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The Generator news service publishes articles on sustainable development, agriculture and energy as well as observations on current affairs. The news service is used on the weekly radio show, The Generator, as well as by a number of monthly and quarterly magazines. A podcast of the Generator news is also available.
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  • Price of rice hits the tonne

    Rice prices in Thailand, the world’s top exporter, have surged to $US1,000 a tonne, feeding concerns about food security as far as the United States after export curbs by governments worldwide.

    The surging price of food and fuel has sparked riots in Africa and Haiti and raised fears that millions of the world’s poor will struggle to feed themselves. Some analysts, however, attribute much of the surge to panic buying by both consumers and governments rather than a dire shortage of supply.

    After this week’s over five per cent jump, rice prices stand nearly three times higher than the start of the year. With no sign of the rally relenting, as traders expect more buyers to come into the market, government anxiety about social unrest from the soaring cost of Asia’s staple will deepen.

    The crisis, started with India’s imposition of export curbs to protect domestic supplies last year, was felt in the United States this week, with a few major retailers saying they had started to notice signs of panic buying.

    Sam’s Club, a unit of retail giant Wal-Mart, said it was capping sales of 20-pound (9 kg) bulk bags of rice at four bags per customer per visit to prevent hoarding.

    The previous day, rival Costco Wholesale Corp said it had seen increased demand for items such as rice and flour as customers, worried about global food shortages, stocked up.

    “Everywhere you see, there is some story about food shortages and hoarding and tightness of supplies,” said Neauman Coleman, an analyst and rice broker in Brinkley, Arkansas.

    In Bangkok, some traders said Thai 100 per cent B grade white rice, the world’s benchmark, could hit $US1,300 a tonne due to unsated demand from number-one importer the Philippines, which fell well short of filling a 500,000 tonne tender last week.

    There is also a big question mark over Iran and Indonesia, two countries that normally buy as much as 1 million tonnes of Thai rice each year but which have bought nothing so far in 2008 because of the soaring prices.

    Even though some analysts say the price, part of a wider global rally in crop prices, is based on jittery governments rather than fundamentals, Thailand’s top exporters say the world is now set for an era of expensive food.

    “Prices will remain firm for the rest of the year,” Chookiat Ophaswongse, head of the Rice Exporters Association in Bangkok, told Reuters.

    Rice futures on the Chicago Board of Trade climbed 2.5 per cent on Wednesday to an all-time high of $US24.85 per hundredweight.

    However, grain futures tumbled four per cent to a five-month low due to expectations of a large global wheat crop in 2008.

    With the northern hemisphere harvest only two months away, officials said planting had started well in Western Australia after good rains, while India said a record harvest and bulging government stocks meant no imports were needed this year.

    China’s top wheat-growing provinces of Henan and Shandong were also looking at a bumper winter harvest after recent rains, the Xinhua news agency said.

    Brazil on Wednesday became the latest country to suspend rice exports, following in the footsteps of India and its close rival for the mantle of world number-two supplier, Vietnam.

    Thailand, which accounts for nearly a third of all rice traded globally, has said repeatedly it would not impose any curbs, a stance that has earned it plaudits from the World Bank for being a “responsible international trading partner”.

    “Thailand has even gone the extra mile to explore additional land for rice production,” James Adams, the bank’s Vice President for East Asia Pacific, said in a statement.

    The Asian Development Bank and free-trade advocates have criticised the export curbs as an overreaction that has distorted the market.

    Source: AAP

  • Widespread consensus on peak food

    By Mary Kane in the Washington Independent

    A sharp spike in prices for wheat, corn, rice and other staples has sparked riots in Mexico and Egypt, marches by hungry children in Yemen and the spectre of starving people in Haiti turning to mud pies for sustenance. This growing unrest is forcing the global community to focus on the causes of higher food costs and what can be done. But it’s also raising the troubling possibility that cheap prices for food may be gone for good, an economic relic of the the past.

