Infrastructure Threats: Food Distribution Systems
offgridsurvival.comMost Americans have probably never considered the possibility of a widespread food famine hitting this country. For most people, the very mention of a famine seems ridiculous, something that could never happen here in America.
Everyday millions of Americans walk through their local supermarkets filling their baskets with enough food to make it through the week. Sadly, 99% of these people have never even considered grabbing a couple extra cans of food; they make their way through the store blissfully unaware how the whole system is built on a house of cards that’s just waiting to collapse.
I think most of these people believe the back of their local grocery store is filled with pallets upon pallets of food. In fact, I often hear people asking the stocker, if they can “go take a look in the back” to see if they have more of a product that’s not out on the shelf. While your parent’s grocery stores may have worked like that, today’s superstores bear very little resemblance to their past counterparts.
Retail Therapy
India’s food price inflation is a major driving factor behind the country’s overall accelerating inflation over the past few years. Agricultural food prices in particular have risen recently. Over the past year, vegetables have become costlier by 18%, pulses by 14%, milk by 10%, and eggs, meat and fish by 12%. The rise in fruit prices was, however, relatively smaller (5%), as it was for cereals (3%).
This price escalation is largely due to an inefficient supply chain in agriculture. Some of the supply side constraints have been identified: poor agricultural productivity, lack of corporate involvement in agriculture, ceilings on landholding size, existence of middlemen, hoarding, and, more importantly, insufficient cold storage facilities and transportation infrastructure. Around 50% of fresh produce in India rots and goes to waste between the farm gate and the market because of inadequate cold storage facilities and a poor distribution network. These factors unfavourably affect agricultural supply, create a supply-demand gap and help raise food prices.
Bring in foreign capital, technology and the managerial expertise of big international retailers;
Develop an efficient linkage between the back-end supply chain and the front-end via capital investment and technological inputs;
Create a proper farm-to-fork infrastructure through direct purchase from farmers and the resultant control of intermediaries;
Bring about efficient movement of produce through the reduction of transit costs;
Minimise the prevailing wastage of fresh produce through improving and adding upon the existing cold storage facilities, transport infrastructure, warehousing technology and food processing facilities;
Help raise farm productivity through the application of contract farming;
Increase agricultural production, reduce intermediate costs, render remunerative prices to farmers for their produce and eventually lower final food prices to consumers, thus integrating retailers into the value chain;
Create employment in small and medium-size industries and back-end infrastructure.
Despite the regulatory provisions to ensure domestic competition and protect the domestic retail industry and farmers, the policy has met with stiff opposition. Concerns include the possibility of monopoly power of foreign entrants over both farmers and consumers, predatory pricing strategies of the entrants, manipulation of prices for the entrants’ own benefit and a fall in income, employment and the eventual destruction of the unorganised indigenous retail sector dominated by small family-run outlets.
But it is important to remember that other countries like Argentina, Brazil, Chile, China, Indonesia, Malaysia, Russia, Singapore and Thailand have allowed 100% FDI in multi-brand retail since the 1990s and many of them have had encouraging experiences. China, for one, permitted FDI in retail as early as 1992. It has since attracted huge investments in the retail sector without affecting either small retailers or domestic retail chains. Since 2004, the number of small outlets rose from 1.9 million to over 2.5 million in China. Employment in the retail and wholesale sectors increased from 28 million to 54 million from 1992 to 2001. In Indonesia, even after 10 years of opening FDI in multi-brand retail, 90% of the business remains with small traders.
Favourable experiences of other emerging markets suggest that the appropriate implementation of FDI in multi-brand food retailing, with effective checks designed to protect indigenous small and medium-size enterprises, will eventually alleviate the supply-side impediments to agricultural production. It will transform the way perishable agricultural produce is acquired, stored, preserved and marketed — and thus help control India’s persistent food inflation.
Via HindustanTimes
Feed the Future …with GMOs?
