Global food shortage or another scam to make money?

I saw a television program last night on the Uk's channel 4. It was called "The Peoples Supermarket".
Now, there was some data shown that I was relatively aware of already, but recent events made this info stick out more than it really did before.

Here is the program and a link to their web site www.thepeoplessupermarket.org...


Now let's look at some recent global "news" that suggests there is a problem;

Already 1 billion people in the world go to bed hungry every single night. Already somewhere in the world someone starves to death every 3.6 seconds and 3/4 of them are children under the age of 5. Already approximately a third of all children in the world under the age of five suffer from serious malnutrition.

theemergencyfoodsupply.com...

This from 2008;

In Cameroon, 24 people have been killed in food riots since February, while in Haiti, protesters chanting, "We're hungry" forced the prime minister to resign this month. In the past month, there have been food riots in Egypt, Cote d'Ivoire, Senegal, Burkina Faso, Ethiopia, Indonesia, Bangladesh and Madagascar. The World Bank now believes that some 33 countries are in danger of being destabilised by food price inflation, while Ban Ki-Moon, the UN secretary-general, said that higher food prices risked wiping out progress towards reducing poverty and could harm global growth and security.

www.telegraph.co.uk...

2009;

Over the last two years, the world has faced a series of unprecedented financial crises: the collapse of the housing market, the freezing of the credit markets, the failure of Wall Street brokerage firms (Bear Stearns/Lehman Brothers), the failure of Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae, the failure of AIG, Iceland’s economic collapse, the bankruptcy of the major auto manufacturers (General Motors, Ford, and Chrysler), etc… In the face of all these challenges, the demise of the dollar, derivative markets, and the modern international system of credit has been repeatedly forecasted and feared. However, all these doomsday scenarios have so far been proved false, and, despite tremendous chaos and losses, the global financial system has held together. The 2010 Food Crisis is different. It is THE CRISIS. The one that makes all doomsday scenarios come true. The government bailouts and central bank interventions, which have held the financial world together during the last two years, will be powerless to prevent the 2010 Food Crisis from bringing the global financial system to its knees.

www.marketoracle.co.uk...

2010;

Global food crisis forecast as prices reach record highs Cost of meat, sugar, rice, wheat and maize soars as World Bank predicts five years of price volatility

www.guardian.co.uk...

2011;

Food inflation is here and it's here to stay. We can see it getting worse every time we buy groceries. Basic food commodities like wheat, corn, soybeans, and rice have been skyrocketing since July, 2010 to record highs. These sustained price increases are only expected to continue as food production shortfalls really begin to take their toll this year and beyond

www.activistpost.com...

Feb 1st, 2011;

Global Food Shortage Looming! While the Governments of the world fiddle with the faux problem of "Climate Change" starvation is looming as a major threat for much of the world's poorer population. Large amounts of our resources are being channeled into useless greenie toys like wind and solar generation and massive amounts of grain are fashionably being fed into Western petrol tanks as bio-fuels ,while food prices sky-rocket severely affecting the poor of the world.

www.ozclimatesense.com...

5 days ago;

By 2050 global food supplies will not be sufficient to feed an expanding population; the UN estimates that food production must rise by 70 percent to feed a world population of more than nine billion in 2050; rising demand and surging global population coupled with increasing resource conflicts over land, water, and energy will hamper food production; currently nearly a billion suffer from hunger and more than sixty food riots have occurred in more than thirty countries in the last several years; the report urges an immediate action and whole range of government solutions to adjust current policies on economics, climate change, resource use, and agricultural practices

www.homelandsecuritynewswire.com...

19 hours ago;

If all the food in the world were shared out evenly, there would be enough to go around. That has been true for centuries now: if food was scarce, the problem was that it wasn't in the right place, but there was no global shortage. However, that will not be true much longer. The food riots began in Algeria more than a month ago, and they are going to spread. During the last global food shortage, in 2008, there was serious rioting in Mexico, Indonesia, and Egypt. We may expect to see that again this time, only bigger and more widespread.

www.thecitizen.co.tz...

So we are seeing the same doom and gloom picture being pushed into our brains everyday.. But I have also noticed an increase of TV adverts from various charities requesting a small amount of money each month to help save starving children..... like this one..


