There are a number of factors that help explain the food crisis. Certainly subsiding grain production for ethanol rather than for food is one of them, and is immoral. But that is the logic of capitalism where production is for profit, not for satisfying human needs.

A second factor is the move from subsistence farming to cash crops, something the neo-liberal West imposed on poor countries.

Another factor may be changing consumption patterns in Asia.

What about population growth? In fact food production has grown faster than population.

We produce enough wheat, rice and other grains to feed every person in the world with 3,500 calories a day. This is before we even consider foods like meat, vegetables, fruit or nuts. Humans can survive adequately in most cases on 2500 calories.

One aspect not often mentioned is global capital. The world is awash with capital looking for somewhere profitable to invest. The massive drop in returns on the financial and equity markets has sees high risk investors (like hedge funds) look to new avenues for profitable investment. Commodity trading in food is where they have put a lot of their money, driving prices up.

The consequence? Hundreds of millions of people who were just above the poverty line are now starving and the gains made over the last twenty years in lifting people out of poverty have been wiped out overnight by speculators investing for large profits for wealthy clients.

People are starving not because there is not enough food but because they can't afford it.There can be no greater indictment of capitalism.

The market is the problem, not the solution.

One short term solution would be to withdraw from Iraq and use the billions wasted there every day to begin feeding people. Use that money to buy the food that already exists and give it to the 2.5 bn people who live on less than US$ 2 per day.

In the longer term turn the swords into ploughshares.

Let's build a society where production occurs democratically to satisfy human need, not to make a profit.

No argument here Passy but it will take a major shift in values and in the world's blind adherence to all things "capitalism" for this to occur.

I don't see it anytime soon. On the positive side there has been a shift away from the 'market can do no wrong' mentality in our global collective psyche. The difficulty is in the brass tacks of making it happen and where real power remains invested with those that benefit from the excesses of capitalism.

Human needs before profit is a worthy goal but it might take a major catastrophe for change to occur and I suspect it will start small at the local level and spread outward. I cannot see in the near future, any shift away from capitalism due to enlightenment or an increase in some sort of atruistic global awareness.

Awww, peace and love in the world, wouldn't it be nice? Noble goals indeed.

But on the topic of the 'food crisis', I see a lot of commentators pointing fingers in every direction, all of which tells me that nobody really knows what is causing it. Likely a bunch of factors, but some certainly more influential than others.

One of the most plausible I have read is that it's due to preceding economic climates. Food staples have been too undervalued in the world commodity markets, which means many farms in the worlds bread basket regions struggled to survive and a great deal of farm land was actually not planted when the climate took a short downturn. This happened in many places other than Australia, but it is easy to see it happen here.

The global reserves of grain used to be about 8 months, now it's five weeks. This is not explained by mere speculation and capitalist hedge funds. It's because food production actually decreased a bit (some due to climate, some to economics) as world consumption increased a bit. Prices rise accordingly.

I actually take some hope in all of this, in that farmers in developing nations may actually be able to make some money if the developed nations reduce tariffs for food imports to alleviate the costs.

Trends like food production etc tend to swing, and farming right now has become extremely profitable, so I would expect a downturn in prices in probably a couple of years as much more farmland is planted and harvested (especially in Australia, as the weather has picked up).

Buying food for the starving is a nice suggestion, and certainly seem the moral thing to do, but when has that actually helped in the long term? It won't help the oppressed, like in Zimbabwe. History is littered with oppressive regimes propped up by such measures.

Well John... you HAVE to believe in Miracles now.. because I actually agree in part with you here:

"But that is the logic of capitalism where production is for profit, not for satisfying human needs."

EXACTLY.... but then, I don't advocate 'Capitalism' in its purest ideological sense. I prefer a middle ground mix of social welfare and free enterprise.

FLAWS IN CAPITALISM... well of course, it is the same flaw as in Socialism. "huuuuuman natureeee"

When you try to squeeze highly driven people into a "from me according to my ability to him according to his need" without a 'heart transplant' (the moral heart) you have people leaving that scene by the truckload. GREED.. is the problem.

Your problem John is with 'uncontrolled' capitalism. Just like I have awful problems with 'enforced socialism'

By all means keep barking up the "I'll fix the world with socialism" tree, but mate..it was ringbarked ages ago when Adam fell. Now we share that fallen state. You, me, and the other bloke. (Oh..I forgot, Marxists/Socialists are all perfect :) forgive that little slippup of mine)

Socialists who point judgementally at "Capitalism" are like those who don't see the PLANK in their own eyes, and the same goes for extreme capitalists. "People" are the downfall of them all.

BARKING UP THE RIGHT TREE... which of course is... repentance from sin, and faith in Christ. Renewal, revitalization, rejuvenation, restoration, and REGistration in the book of life.

Some of the higher costs will be caused by increased oil prices but
I would guess perhaps only 10% of the food price increase.
All crops use a lot of oil products.
Fertiliser has near doubled in price I believe.
Ploughing cultivating, harvesting, tansport, processing, transport all
adds up and except for processing is all diesel driven.

I am afraid I cannot see an end to it.
It may well be that we have just tripped over the maximum population
level. Perhaps it only needed to co-incidence of drought, change of
diet in China, higher oil prices with ethanol and that was it.

“People are starving not because there is not enough food but because they can't afford it. There can be no greater indictment of capitalism.”

What you suggest is people starving is supposedly and secondary consequence of capitalism

A “secondary consequence” is, morally, more tolerable than using mass starvation as the primary goal, which Lenin, Stalin, Mao Tse Tung, Pol Pot, Robert Mugabe and others used to keep their populations in place.

“Capitalism” is not a perfect solution but it is far better than the socialist/communist drivel which some would seek to impose upon us.

As http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Korea/JD30Dg01.html suggests

“but the survival of the common folks has never been high in Kim Jong-il's list of strategic priorities.”

- Nor any other commie bastard politican.

Not perfect but capitalism, still infinitely superior to all the other theories from the socialist pig swill