and hunger in their country does not occur very badly, efforts must be made
the poorest the country will surely find alternative solutions for foodstuffs that soar,

Lol I can’t say I agree with anything you’ve said here. I live in a first world country, and I can tell you food inflation has been a major issue for everyone but the rich. Even if you’re wealthy middle class you’re still having to spend far more and that takes away from other important things (college savings, charitable donations, retirement savings etc). The average person spends a lot of their income on food, so not sure where you’re getting that they don’t.

Though we never expect anything in this regard of food crisis aside the global wheat challenge that was alarmed recently for possible occurrence due to the fact that it was majorly cultivated in Ukraine where the Russian invassion has affected many supply and demand on global wheat products, as for the food scarcity, it would have been more ok to have some fact to buttress this prediction because am yet to see any article talking much about food scarcity other than inflation.

I do have the same impressions when it comes to that kind of approach of this post or context which it do indirectly tell about that obvious difference in between to those who lived on 1st world into those 3rd world.

You might be seeing yourself to be not affected with this food crisis yet of course you could really able to afford but for those people who do even hardly eat then having increase would even more worsen the situation.

Any crisis or increase in prices is never been good news thats why i dont see the point on why op said about being it could be good.lol

You don't seem to care much now because it hasn't started, what if the situation turns out to be more severe than you can predict it to be, and the fact that you have the finance to accommodate an increment doesn't mean anything because those commodities are no longer available to you even with your purchasing power due to scarcity?

In all, worse case scenario for the people in africa, many can easily turn to subsistence agriculture in a bid to feed themselves and immediate family, this easy adaptation may not be possible for you.

Don't think your situation better because you feel you can accommodate it, if a severe food crisis results, every one will feel the effect.

There is no challenge currently under the sun that doesn't have an alternative. I admit food crisis will be severe  in underdeveloped and developing countries particularly Africa. But one thing about food scarcity is that it opens way for improvised form of survival.

My problem is not with the increase in population but rather the negligence of Agriculture. Increase in population is meant to equal increase in man power and productivity but it seems the reverse is the case. But once an outright food scarcity sets in there will be need to return to Agriculture which has been the original source of African sustenance before civilization set in

Depends. If you can afford the expensive food prices, then it makes no difference for you probably. For the rest of the people, it will be a nightmare. One thing is for sure, the world is way too crowded. If the expensive food prices will solve this problem, so be it. If it is going to be the vaccines, I am OK with that too. Whatever it takes to fix the world. Otherwise rich or poor, we are all going to go insane. We simply don't need any more people. There isn't enough resources.

We have become isolated from how lucky we are to have off season produce year round. How important it is to maintain biodiversity and our fate being linked to the balance of global ecosystems. People have begun to believe they've evolved beyond having to think about or know basic fundamental things. That governments and politicians exist so they never have to think about or know anything. That they're better off not using the one thing that gives people an advantage over animals -- their minds.

It is possible that human survival has become too easy and convenient. And that humanity has begun to negatively regress as a result.

In movies and TV I see characters who are so obstinate and greedy that they cannot resolve their differences without murdering each other. This seems a foolish and childish precedent to me. But looking at the real world there appear to be many who embrace this. They can't resolve their disagreements without resorting to violence or murder like characters on TV. Is this what human progress looks like. Or is it a regression back towards the dark ages.

While a food crisis may not be a pleasant experience. It may force us to rethink things. Most of us don't know human sacrifice and infanticide in ancient times may have been correlated with inadequate food production. People in ancient times may not have had enough food to feed their children and so they sacrificed them to assorted deities as a cultural norm.

People in modern times have so many advantages over those who lived in past eras. And typically take advantage of and appreciate none of them.

So you are indirectly saying that the people from the poor countries should starve to death?

You should understand that each and every government does hold a responsibility to provide for the people that they have been elected by. Most of the developed countries came into position because of these poor countries that they looted in the past thus for them to provide humanitarian support is no big deal.

The crisis is coming and some are better prepared than the others but that does not mean that you can ignore the plight of the other side, decreasing the population inevitably is important but how we can do is by family planning, education, not natural selection.

I've read a few articles explaining that a food crisis is coming, I want to tell you something about it. There will be no food crisis for me.
Price of pasta, price of cooking oil, rice or meat will increase 20%? 30%?

That's all right. I don't care much. I can handle it, just like most people in developed countries. We don't spend much on food, increasing that budget by a third is perfectly fine.

The problem will be with the poor countries, but I wonder: is it a problem, or a solution?

There were 100 millions people living in Africa in 1900. Now, there are over 1,500 millions people there. I know that some people live a in a fantasy world thinking that there will be food, jobs, modern housing and all creature comforts for every human, but that won't happen. We live in a finite world, and the population just cannot grow without limit. Number one rule of the world has always been the survival of the fittest...