Biofuels – June 4
Biofuel bonanza not so sweet for Brazil’s sugar cane cutters (80% of jobs to go within 3 years)
US biofuel subsidies under attack at food summit
Petrol tax fuels ‘cooking oil wars’
Food & Water
Climate & environment – June 4
In Spain, water Is a new battleground
LA Times: A chilling global warming forecast from the USDA
Climate findings were distorted, NASA probe finds
Harper says next climate treaty must be `realistic’
Half of Papua New Guinea’s forests gone by 2021
A doomer’s garden
Getting through a crash will take more than tomatoes and Mason jars.
Food crisis – June 3
Food production must rise by 50%, says UN chief
Need long-term solutions without ills of “cheap food era”
Food prices rocketing all over Europe
Civil Society Forum calls for rethinking of the food system
Water & ocean – May 31
Is water becoming ‘the new oil’?
Water shortages and drought are the next scourge, warns General Electric
Scientists oppose SA desalination plans
Apocalypse in the oceans
Food & agriculture – May 31
Peru guards its guano as demand soars again
Fertilizer markets manipulated
Backyard chickens
Food crisis – May 31
Report sees decade of high food prices
More wealth, more meat. How China’s rise spells trouble
China cuts food import tariffs to increase food supplies, cool high inflation
WFP chief calls for lifting of food export curbs
Biofuels – May 31
Food report criticizes biofuel policies
Forced labor in Brazil’s sugarcane fields
Global biofuel output to soar in next decade
As oil prices soar, restaurants learn to lock up old grease
Sweden turning sewage into a gasoline substitute
It will take a lot more than gardening to fix our food system
Only rice, wheat, corn, beans, and other grain crops are productive and durable enough to provide the dietary foundation of calories and protein. Grains made up about the same portion of the ancient Greek diet as they do of ours. We’ve been stuck with grains for 10,000 years, and our dependence won’t be broken any time soon.
The smaller the farm, the better the food
A big reason for eating locally — it tastes better.
Agriculture – May 29
Cuba’s agricultural decline sparks major reform
India’s rice farmers abandon paddies, deepening global shortage
Grain prices grow, but so do risks
Food shock – May 29
Amartya Sen: The rich get hungrier
Food banks squeezed by prices, demand
Soaring energy prices ‘force up cost of food’
