Global Land Grab

"Plant a kernel of wheat and you reap a pint; plant a pint and you reap a bushel. Always the law works to give you back more than you give."

-Anthony Norvell

America has always been an insular nation, looking inwards at itself, rarely outwards at the world. When I watch US news broadcasts I'll see stories on the US President, US celebrities and sports stars, US companies and unions, and maybe a few minutes for foreign wars that the US is engaged in. Or I can watch BBC World and learn what is happening in the other 96% of the world (by population).

Consider the story, The backlash begins against the world landgrab, from the British Telegraph.co.uk. Have you seen any mention in the US press of a global land grab? Or of food riots in 2008? (I've covered this at Possible Wheat Shortage? and  Global Food Shortages?)

"As is by now well-known, sovereign wealth funds from the Mid-East, as well as state-entities from China, the Pacific Rim, and even India are trying to lock up chunks of the world's future food supply. Western agribusiness is trying to beat them to it. Western funds - many listed on London's AIM exchange - are in turn trying to beat them. The NGO GRAIN, and farmlandgrab.com, have both documented the stampede in detail." - Telegraph.co.uk

In Argentia 7% of the land is owned by foreigners. Brazil is passed a law limiting foreign ownership but land grabbers get around this by purchasing through local puppet companies. "Brazilian land must stay in the hands of Brazilians," said the Farm Development Minister, Guilherme Cassel. In Madasgascar, the government "fell" in 2008 when the citizens learned that acerage half the size of Belgium was being leased to Korea's Daiwoo Logistics to plant corn. "Madagascar's land is neither for sale nor for rent," said the new president who revoked the lease.

The World Bank says we must lift global food production by 70% by 2050 to meet converging demands of extra mouths, rising use of grain as animal feed as Asia moves up the affluence ladder to meat-based diets, and the conversion of grains to biofuel. Farm productivity has flattened out in the US but there is room for improvement in other nations; in Russia, for example, farms are only 50% as productive as the US. Globally there is an additional 450 million hectares of land (on top of the existing 1.5 billion hectares in production) that could become useful farm land with improved irrigation. Both these improvements and more will be needed to reach the 70% target.

In 2008 there was a hint of what the future may hold. Countries that rely on food imports were shocked when Russia stopped exporting wheat due to a poor harvest (Russia decided to feed its own people first.) There were bread riots in Egypt, Indonesia, and a string of states in Africa. This year it is happening again. Russia has imposed a grain export ban and there was a food riot in Mozambique.

Nations with money and corporations learned a lesson in 2008 and are now buying farmland like crazy where ever they can.

Bottom Line

Since 2008 the World Bank estimates that the number of people who go to bed hungry each night has risen from 830 million to more than 1 billion. That is an increase almost equal to the population of the US. It also means 1 in 7 people in the globe is not getting enough food.

In the future those who own the farmland won't go hungry. Everyone else will have to pay dearly.

Possible Wheat Shortage?

“Newspaper editors are men who separate the wheat from the chaff, and then print the chaff.” - Adlai E. Stevenson, US Ambassador to the United Nations (1961-65)

According to an LA Times science story, there is a new wheat stem rust called the Ug99 fungus that is highly contagious and very deadly to wheat. “Crop scientists fear the Ug99 fungus could wipe out more than 80% of worldwide wheat crops as it spreads from eastern Africa.” [LAT] The International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center in Mexico is less pesimistic and estimates that “only” 19% of the world's wheat is in “imminent danger.”

"It moves in the air, it can move in clothing on an airplane. We know it's going to be here. It's a matter of how long it's going to take." - Jim Peterson, professor of wheat breeding at Oregon State University [LAT]

Fungus fear has caused price spikes on world wheat markets.

"A significant humanitarian crisis is inevitable" - Rick Ward, coordinator of the Durable Rust Resistance in Wheat project at Cornell University in Ithaca, N.Y. [LAT]

After years of research, scientists have found a “cure”, a half-dozen genes that will protect wheat from Ug99. Now they have two options, genetically alter wheat to add the “good genes” or try to breed the new genes into the plant “naturally.” Many countries and people are opposed to genetically modified grains but the natural method will required 9-12 years for each species of wheat around the globe.

