Agribusiness to Blame for World Food Crisis

It looks like agribusiness caused the world food shortage deliberately.

The World Food Crisis by John Nichols in The Nation:

The only surprising thing about the global food crisis to Jim Goodman is the notion that anyone finds it surprising.

"So," says the Wisconsin dairy farmer, "they finally figured out, after all these years of pushing globalization and genetically modified [GM] seeds, that instead of feeding the world we've created a food system that leaves more people hungry.
[...]
The current global food system, which was designed by US-based agribusiness conglomerates like Cargill, Monsanto and ADM and forced into place by the US government and its allies at the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund and the World Trade Organization, has planted the seeds of disaster by pressuring farmers here and abroad to produce cash crops for export and alternative fuels rather than grow healthy food for local consumption and regional stability.
[...]
Beyond humanitarian responses, the cure for what ails the global food system--and an unsteady US farm economy--is not more of the same globalization and genetic gimmickry. That way has left thirty-seven nations with food crises while global grain giant Cargill harvests an 86 percent rise in profits and Monsanto reaps record sales from its herbicides and seeds.

Who wants to bet that the proposed solution will be more of the same globalization and genetic gimmickry? That's the way the world works these days.

"We can't solve problems by using the same kind of thinking
we used when we created them."
-- Albert Einstein --

No, but the multinationals can reap obscene profits on the crises they themselves have created.

Cross-posted to Ice Station Tango

TAGS: Food Shortages, Genetically Modified Foods, Monsanto, World Bank