As Much As 60% of Ukraine's Wheat Export Crop Damaged by Rain

Heavy rains in the Ukraine have left as much as 60% of the wheat crop meant for export from this season unfit for humans.  The Ukraine is Egypt's largest supplier of wheat. A major reason for the revolution that took place in Egypt this year had to do with very high food prices.

Last year, nearly all of Russia's wheat was destroyed by severe drought and the Kremlin banned exports. This year, the Ukrainian wheat has been damaged by rain.

Severe climate disruptions are one of the components affecting high food prices globally and the news from Ukraine strengthens the argument that countries around the world that import their food need to make contingency plans and develop a robust food security policy.


More information about the Ukrainian Wheat Damage in this WSJ Article

Food Security: Qatar Spends Hundreds of Millions in Australian Farm Land

Hassad, Qatar's Sovereign Wealth Fund, is making significant investments for food security by buying agricultural land and operations in New South Wales, Australia.

"Hassad plans to spend $US350 million ($318 million) in Australia to secure food supplies for Qatar, which imports 95 per cent of its food. By comparison, Australia produces 93 per cent of domestic food needs."

A link to the article

"The Crisis in Clean Energy" - Foreign Affairs Magazine

The July/August 2011 issue of Foreign Affairs Magazine published an article on the downward cycle in the clean energy field. Inherent to the field, advancements in clean energy take time and require an investment in research. As the world economy experiences challenges and investors re-evaluate, the current  VC activity in the greentech and cleantech field is down.

Foreign Affairs Article: The Crisis in Clean Energy

In the long run, moving away from carbon-based, oil dependent energy sources is important for many reasons including national security and climate change and so the cycle is expected to make its way back up at some point.

The cleantech market is seeing some consolidation and tougher times but the motivations that drive the need for innovation in clean energy haven't disappeared and so it's a matter of when things will pick back up and not whether they will.

The New Normal: Billion-Dollar Weather Disasters

Natural disasters affect the food system in direct and in-direct ways: destroying crops and farms and amounting to billions of dollars in damage.

2011 has seen a significant number of extreme natural disasters that have left tens of billions of dollars in damage in the US.  Some recently published reports present the figures over the last few decades. 

Changes in population centers in flood plains, severe droughts and wild fires, tornados, floods, hurricanes and other disasters are becoming more expensive as urban areas grow and as people move to areas that are prone to disaster.  Climate change also has a partial role in the increase.

A link to the article

How Food Prices Affect Your Weight

Morgan Clendaniel recently posted about studies showing that changes in food prices make significant impacts on the choices people make regarding their diet.

Some of the research suggests that reducing prices on healthy foods like fruits and vegetables is more beneficial than raising prices on unhealthy food.

The way in which small changes in food prices affect weight and community health and how related the two are is very interesting.

a link to the article

Just 10 inches from oblivion

Geoffrey Lean from the Telegraph writes about one of the more critical but not very popular environmental problems that is affecting food production and global health -  topsoil erosion, degradation and how it is affecting food production.

link to Telegraph article

This is arguably one of the most significant environmental challenges we're facing today, especially as the demand for food crops increases as rapidly as it has been.

honey bees and food crisis

"Viruses and mites have, according to the U.N., killed 85% of bees in the Middle East, 10% to 30% of bees in Europe, and nearly a third of American bees each year. This is a big deal--over 70 of the 100 crops that provide 90% of the world's food are pollinated by bees (that's $83 billion worth of crops)."


Interesting statistics about the honeybee situation around the world and the way it affects food production

link to article