Food Is The New Oil. Land Is The New Gold.

Although most American have not noticed, the world is in transition. In the last ten years grain reserves have fallen by a third, world food prices have doubled and there is a worldwide land rush as people try to raise more food on less arable land.

In America, we spend about 10% of our incomes on food. In the developing world that number jumps to about 80%. We should ask ourselves what happens when those numbers double again if these trends continue. Civilizations have collapsed because of these pressures.

I've written a lot about food on my blog and I've given some attention to the struggles we face as populations grow and arable land shrinks.  Although the US might not suffer much from having food prices double, other regions would not be so fortunate. It's been said that much our the world's instability is due to food shortages and prices. I firmly agree.

I am not the only one concerned about this. Here is an excellent article from the news agency Inter Press Service that gives more background on this underreported issue.