    That scenario would be disastrous for the progress of fighting poverty in poor countries – and it would threaten to halt a long period of rising living standards in the United States tied directly to the inexpensive cost of food.

    “Don’t look now, but the good times may have just stopped rolling,” the economist Paul Krugman wrote in his New York Times column. The Economist was more strident: “The era of cheap food is over,” it declared. World Bank President Robert Zoellick, reaching back to policies created during the Great Depression for inspiration to address food inflation, is pushing a “New Deal” for global food policy, aimed at aiding impoverished countries with income support and help in producing crops.
    The gloom-and-doom outlooks are prompted by rising prices for commodities, which started increasing steadily in 2001 before suddenly soaring recently. Wheat prices have gone up by 181 percent over the past three years, according to the World Bank; food prices around the globe have risen by 83 percent during the same period. In March, rice prices hit a 19-year high. Corn prices recently rose from $2.50 a bushel three years ago to $6, for the first time. Zoellick has predicted a sustained period of higher food costs, saying he expects prices to remain elevated through next year and stay above 2004 levels for at least the next seven years.
    The causes are many. India and China have growing populations and are becoming more prosperous; more people can now afford to eat more meat, and the demand for animal feed has grown. In the U.S. and Europe, a boom in biofuel as alternative energy is diverting considerable amounts of corn from the market. A severe drought in Australia has contributed to a 25-year low in supplies. Some also blame speculation in the commodity markets for sharp swings in prices and availability.
    While plenty of people are worried about the end of cheap food, it’s not clear yet whether that will happen, said David Orden, senior research fellow with the International Food Policy Research Institute. Things like the weak dollar becoming stronger, crop shortfalls easing, energy prices stabilizing and strong growth in the world economy are all factors that could affect the availability of food, he said, and no one’s sure how they will play out. “We just don’t know yet,” Orden said. “Before this bump in food prices started, people were not predicting it.”
    What has become clear is that in a short time, soaring food costs have shaken some long-held assumptions about food and fuel, especially in the U.S.
    Food has been cheap in America for nearly 60 years, and Americans set aside less of their incomes for food than any other country in the world, devoting just 11 percent of disposable income to it, compared to double that percentage in Europe. Keeping food costs low has been one of the great economic achievements of the last century. The low food costs, combined with rising incomes, “have been two of the primary sources of prosperity for American consumers,” said John Urbanchuck, an agriculture industry analyst for LECG, a global consulting firm.
    Until now, Americans had the luxury of worrying about food due to its abundance. Concerns have centered on childhood obesity and an epidemic of diabetes. But new problems with food are already surfacing, as rising prices begin showing up at the grocery store. More expensive corn means people pay more for eggs and poultry, and still higher meat and milk prices are on the horizon. Record high oil prices are adding to price pressures, since transporting food costs more.
    If prices stay high for a long time, the poor will be hit the hardest, since they spend the largest percentage of their incomes on food. Efforts to reduce hunger, like food stamps and free and reduced lunch programs, will become more costly, said Otto Doering, a professor of agricultural economics at Purdue University in Indiana. Asking taxpayers to pay more for them won’t exactly be politically popular, since food prices could also take a greater bite out of middle-class budgets. And paying more for food will mean having less to spend on things like big-screen television sets and iPods, putting a dent in the kind of consumer spending that has kept the economy growing for the past two decades.
    Consumers won’t be the only ones feeling the squeeze. Hog producers in the Midwest expect to lose hundreds of millions of dollars in just the next six months due to corn price hikes, Doering said.

    It could get far worse. Another “hidden issue” is the scarcity of land still available for farming, he said. In the past, the United States had plenty of farmland to provide more crops as food demands grew. But land is finite, and after all these years, we’re beginning to run short, Doering said. “For the first time in our history, we’re pushing up against the edge in terms of quality land,” Doering said. “We’re in a somewhat fixed box.”