While about a billion people are already hungry and the days of surpluses are disappearing fast, feeding two billion more is beyond an uphill climb. This is something global leaders are dreading.
About 40 years ago, the US had 50 percent more corn than it needed and Americans were wondering what to do with it; but even then people were dying of hunger in other parts of the world. This year, the stock is only five percent and the world may not be able to feed itself for more than a month, according to an Iowa researcher.
“Food is the most basic of needs, it decides not just the health of individuals but also the health of communities,” writes former Ghanaian President, John A. Kufour.
“Access to food is as big a challenge as growing it. This is the investment nations will have to make,” Josette Sheeran, World Food Programme Executive Director, said. About 80 percent of people in the developing world do not have food security systems, according to her.
“Hunger is the most dangerous weapon of mass destruction,” Brazil’s former President, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, who won this year’s World Food Prize jointly with Ghana’s Kufour, said.
The Plan: A US Response
Recent discussions in Washington DC, suggest that the US is about to embark on something unprecedented in world agriculture.
Two years ago President Barack Obama came up with the programme ‘Feed the Future’. About a dozen target countries including Ethiopia, Ghana, Rwanda, Uganda and Bangladesh are considered priorities; selected for being either on the verge of achieving food security or are severely food insecure.
‘Feed the Future’ aims to help these countries transform their agricultural practices so they can achieve a fast rise in productivity.
The plan is to boost productivity of major cereals, such as teff, in Ethiopia’s case, by coordinating the government, private sector as well as domestic and international agricultural research institutions. Improving (cross-breeding) existing seeds and introduction of new ones from other countries are, therefore, parts of the plan that may also seek to bring in US agriculture technologies.
The GMO Element
Daniel E. Jacobi, Vice President, Commercial, in charge of Asia-Pacific, Africa and Europe at the Iowa-based seed breeder – Pioneer – argues, where a hectare of arable land in Africa yields only about 1.5 tons of corn from a natural seed, in the US farmers harvest up to 10 tons using genetically engineered seeds. The nearly 10 fold higher harvest is not the only benefit out of using the laboratory-made seeds widely known as genetically modified organisms (GMOs). “Biotechnology helps farmers save costs they would have spent on pesticides,” Jacobi told a group of visiting journalists.
GMOs are organisms which have been modified using means other than natural reproduction to introduce DNA from another species.
Along with Monsanto and Sygenta AG, Pioneer – a subsidiary of the infamous multinational DuPont – is pushing hard for the rest of the world to embrace what they call “the miracles of science” that has made Iowa the food basket of the US – or even the world, as some would like to believe.
Pioneer seems to have seen a potential future market coming in the wake of a US government campaign for the world to embrace any alternative to feed the future.
USAID Deputy Administrator for Development responsible for Feed the Future initiative, Tjada McKenna, told journalists in Washington DC, that her government wants “all the three technologies, GE (Genetically Engineered), non GE and conventional to go together as solutions for global hunger and farmers should be allowed to choose.”
Why not GMOs?
GMOs are among the major scientific inventions of the 20th century but their use as has been intensified mainly in the US over the past three decades has always been a subject of fierce debate. By the turn of the last decade, about 29 countries worldwide adopted GMOs raising the total land covered by these varieties to more than 150 million hectares worldwide, accounting for 10 percent of global agricultural land.
The three top users of GMO – the US., Brazil and Argentina – have produced 81 percent and 89 percent of the world’s total corn and soybean supplies, respectively, this year. At least 93 percent of the soybeans and 70 percent of corn produced in the US are of genetically modified varieties. China and India are said to have recently applied this technology, but India has had its share of the dreaded effects of GMOs which has led to an ongoing campaign against GMOs.
Though downplayed by promoters of GMO as negligible and not scientifically proven, critics of the technology sternly argue about a number of health risks to human beings stemming from consuming GMO foods. While the promoters say there is no scientific evidence supporting the claim that GMOs are not healthy, the opponents argue GMOs have not been proven un-harmful either.