Bottom Line

Historically wheat rust is a plague of blibical proportion (recall the seven lean-years in Egypt). But modern scientists thought they had it under control. “Stem rust destroyed more than 20% of U.S. wheat crops several times between 1917 and 1935, and losses reached nearly 9% twice in the 1950s. The last major outbreak, in 1962, destroyed 5.2% of the U.S. crop.” [LAT] In fact scientists thought they had defeated wheat rust and moved their research to other crop diseases. Ug99 popped up in Uganda in 1999 and was not taken seriously until crops in Kenya, Ethiopia, Sudan and Yemen were devastated.

If you store wheat in your food storage or are thinking about storing wheat, consider stocking up now before prices spike higher during a wheat shortage. Prices have mostly recovered from the global price rise in 2008 but appear to be moving upwards again.

7 Mistakes of Food Storage

"I'm lost, but I'm making record time" - Allan Lamport

There are two truisms about food storage:

1. It is absolutely essential; 3 days minimum, preferably a week or longer
2. It is quite easy to waste a lot of money on food storage

I recommend reading the article 7 Mistakes of Food Storage by Vicki Tate to learn more about what to avoid when building a food store. The mistakes include:

1. Lack of Variety
   Don't buy only wheat or just one type of meal to eat every day.
2. Lack of Staples
   Buy cooking oil, shortening, baking powder, soda, yeast, and powdered eggs so you have the basics for baking.
3. Lack of Vitamins
   Old stored food may be vitamin poor. Buy some vitamin supplements.
4. No "Fun" Foods
   It is important to have enjoyable "psychological foods" like candy bars, jello and cake mixes to chase away the blues.
5. Lack of Balance
   Don't bulk buy just one food item at a time - for example: this year we buy wheat, next year we stock up on beans. If you bulk buy like this, you may have to live on just the wheat and beans when disaster strikes before you've had time or money to purchase everything. Instead, buy a little of everything so if you have to use it now, you're ready for the short term.
6. Improper Containers
   Moisture, insects, and rodents can destroy your food storage. A bad bag of rice brought a tiny breed of moth into our house which then started eating all of our boxed pasta in "sealed" cupboards. We've also had bags chewed open by mice. Food should be stored in heavy plastic buckets/containers or steel cans/drums.
7. Never using your storage
   Use your food store before it goes bad. Also learn now how to cook what you've stored while times are good and you can practice without stress.

Bottom Line

If you are spending time and money on food storage, then make sure your time and money are well spent. Avoid the mistakes above. Buy food quality buckets and storage containers to protect your food. Buy a mix of items and include some "fun" things to eat. Don't forget the vitamins!

Rolling in the dough

"Everyone is kneaded out of the same dough but not baked in the same oven."
- Yiddish proverb

For several years my wife & I avoided buying wheat in bulk because we wanted a food storage we would really eat and use. So we stocked up on boxes of pasta, jars of spaghetti sauce, and canned soup, fruits, meats and vegetables. But we also like eating fresh food in season from farmer's markets so we found that the canned supplies stayed on the shelves until winter. If we bought a year's worth of canned food but only ate it 3 months of the year, then it would take four years to eat our way through the inventory and restock. That's probably safe but we prefer not to let cans get that old.

So to reach our goal of a one year supply we had to buy bulk grains and now have a closet filled with buckets of wheat, oats, etc. Wheat if kept airtight, bug free, cool and dark will last a very long time. Still it's a good idea to eat what you store. So we had to learn - what can you do with whole wheat?

Step one was buying a wheat grinder. I'll write more about grinders another day. We choose a hand grinder so it would always work but discovered that wheat grinding is HARD work and later bought a motor attachment.

Step two is discovering wheat and wheat flour recipes. Wheat berries (the whole grain) can be tasty in soups and salads when cooked. We've also learned to bake bread and make home made spaghetti.

Bottom Line
Wheat has sustained mankind for most of its history. And wheat can be fun to use. Many people find personal satisfaction in making bread from scratch. There are so many flavors & fillings & shapes to try out. And who can resist the yeasty smell of fresh bread just baked? So give wheat a try!