    Because of all this, Doering said it’s not clear whether the U.S. can keep food prices low. “It’s a whole new ballgame,” he stated.
    The United States has endured temporary price bumps before. A spike in commodities in the early 1970s was due mainly to bad weather around the world, and to huge and secretive Russian grain purchases. In 1995-96, food inflation stemmed from a Midwestern drought, global demand for U.S. feed grains and speculation. In both cases, prices settled back down again.
    This time around, the biofuel boom is also complicating the question of whether prices will revert. Some one-third of the U.S. corn crop now is devoted to ethanol production, its growth due to a combination of high oil prices and generous government subsidies. When corn prices were lower a few years ago, ethanol was seen as a popular energy alternative. Now it’s a target.
    Zoellick, the World Bank president, made headlines for blaming biofuels for recent price hikes, saying earlier this month that biofuels are a major factor in the world’s added demand for food. Biofuel mania, or speculating in commodities by hedge fund and traders betting on corn prices, was also responsible for shortages and price increases, he said.
    His remarks added to an already simmering debate. Last summer Foreign Affairs magazine published “How Biofuels Starve the Poor,” which reiterated that sentiment, noting that filling the 25-gallon tank of a sports utility vehicle with pure ethanol required 450 pounds of corn, or enough calories for one person for a year.
    At some point, American policy-makers are going to have to decide whether they want to live with an “expensive food policy” that requires continuing to produce large percentages of corn crops for biofuel and enduring higher prices for other foods, said Bruce Babcock, an Iowa State University economist.
    The food debate will eventually break down into two camps: Those who believe supply and demand are the problem, and that the world can’t produce enough to meet the needs of growing economies; and those who blame ethanol production. In the end, Babcock predicts, Washington will continue to support ethanol production in the near term, before imposing caps on its production.
    But the future for food prices will still remain uncertain, because the global market is so complex. “I don’t think we’ve ever been where we are right now,” Babcock said.
    Should prices stay high, the effect will be felt most keenly in developing countries, as the recent food riots have shown. Impoverished families now pay 50 percent to 80 percent of their incomes for food. Continuing high prices for oil and corn threaten to undo any gains in reducing poverty made over the past decade, Zoellick said.
    Josette Sheeran, head of the U.N.’s World Food Program, told The Economist that the effects of higher food prices in poor countries will be devastating:

    “For the middle classes, it means cutting out medical care. For those on $2 a day, it means cutting out meat and taking the children out of school. For those on $1 a day, it means cutting out meat and vegetables and eating only cereals. And for those on 50 cents a day, it means total disaster.”

    It wasn’t supposed to be this way. The promise of globalization was that it could lift living standards for everyone. But if the world’s hungry still can’t be fed because food is no longer cheap, it’s an empty promise

  • Angry consumers not well informed

    “The most recent example is of course the mulesing issue, with PETA and so on. I think people underestimated how they could marshal consumer outrage to create a backlash against industries,” Mr Wells said.

    “The frustration for us all in these sorts of things is when you understand the industry and the science behind these things, there’s sound reasons for doing them.

    “But there’s a disconnect, and as a scientist that’s one of the things I learnt – I used to think there was a logical process of evaluation and acquisition of data and decision making and that was the right answer. But science is only one part of the equation.”

    Mr Wells said increasingly consumers are “ruling the world”.

    “They’re increasingly expressing their wishes through big retailers who are seeking to supply them with the goods they want,” Mr Wells said.

    “So in terms of quality assurance, its gone well beyond safety and gone right back up stream to how food is produced.

    “And it includes all these soft issues which are really quite challenging for us in agriculture, but at the end of the day consumers are still not prepared to pay any more for better upstream performance and this is the frustration for industry.”

    He said if you were to poll consumers, most would say they are most concerned about issues like environment and welfare.

    “But give them an opportunity to pay more for better upstream practice and they won’t do it.

    “So the evolution has got to come with better communication and understanding to consumers about how our food is produced to reassure them that we produce food in a way that deals with a whole range of certain standards.

