Of Course It’s Our Fault

Kim du Toit
May 7, 2008
7:00 AM CDT

Via The Englishman (who has his own take), I am pointed to the always-interesting Dr. Richard North and this trenchant piece (which almost defies summary):

It has been an article of faith amongst pundits commenting on the “global food crisis” that one of the factors contributing to the food shortage has been growing prosperity in developing nations, particularly in China and India. There, it is held, that the move from vegetable to meat diets has had a significant effect on supplies, as grain is fed to more “inefficient” animals.

Not so says the Indian Business Standard citing recent FAO figures, which show that, in the 2006-07 period, China’s share of the global grain harvest is projected to have come down from 18.53 to 18.48 percent.

India - which is the world’s second largest wheat producer, dwarfing the United States with 40 percent more production – is also in the clear. Although the country accounts for a sixth of the world population, it is estimated to have consumed 9.37 percent of world cereals in 2007-08, almost the same as 9.36 percent in the previous year.

As to the actual consumption of cereals, the Indian market is projected to have grown 2.17 percent from 193.1 million tons in 2006-07 to 197.3 million in 2007-08, while that in China has risen a mere 1.8 percent from 382.2 million tons to 389.1 million.

So… who’s to blame for the shortage? Like we needed to guess:

Thus, it transpires, the real villain of the piece, it seems – according to FAO data – is unequivocally the United States. In the same period, its consumption of cereals has been projected to have grown 11.81 percent from 277.6 million tons to 310.4 million. Furthermore, the US share of the global crop had gone up from 13.46 percent in 2006-07 to 14.74 percent.

And is this growth because We The Fat are eating too many bowls of Wheaties? Silly rabbits:

To the surprise of very few, a large part of this spike is directly the result of biofuel made from corn, with the US having used 30 million tons of corn for that purpose. Overall, the FAO data show that the usage of corn in the US to make biofuel increased two-and-a-half times between 2000 and 2006.

So all that biofuel nonsense is, in fact, causing Pore Brown Folks to die of starvation.

So the eco-freaks’ mantra of ”Use Biofuels: Save The Planet!” should in fact read: ”Use Biofuels—And Starve A Brown Kid!”

Or, if you’re religious: ”Every time you fill up your hybrid, Mother Gaia will kill a brown baby.”

Sorry, but somebody has to get the blame.

Mr. Free Market, while trampling the atmosphere with his carbon jackboot, is similary dismissive:

Maybe this is because the last thing that the liberal left want is for people with black or yellow skins to actually be able to provide for themselves. If that every happened, how would all those F-list celeb-bratties fill their diaries. No more televised fund raisers at which to re-launch their careers. Goodness me, before you know it aging Irish minstrels would be reduced to selling copies of the Big Issue on the streets.

So, if you won’t tackle this problem in a sensible manner & with the best tools & technologies that we have to hand … let’em starve.

And he finishes with a typically-capitalist flourish:

It won’t for one moment reduce the choice of ports to accompany my cheese course on the flight home.

Brought tears to my eyes, that last bit. Tears of laughter, of course.

If he keeps this up, he’ll be in line for the title of “Greatest Living Englishman”.