The rising cost of food...

An excerpt from an article in The Farm Press:

The rising cost of fuel and other products drove U.S. farm production expenditures to a record $260 billion in 2007, according to USDA's Farm Production Expenditures 2007 summary released by the department's National Agricultural Statistics Service.

Total U.S. farm production expenditures rose 9.3 percent from 2006 and nearly 30 percent from five years ago.

Increasing petroleum costs meant farmers not only paid more for fuel, but also for fertilizer products, chemicals and transportation services. Indirectly, fuel prices and the growth in ethanol production also led to higher crop prices, resulting in increased cost for livestock feed.

Meanwhile, Russia is making move toward State-controlled grain trading --- that will control half the countries exports. In doing so it's possible they could use food, the witholding of it, as a weapon. These are disturbing signs of things to come...

We must move toward a more sustainable food system based on conscious consumption habits.

What you can do:

1. Reduce waste and stop taking the food on your table for granted.
2. Reduce consumption of energy intensive food products (meat and meat based products being at the top).