Looking at the data given by the program and comparing it to the 'news' we are getting about global food shortages, I can only wonder as to which models or sets of data they are using in order to come to their conclusions.

Either way, there is something terribly wrong here.. Look at this;
This from 2009;

5.4 m The estimated number of tonnes of edible food British households throw away each year.
30m The number of malnourished people whose hunger could be alleviated by the bread British households bin each year.
84 The percentage of British households under the impression that they don't waste significant amounts of food. 43m The number of people at risk from food poverty in the EU.
923m The number of undernourished people in the world, according to a 2007 UN survey.
40% The estimated proportion of salad that British households throw away.
14bn The number of dollars of agricultural produce India wastes each year owing to its lack of infrastructure. 1.6m The estimated number of tonnes of food waste produced by British retailers each year.
59,625 Estimated amount in tonnes of food waste sent by Sainsbury's to landfill sites in 2007-8.
40% The estimated proportion of UK fruit and veg that supermarkets reject on cosmetic grounds.

www.guardian.co.uk...

Reading the report given above that set of data and we learn about Freeganing, where people search through supermarket bins to gather the best items that were thrown away. If you've watched the program at the top of this thread, you'll see how one person found 5 bottles of red wine.. These were thrown out due to one bottle breaking in the crate.

Tristram Stuart likes to rummage in bins. A tall, 32-year-old with floppy hair and chiselled features, he is a connoisseur of rubbish in all its variety. He can tell you what time central London convenience stores put their binbags out on to the streets and hazard a good guess as to what will be in them. He can tell you about how the waste policies of major supermarkets differ: how much of their rubbish is diverted to landfill and how much is recycled or incinerated; which ones lock up their bins, and which leave them open. Stuart is a "freegan" – someone who subsists largely on food discarded by others.

www.guardian.co.uk...

So with all this food "going to waste" and with many supermarket chains aware of the possible problems, why do they still try to do things like this? (from 2008);

A supermarket chain is to use thousands of tonnes of food waste to provide all its stores with electricity. Sainsbury's is running a pilot scheme across Northamptonshire where food waste is sent for anaerobic digestion near Bedford rather than to landfill.

news.bbc.co.uk...

Somebody is not using the resources available in the best way possible.. The supermarkets seem keen to keep their prices 'low' and their shelves stocked with fresh produce in order to maintain a good customer base and flowing profits, yet still, we are faced with global hunger.

One supermarket chain, for example, has many different services to offer like banking and insurance, mobile phones which give you a nice bonus...

Top-up £10 and we'll triple it to £30.

www.tesco.com...

The supermarkets seem to be in an all out war to corner the market and be the best and only choice for everyone.. yet this does not solve the global problem, neither, it seems, do they care about the global problem if they continue to throw away so much good food and drink. This even touches on the carbon footprint and taxes..

And just to finish, here is a set of pictures of good food thrown away...

Why do we throw away vast amounts of food?

www.guardian.co.uk...

And.....

Don't forget the FISH!!!!!!
Visit this other thread of mine regarding the immense amount of fish we throw away;
www.abovetopsecret.com...

I'm sure that all of this will annoy many people.. so start going through their bins and stop buying from them.. especially with these times of having to watch the pennies and increasing fuel prices, which seem to happen daily now.
i dread to think of where it will all end..

It could well be a scheme.
I know since Christmas in the UK shops/supermarkets/hardware stores etc there have been aisles and aisles of seeds and growing equipment - encouraging everyone to grow their own food.
Even in schools there are allotment schemes where children learn how to grow their own fruit and vegetables.

Do you think there could be a link?

Word of advice, don't trust any statistics of numbers that are "presented to you" that you yourself did not research or verify.

Statistics can be so misconstrued and set-up to portray anything you want them to, its all about how the statistics were gathered, what they consider and not consider (omit).

As far as the food shortages go, I try to lean on the common sense here. The world population undoubtedly will soon surpass the worlds ability to provide "clean" and "healthy" foods to everyone.

This is a unforeseen consequence of modern medicine, medical breakthroughs, and lifespans in the modern world. As the modern world spreads and the access to modern medicine spreads life-spans increase and spread and I don't think that increase is proportionate to agriculture and food growth. I could be wrong though...