But opponents go even further questioning the credibility of the research that is meant to demystify the controversy, alleging that such studies have been funded by the very companies who produce and trade GMOs.
A group of protesters in Washington DC, for example, was demanding the labelling of GMO produces so their children would be protected from
Reports indicate that unhealthy foods are affecting at least two billion people, causing obesity, heart disease, cancer, diabetes and other diseases, and serious pandemics are likely to occur in the near future.
Nevertheless, in the US a facility in charge of building capacity at home and overseas, the Food Safety Laboratory at the University of Maryland, works with the USDA and the Drug Administration Agency to make suppliers anywhere ensure food coming to the US meets the standards set by a recent act.
“I have become very careful about the food I eat. I don’t use GMOs,” a food safety researcher at the lab who didn’t want to be identified said. The researcher who is not authorized to comment on the dangers of GMOs added that knowledge of the difference in chemical residue levels in GMO and organic food means she would never eat the former, though she had never cared in the past.
What about Ethiopia?
In July 2009, Ethiopia’s Parliament passed a bill its writers said aims to save the nation from the adverse effects of GMOs.
Dubbed Proclamation on Bio-Safety, the law prepared by the Federal Environmental Protection Authority (FEPA), resisted a long time call by environmental groups and local consumer associations. It contains provisions to protect human and animal health as well as biological diversity, by managing and even totally avoiding GMO threats.
The legislation also provided for the FEPA to establish a National Bio-Safety Clearing House that keeps detailed records of experts specializing in modified organisms in order to monitor their activities. It also makes information on lists of modified organisms either rejected or approved for import and export publicly available.
Ethiopia’s law is based on the principle that there is a responsibility for the government to intervene and protect the public from exposure to harm where scientific investigation discovers a plausible risk in suspected GMO cases.
According to the law, any transit, import or production of GMOs should be done only with a written consent granted by the FEPA and a violation of its stipulation could lead to prison term of up to 15 years.
However, four leaked US Embassy cables sent from Addis Ababa between late 2009 and early 2010 expose Washington’s strong opposition to this move and its persistent lobby to scrap it going as far as twisting the Ethiopian government’s arms.
“Ethiopia’s Environmental Protection Authority (EPA) is admittedly unprepared to implement the new legislation, owing to a lack of laboratory facilities, technical expertise, and manpower,” reads the cable. “Although the EPA’s leadership is ideologically opposed to the use of bioengineered crops, the EPA will likely be pressured to approve trials of such crops where they could promote growth in key export sectors, namely cotton.”
A second cable demands funds for a workshop meant to bombard Ethiopian officials with a barrage of information on the benefits of GMOs, which a latter cable indicates has worked.
While knowledge about GMOs is arguably available in Ethiopia, the use of the modified seeds in the farms seems to be just starting. Nevertheless, a story of a farmer from southern Ethiopia is featured on Pioneer’s website reportedly changing his family’s life by boosting productivity with the use of seeds provided by Pioneer; and another farmer-mother pictured from a maize farm appearing on its corporate publication, means that GMOs are no more too remote issues for Ethiopians to debate.
Via GhanaBusinessNews
Visualizing World Calorie Consumption
foodservicewarehouse.com(thanks to Fareed Zakaria’s Facebook page!)
'Commod-fathers' bring smiles to Crow food participants
Gerry and Dana are two guys who really enjoy their work. Both have been part of the FDIR (Food Distribution on Indian Reservations) program in Hardin for over 20 years. HRDC District 7 recently recognized them for their years of service.
If you have ever visited the warehouse in Hardin, then you know that these guys help provide more than just food to our clients; they bring smiles as well. They have a lot of fun with each other and their clients, and we wanted to try and capture that relationship for posterity.
The next time you are in Hardin, stop by and and say ‘Hi.’ Hopefully their new-found fame does not go to their heads.