    “It’s a trade-off. People are worried about grocery prices but you can’t keep putting costs and expectations on upstream producers like farmers and others and then expect to absorb the cost.”

    But Mr Wells was cautious about labelling consumer expectations too high “because they rule”.

    “I think some of them are unrealistic…because they become ideological or philosophical.

    “Take for example GM canola oil – we can show that there canola oil is no different from a GM plant, and the DNA in them has identical chemicals.

    “But the ideological argument has been ‘I don’t want oil from a GM crop irrespective’.”

    Mr Wells said the farm sector had always been product-focussed rather than service-focussed, but those sorts of ideological views had nothing to do with the product.

    “It’s really about providing food service which encompasses all those other values and that’s really challenging for an industry that’s been supply-chain oriented.

    “I think the challenge for us is to actually have responsible processes to try and understand consumer trends, even if they’re irrational, and put in place processes about reassurance and quality control, even if it goes back to things that aren’t making us any more dollars.

    “It’s going to become a licence to operate rather if we do it in those ways rather than potentially an advantage in the market.”

    SOURCE: Rural Press National News Service, Parliament House Bureau, Canberra.

  • Christians tackle arms manufacturer

    The Raytheon Corporation is the world’s larger producer of guided missiles including the infamous cruise missile, which was used heavily in the invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan. Raytheon profits have risen dramatically from both these wars.  Its missiles also killed large numbers of civilians in the 2006 Israeli invasion of Lebanon.
     
    On 24 April three members of Christians Against All Terrorism  (CAAT), Jim Dowling, Lisa Bridle and Sean O’Reilly entered Raytheon’s Brisbane office. They were welcomed through the glass security door by a staff member thinking they had arrived for a meeting. (Later we reflected on how some of the group were similarly able to miraculously enter Pine Gap two years earlier)
     
    Instead of joining the meeting, the three commenced a Prayer of Deliverance, naming the essence of Raytheon for what it really is, “a spirit of greed, of violence, of deliberate indifference to injustice and human suffering” (see deliverance prayer attached).  They posted the walls with photographs of civilians maimed or killed by Raytheon missiles, and spread human blood in the shape of a cross to symbolise the blood shed by these weapons.  A candle was then lit and held up to the walls, symbolising bringing the light of Christ to these dark deeds. Holy water was also sprinkled around the office.
     
    During the Deliverance, a large number of people did arrive for the Raytheon meeting and were confronted with the real nature of the Raytheon Corporation.
     
    Staff attempted to force the three to leave the premises. Jim, Lisa and Sean continued to recite the deliverance prayer, pray and speak of the suffering caused by the Raytheon’s weapons systems, before police arrived at 10.45am. In a somewhat surreal backdrop, two screens in the office foyer continually played promotional material espousing the work of Raytheon and the ‘challenges’ of modern warfare. Jenny Nash, Kaye Mc Padden and Rebecca Dowling maintained a vigil outside with banners and placards. Raytheon had only moved into these offices last month. Some staff protested that they had nothing to do with the production of these weapons and were clearly angry at this intrusion into their ‘business as usual’ routine. This witness was probably the first time they have been confronted with the horror of Raytheon’s role in warmaking.
     
    Police arrived and had a lengthy conversation with Raytheon staff in another room. On emerging they revealed that Raytheon did not want to peruse damages charges. They then asked the three to leave. Sean agreed do so whilst Jim and Lisa refused, saying they wished to continue the deliverance.  Jim and Lisa     were taken away by police at 11.25am, charged with disobeying a lawful direction and later released. They appear in court on 29th May for a hearing date to be set.
     
    Further charges would have required Raytheon staff to present evidence in court and it is clear that is one thing they wish avoid. To do so would expose Raytheon staff to questioning about their activities and this is one company that in many respects would prefer to stay in the shadows and avoid further scrutiny. CAAT will continue to witness against the role of Raytheon in warmaking.
     
