BloombergQuint (October 19)
Hoarding and food shortages are back, even though “there’s plenty of food. There just isn’t always enough processing and transportation capacity to meet rising demand as the economy revs up. More than a year and a half after the coronavirus pandemic upended daily life, the supply of basic goods at U.S. grocery stores and restaurants is once again falling victim to intermittent shortages and delays.”
Tags: Coronavirus, Daily life, Demand, Economy, Food, Hoarding, Pandemic, Processing, Shortages, Stores, Transportation, U.S., Upended
The Times of India (March 26)
“On day one of lockdown, supply of fruits and vegetables took a hit, despite the government having marked it out as an ‘essential service.’ Wholesale suppliers…say there are multiple logistics issues.” The largest “is the closure of state entry points and tolls across India. Some 1.2 crore trucks are said to be stranded across India” with some drivers “getting no food or water as dhabas remain closed for miles along highways, even as essentials rot inside the trucks.”
Tags: Closure, Essential service, Food, Fruits, Government, Highways, Lockdown, Logistics, Stranded, Supply, Tolls, Trucks, Vegetables, Water, Wholesale
Economist (January 11)
“The industries that will suffer most from new regulatory barriers to frictionless trade are those like aerospace, cars, chemicals, food and drink, and pharmaceuticals that rely on uninterrupted supply chains across Europe. They are concentrated in the midlands and north—exactly where Mr Johnson won his new Tory majority. If his weakness in the negotiations causes him to lose favour in those areas, his new domestic strength will be at risk.”
Tags: Aerospace, Brexit, Cars, Chemicals, Drink, Europe, Food, Frictionless trade, Johnson, Pharmaceuticals, Regulatory barriers, Supply chains, Tory, Weakness
New York Times (August 31)
“Worldwide, insect pests consume up to 20 percent of the plants that humans grow for food, and that amount will increase as global warming makes bugs hungrier…. That could encourage farmers to use more pesticides, which could cause further environmental harm.”
Tags: Bugs, Environment, Farmers, Food, Global warming, Humans, Hungrier, Insects, Pesticides, Pests, Plants, Worldwide
1843 (August Issue)
“Doctors and parents both tell young people to eat healthily and drink in moderation, and the young finally seem to be listening. Recent shifts in spending” in both the U.S. and the UK “indicate that they are spending more on healthy food and less on boozing.” For example, in the U.S. “households headed by under-25s have increased their spending on fresh fruit by 77% and on fresh vegetables by 47% (in real terms)” while more than halving annual spending on alcohol “from about $560 in 2000 to roughly $270 in 2015.”
Tags: Alcohol, Doctors, Food, Fresh, Fruit, Health, Moderation, Parents, Spending, U.S., UK, Vegetables
CNN (December 1)
“Nearly every piece of plastic ever made still exists today. More than five trillion pieces of plastic are already in the oceans, and by 2050 there will be more plastic in the sea than fish, by weight… Some 8 million tons of plastic trash leak into the ocean annually, and it’s getting worse every year. Americans are said to use 2.5 million plastic bottles every hour.” The potentially catastrophic impact largely lies beyond our gaze in remote places, like Midway Atoll, where birds are dying from plastic consumption. There is now also “growing evidence that fish may prefer eating plastic to food,” and that the nano-plastics and styrene that make their way into the food chain could have profoundly negative consequences for humankind.
Tags: Birds, Consequences, Consumption, Evidence, Fish, Food, Food chain, Midway Atoll, Nano-plastics, Oceans, Plastic, Remote, Styrene
Financial Times (February 6, 2014)
“In an era when much of the world is worried about the possibility of drifting into Japanese-style deflation, one country has precisely the opposite problem: unbridled inflation.” Over the last 5 years, India’s consumer prices have been rising annually by close to 10%. “That is no small matter for the multitudinous poor, for whom escalating food prices can summon the spectre of hunger. Nor does it do much for macroeconomic stability, which India badly needs in this year of tapering and tricky political transition.” Fortunately, new central bank governor Raghuram Rajan looks “up to the task.” With his tough policies, he may prove the Paul Volcker of India.
Tags: Central bank, CPI, Deflation, Food, Governor, Hunger, India, Inflation, Japan, Macroeconomics, Paul Volker, Poor, Raghuram Rajan, Stability
The Economist (December 7, 2013)
Despite frequent assertions, there is no evidence that genetically modified (GM) crops are bad for people. On the other hand, copious evidence demonstrates how GM crops “benefit the health of the planet. One of the biggest challenges facing mankind is to feed the 9 billion-10 billion people who will be alive and (hopefully) richer in 2050. This will require doubling food production on roughly the same area of land, using less water and fewer chemicals.” GM crops provide the hope that we will be able to meet this challenge.
Los Angeles Times (July 28)
“North and South, on the 60th anniversary of the end of the Korean War, couldn’t be more different.” When the armistice ended the war in 1953, “one-third of all homes and two-fifths of all factories were destroyed. Seoul, Pyongyang and all other cities were little more than rubble. Food was scarce, orphans plentiful.” Today, not that much has changed in the North, but everything has changed in the South, which is now the world’s 12th largest economy. “There is no more inspiring story in the world over the past half-century—or a more compelling example of how political decisions can shape people’s lives.”
Tags: Armistice, Food, Inspiring, Korean War, North Korea, Orphans, Pyongyang, Seoul, South Korea
The Los Angeles Times (July 4)
“Home of the free, land of the hot dog.” America celebrates its birthday today and, amid picnics and other celebrations, will eat 150 million hot dogs which have come to be seen as the prototypical American food. “As food, hot dogs are a symbol and means of social integration. Eating one with fellow enthusiasts from all walks of life is an act of community solidarity, especially at a ballpark with fellow fans. And it is part of the lovely myth of social equality that Americans hold dear.”
Tags: Celebration, Equality, Food, Hot dogs, Integration, Solidarity, U.S.