Weds Distance Day
9 miles all the way round, with eight hours between the first three and the last six. Cruising through Southie, I felt weird looks…Gah, my knees need to get more workouts. yeah! woot! Oh and there is a new gyro vendor (6’5”, Dmitri, Greek accent) across the street from work…Good feta, roasted portabellas—yummy tzatziki sauce, dark green lettuce. (Plus, I was able to pick up the penultimate jar of maple syrup from the weird coffee guy.)
Tzatziki can be approximated by using one part kefir (1/2c), salt and pepper, cucumbers (5fingers worth), onion (half of a fist size) and garlic (~1 tsp), plus a mystery ingredient. I’ll get back to you on that, or does anyone know? Mi madre forced me to make it this way over Xmas and with all that pressure I’ve plum forgot what I used to make it tart and green.
Really though, you got to taste it as you make it, to know where the flavors balance best.
Feed the Future …with GMOs?
While about a billion people are already hungry and the days of surpluses are disappearing fast, feeding two billion more is beyond an uphill climb. This is something global leaders are dreading.
About 40 years ago, the US had 50 percent more corn than it needed and Americans were wondering what to do with it; but even then people were dying of hunger in other parts of the world. This year, the stock is only five percent and the world may not be able to feed itself for more than a month, according to an Iowa researcher.
“Food is the most basic of needs, it decides not just the health of individuals but also the health of communities,” writes former Ghanaian President, John A. Kufour.
“Access to food is as big a challenge as growing it. This is the investment nations will have to make,” Josette Sheeran, World Food Programme Executive Director, said. About 80 percent of people in the developing world do not have food security systems, according to her.
“Hunger is the most dangerous weapon of mass destruction,” Brazil’s former President, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, who won this year’s World Food Prize jointly with Ghana’s Kufour, said.
The Plan: A US Response
Recent discussions in Washington DC, suggest that the US is about to embark on something unprecedented in world agriculture.
Two years ago President Barack Obama came up with the programme ‘Feed the Future’. About a dozen target countries including Ethiopia, Ghana, Rwanda, Uganda and Bangladesh are considered priorities; selected for being either on the verge of achieving food security or are severely food insecure.
‘Feed the Future’ aims to help these countries transform their agricultural practices so they can achieve a fast rise in productivity.
The plan is to boost productivity of major cereals, such as teff, in Ethiopia’s case, by coordinating the government, private sector as well as domestic and international agricultural research institutions. Improving (cross-breeding) existing seeds and introduction of new ones from other countries are, therefore, parts of the plan that may also seek to bring in US agriculture technologies.
The GMO Element
Daniel E. Jacobi, Vice President, Commercial, in charge of Asia-Pacific, Africa and Europe at the Iowa-based seed breeder – Pioneer – argues, where a hectare of arable land in Africa yields only about 1.5 tons of corn from a natural seed, in the US farmers harvest up to 10 tons using genetically engineered seeds. The nearly 10 fold higher harvest is not the only benefit out of using the laboratory-made seeds widely known as genetically modified organisms (GMOs). “Biotechnology helps farmers save costs they would have spent on pesticides,” Jacobi told a group of visiting journalists.
GMOs are organisms which have been modified using means other than natural reproduction to introduce DNA from another species.
Along with Monsanto and Sygenta AG, Pioneer – a subsidiary of the infamous multinational DuPont – is pushing hard for the rest of the world to embrace what they call “the miracles of science” that has made Iowa the food basket of the US – or even the world, as some would like to believe.
Pioneer seems to have seen a potential future market coming in the wake of a US government campaign for the world to embrace any alternative to feed the future.
USAID Deputy Administrator for Development responsible for Feed the Future initiative, Tjada McKenna, told journalists in Washington DC, that her government wants “all the three technologies, GE (Genetically Engineered), non GE and conventional to go together as solutions for global hunger and farmers should be allowed to choose.”
Why not GMOs?
GMOs are among the major scientific inventions of the 20th century but their use as has been intensified mainly in the US over the past three decades has always been a subject of fierce debate. By the turn of the last decade, about 29 countries worldwide adopted GMOs raising the total land covered by these varieties to more than 150 million hectares worldwide, accounting for 10 percent of global agricultural land.