    On 19 May members of the Raytheon 9 will go to trial in Belfast, Northern Ireland, for their action at Raytheon’s facility in Derry in August 2006. For more information and to send messages of support see www.raytheon9.org
    Sean O’Reilly
    Anzac Day, 25    th April 2005

    PRAYER OF DELIVERANCE
     
    Introduction:
    We come here today in an attitude of humility and repentance. We recognise the dark spirits that hold sway over Raytheon can have power over us too. We come to name and cast out these spirits – that we may all be healed from the collective possession we have suffered.
     
    PRAYER OF DELIVERANCE
    Spirit of Raytheon, we name you for what you are, a spirit of greed, of violence, of deliberate indifference to injustice and human suffering. We adjure you in the name of the Father +,  the Son+ and the Holy Spirit+, to depart form this corporation.
     
    WE dispel the spirit of greed which holds sway over Raytheon, the “root of all manner of evil” as Paul of Tarsus called you. WE cast you out of this corporation and order you to serve the One True Master, God.
     
    WE dispel the spirit of violence which gleefully presides over the building of ever bigger and deadlier weapons. We cast you out before you can see the total destruction of God’s creation which you await. We adjure you accursed spirit to give honour to the God of peace, and non-violence, and depart from this corporation.
     
    WE dispel the spirit of indifference which allows the evil work of  Raytheon to prosper amidst its hidden fruits of blood and death. WE adjure you to give honour to the God of compassion and non-violence.
     
    WE dispel the spirit of fear which fills the hearts of all people to allow wanton destruction of our “enemies”. We cast you out and adjure you to give honour to the Son of God who commands us to have faith and fear not.
     
    WE dispel the spirit of lies and deceit which holds sway over Raytheon; the spirit which calls the wanton murder of anyone in the way of Raytheon weapons, “defence contracting”; the spirit which calls the dismembering or burning of children, “collateral damage”.  We admonish you with the words of Jesus, “You are from your father the devil. He was a murderer from the start and does not stand in the truth because there is no truth in him.  He is liar and the father of lies”. We cast you out spirit of lies and deceit in the name of the one who proclaimed “The truth will set you free”, Jesus Christ.
    We place the symbols of the truth of you spirits of Raytheon on these walls.
    The photos of your fruits, and human blood which you delight in shedding.
    With our candles symbolising the light of Jesus, we light them  for all to see.
     
    We sprinkle Holy Water to symbolise the purity to which the powers of all institutions are called. We call the powers to their duty to serve the risen Christ.
     
    We call on your power now, O God. We ask for your blessing, that we may witness and live in your truth. Give us strength to continue to do your will. We ask this through God our Creator, Jesus our Brother, and through the spirit which is love and wisdom.”

    Sean O’Reilly, Lisa Bridle, Jim Dowling and Sr Kaye McPadden before entering Raytheon

  • Renewable energy agency proposed

    At the invitation of the German Federal Government, representatives from more than 60 countries met in Berlin earlier this month to discuss the founding of the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA), an intergovernmental organization that will exist to exclusively promote the adoption of renewable energy worldwide.

    Participants expressed a sense of urgency to begin a swift transition to a more secure, sustainable renewable energy economy with the assistance of an international body.  A variety of countries have expressed support for IRENA, including Spain, India, Argentina, Mexico, Chile, Portugal and South Africa.

    During the Berlin meeting on April 10th and 11th, government representatives met to discuss and hone the objectives, activities, finances, and organizational structure of IRENA. A common point of discussion during the workshops was the relationship between IRENA and other existing international bodies that deal with energy issues. Some countries expressed concerns over the duplication of activities or unecessary competition with organizations such as the International Energy Agency.

