Re:Decline of Species That Pollinate Poses a Threat to Globa...
by electricblue on Friday February 26, 2016 @08:29AM
(#11181230)
The problem isn't supply. We have more than enough supply as you said. The problem is transportation. There just isn't a technology that's cheap and light enough to make shipping food to the food poor countries around the world profitable. If there was somebody would be doing it. Instead they rely on charity and subsistence farming
Re:Decline of Species That Pollinate Poses a Threat to Globa...
by Retric on Friday February 26, 2016 @09:59AM
(#11181673)
That’s not really it. Poor countries have a mix of rich, middle class, and poor. Its poor people in poor countries that can’t afford to pay for food as their jobs are destroyed by importing food.
Re:Decline of Species That Pollinate Poses a Threat to Globa...
by pyre on Friday February 26, 2016 @08:31AM
(#11181240)
Most of the "we must destroy this food" stuff happens to control the pricing of food. If it's getting too cheap, they need to restrict supply so they start destroying otherwise good food.
Re:Decline of Species That Pollinate Poses a Threat to Globa...
by pjc50 on Friday February 26, 2016 @09:44AM
(#11181591)
This isn't as big an issue as it used to be in the bad old days of EU production subsidy. Most of the modern food waste is along the production and distribution chain, especially in stores when food has passed its use-by date.
Re:Decline of Species That Pollinate Poses a Threat to Globa...
by Clanan on Friday February 26, 2016 @08:50AM
(#11181312)
Can you provide a citation? That's a strong claim, and I would like to read more about it.
Re:Decline of Species That Pollinate Poses a Threat to Globa...
by EGreg on Friday February 26, 2016 @09:00AM
(#11181362)
Me too. And if that's true, why do we have to worry about the end of food because of bees?
Re:Decline of Species That Pollinate Poses a Threat to Globa...
by Joof on Friday February 26, 2016 @09:06AM
(#11181384)
Its common knowledge IMO, but you can certainly Google it. Agriculture is a near-perfect free market, so organizations and governments often destroy crops to raise prices.
Re:Decline of Species That Pollinate Poses a Threat to Globa...
by pault on Friday February 26, 2016 @10:07AM
(#11181716)
How does government interference in a market make it near-perfectly free? The U.S. agriculture market is infamous as a source of government waste and pork barrel spending:
http://www.economist.com/news/united-states/21643191-crop-pr...
Re:Decline of Species That Pollinate Poses a Threat to Globa...
by Joof on Friday February 26, 2016 @10:48AM
(#11181957)
Sorry, perfectly competitive is the phrase I'm looking for.
Re:Decline of Species That Pollinate Poses a Threat to Globa...
by pault on Friday February 26, 2016 @12:14PM
(#11182547)
I don't think that's correct either. Many of the crops grown in the american west wouldn't be profitable if it weren't for huge subsidies. In the most egregious cases Californian farmers have grown thirsty, low value crops while their counterparts in the Southeast were being paid to destroy them.
https://mises.org/library/water-subsidies-and-shortages-amer...
the agricultural system's main task is to make money & control others through the market.
if it's main goal was to feed the world, we would have succeeded long ago. just look at all of the food thrown away (more than enough to feed those who don't have food) & subsidies to grow ethanol, instead of food.
the best agricultural model is one that encourages autonomy. that means the community is self-reliant to grow it's own food, instead of depending on another entity to supply food.