The three top users of GMO – the US., Brazil and Argentina – have produced 81 percent and 89 percent of the world’s total corn and soybean supplies, respectively, this year. At least 93 percent of the soybeans and 70 percent of corn produced in the US are of genetically modified varieties. China and India are said to have recently applied this technology, but India has had its share of the dreaded effects of GMOs which has led to an ongoing campaign against GMOs.
Though downplayed by promoters of GMO as negligible and not scientifically proven, critics of the technology sternly argue about a number of health risks to human beings stemming from consuming GMO foods. While the promoters say there is no scientific evidence supporting the claim that GMOs are not healthy, the opponents argue GMOs have not been proven un-harmful either.
But opponents go even further questioning the credibility of the research that is meant to demystify the controversy, alleging that such studies have been funded by the very companies who produce and trade GMOs.
A group of protesters in Washington DC, for example, was demanding the labelling of GMO produces so their children would be protected from
Reports indicate that unhealthy foods are affecting at least two billion people, causing obesity, heart disease, cancer, diabetes and other diseases, and serious pandemics are likely to occur in the near future.
Nevertheless, in the US a facility in charge of building capacity at home and overseas, the Food Safety Laboratory at the University of Maryland, works with the USDA and the Drug Administration Agency to make suppliers anywhere ensure food coming to the US meets the standards set by a recent act.
“I have become very careful about the food I eat. I don’t use GMOs,” a food safety researcher at the lab who didn’t want to be identified said. The researcher who is not authorized to comment on the dangers of GMOs added that knowledge of the difference in chemical residue levels in GMO and organic food means she would never eat the former, though she had never cared in the past.
What about Ethiopia?
In July 2009, Ethiopia’s Parliament passed a bill its writers said aims to save the nation from the adverse effects of GMOs.
Dubbed Proclamation on Bio-Safety, the law prepared by the Federal Environmental Protection Authority (FEPA), resisted a long time call by environmental groups and local consumer associations. It contains provisions to protect human and animal health as well as biological diversity, by managing and even totally avoiding GMO threats.
The legislation also provided for the FEPA to establish a National Bio-Safety Clearing House that keeps detailed records of experts specializing in modified organisms in order to monitor their activities. It also makes information on lists of modified organisms either rejected or approved for import and export publicly available.
Ethiopia’s law is based on the principle that there is a responsibility for the government to intervene and protect the public from exposure to harm where scientific investigation discovers a plausible risk in suspected GMO cases.
According to the law, any transit, import or production of GMOs should be done only with a written consent granted by the FEPA and a violation of its stipulation could lead to prison term of up to 15 years.
However, four leaked US Embassy cables sent from Addis Ababa between late 2009 and early 2010 expose Washington’s strong opposition to this move and its persistent lobby to scrap it going as far as twisting the Ethiopian government’s arms.
“Ethiopia’s Environmental Protection Authority (EPA) is admittedly unprepared to implement the new legislation, owing to a lack of laboratory facilities, technical expertise, and manpower,” reads the cable. “Although the EPA’s leadership is ideologically opposed to the use of bioengineered crops, the EPA will likely be pressured to approve trials of such crops where they could promote growth in key export sectors, namely cotton.”
A second cable demands funds for a workshop meant to bombard Ethiopian officials with a barrage of information on the benefits of GMOs, which a latter cable indicates has worked.
While knowledge about GMOs is arguably available in Ethiopia, the use of the modified seeds in the farms seems to be just starting. Nevertheless, a story of a farmer from southern Ethiopia is featured on Pioneer’s website reportedly changing his family’s life by boosting productivity with the use of seeds provided by Pioneer; and another farmer-mother pictured from a maize farm appearing on its corporate publication, means that GMOs are no more too remote issues for Ethiopians to debate.
Via GhanaBusinessNews