    While there were concerns over how IRENA would work alongside other bodies, it was made clear by participants that a strong, independent force for supporting renewables is necessary to realize the full social, economic and political benefits of clean energies. It was generally agreed that most of the existing initiatives lack a focal point. With limited mandates and capacities, current international renewable energy associations, networks and UN bodies cannot fill the institutional gap that IRENA plans to fill, said Bianca Jagger, Chair of the World Future Council.

    “Promoting renewables must now become a global and universal priority, and IRENA is a necessary condition for that goal. If we intend to embark on the renewable energy revolution, we cannot do it without IRENA,” said Jagger in a speech.

    “IRENA will work toward improved regulatory frameworks for renewable energy through enhanced policy advice, improvements in the transfer of renewable energy technology; progress on skills and know-how for renewable energy; it will be able to offer a scientifically sound information basis through applied policy research; and better financing of renewable energy,” she continued.

    Although the International Energy Agency (IEA) established an advisory board on renewables in 1982, the world has yet to see a breakthrough in renewable energy adoption. This proves the need for an exclusive focus on creating the structural changes needed to ensure widespead adoption of renewable energy, said Hermann Scheer, founder of the European Association for Renewable Energies and member of the German parliament.

    “The IEA will have to compensate for all of the current energy problems and won’t have time to push for new forms of energy,” said Scheer.

    The IEA deals with questions of supply security and the needs of energy markets. This is reflected in its allocation of votes, which are based mainly on the oil consumption of different countries. As a result, it doesn’t cover in great detail the economic, political, and social aspects of renewable energy. In its in-depth country reviews, the IEA analyzes the energy policies of member states without fully recognizing the potential renewable energy, say some critics. The agency’s focus remains on primarily on large-scale energy supply and therefore does not offer much needed advice on how to adapt energy markets towards more decentralized energy sources such as renewables. Further, in contrast to IRENA’s proposed global approach and diverse membership, the activities of the IEA are largely limited to countries involved with the Organization for Economic Co-Operation and Development (OECD).

    According to conference organizers, IRENA will work alongside the IEA and other international bodies in areas of renewable energy research, similar to the relationship between the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and the IEA. One of the major reasons for the foundation of the IAEA in the 1950s was the desire to exploit the opportunities offered by what was then a new energy source. The same attention needs to be given to renewables, said Jose Etcheverry, a chair of the World Council on Renewable Energy.

    “The world sorely lacks innovative economic, social and political institutional frameworks to provide strong support for renewable energy development worldwide,” said Etcheverry. “Conventional energy sources such as fossil fuels and nuclear power have incredibly powerful lobbyists to ensure that their interests are provided with preferential treatment over the more socially desirable options of renewable energy and efficiency.”

    IRENA will address several critical barriers that are preventing the full-scale adoption of renewable energy. It will provide informed policy advice and assistance to national governments that are currently lacking the means and capacity to develop effective regulatory frameworks for renewable energy adoption.

    To strengthen technology transfer IRENA will combine the various independent projects and optimise synergies between them, focus on knowledge exchange, integrate technical, administrative and financial actions, and create suitable incentives for industry to engage in developing countries. Of course, none of these tasks can be fully accomplished without adequate human capacity. IRENA will provide an inventory of current training activities and provide courses for policy-makers and regulators on how to overcome administrative barriers to renewable energy adoption.

    The time to create IRENA is now, said supporters. Indeed, as organizers learn from the decades of experience of other international agencies, they believe they can create of the most innovative, streamlined agenices in the world while helping usher in a new era of clean, sustainable energies.

  • Aussie drought contributes to food crisis

    An expert in science communication says the drought in Australia is one of the reasons world grain prices are increasing.

    International prices of some grains, including rice, have reached record levels.

    Professor Julian Cribb from Sydney’s University of Technology says a dramatic rise in demand for food in places like China and India is also to blame.

    “Over the last eight years the world has eaten more food every year than it has produced, that’s the bottom line, that’s why prices are going up,” he said.

    “One of the factors that has come in is that Australia, a significant grain trader, has had a drought and has not produced much grain.”