I tend to follow the logic that you can NEVER have enough "food"....the whole feast and famine thing...

reply to post by Extralien


I don't really know if there is a world food shortage and it really shouldn't impact me alot as i am a prepper.
If the shelves go empty i have dried and canned foods that should get me till a shelf restock, if not i have seeds that should get me till my suppplies go dry then i can preserve anything i reap.
Be prepared yourselves and this will also become pretty much a non issue for you too.
Plus you will never have to bother yourselves with "Hmmmm i wonder what i want to have tonight for dinner, or Honey, what's for dinner" as we already know a month or 2 in advance what were having, and if we decide to go off the menu, we can always reintroduce said item later.
Learn to preserve foods learn to grow, it beats the heck outta worrying about the cardassians.... hey arent they sci fi reptillians?? nvr mind.

reply to post by Scops


Why promote growing your own when these companies dont seem to be doing anything about how much they waste?

Here in the UK we have to be careful of what and how much we throw away as individuals. Fines if we fill our bins with the wrong types of items, rubbish not collected if bins are over filled, microchips on bins so the councils can track waste and even punish anyone caught throwing away toxic items such as batteries, yet these supermarkets throw all this waste into land fill sites..

Most of the allotments are taken, many people live in houses where gardens are not possible and the UK has plans to sell off its forests... it's all a bit mixed up.

Add to that the amount of farmers paid to NOT grow anything !!!

reply to post by Extralien


In your particular situation it makes growing a bit harder, but keep seeds anyway.
If you do end up HAVING to grow your own, then something has gone terribly wrong and it is now a survival situation.
Still learn to preserve and store food, it does not take up much space to do.
And you will end up with months or years more time than the next sap who didn't.

reply to post by Extralien


If you are responsive for you own food sources then it no longer becomes their problem.

I wasn't aware of councils microchipping bins, thanks for that. A lot of supermarkets take your old batteries & ink cartridges etc - things that cannot be recycled and they either re-use them or dismantle them, so I'm told.

In response to your comment on allotments/lack of gardens - perhaps being able to grow your own food is something reserved only for people who can afford the land.

The rest of us are left with supermarket fodder.

reply to post by Sly1one


Regardless of wether I did my own research or verified anything, there are two sets of "data" out there...

One suggests many tonnes of food is being thrown away, whilst the other screams about a global food shortage.

Are both wrong?

When any of us can go to a supermarket bin and pull out enough fruit and veg or sandwiches and soups to feed ourselves for a week, others in the world starve to death..

It seems that nobody is prepared to send the 'waste' food to those that really need it as it is not profitable.

reply to post by Sly1one


If you are implying that the world is becoming overpopulated, that is hogwash and has been debunked before.
Did you know that the whole worlds population could fit into a landmass the size of just Australia alone, and everyone would have a 1/4 acre to themselves?
that is 1/4 acre for every man woman and child.
The true problem "they" say is logistics, how to get the food there before it spoils.
I say this is hogwash also as your average McDonalds fry will never go bad.
Preservatives and preserving can increase foods longevity quite a bit.
The true problem for food distribution is men in suits and men with guns.
Anything else is a lie.

Distribution, political stability and economics are all problems. Capitalism does reward the ruthless while the other end of the scale have very little to no money to trade. On going wars and conflict make trade and distribution difficult and there are big problems with the way money works. Being self centred and narcissistic is a common trait in many powerful business leaders, unfortunately this just compounds the problems with poverty. Multiculturalism also contributes to the problem as some people see it as a competition to put the other race down. I wish I had more answers on how to fix it instead of why it exists. New standards in governance and accountability would help.

Food coops are becoming increasingly popular here in the states. That is most likely the reason that some of the big Agribiz lobbied the S510.

I really enjoyed this show. Thanks for the lead!

No date is given yet this picture seems to have been forgotten over the years.. Are we all partly to blame for being too lazy or overworked or just over-entertained that nothing else matters?
[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/76233261fdbc.jpg[/atsimg]
www.guardian.co.uk...

reply to post by Extralien


Probably more because its a "liability" for a lawsuit if someone gets sick off of mildly expired food....

edit: but I completely agree its asinine that places such as Wall-Mart throw away food that could feed probably millions simply because its mildly expired and they don't want the liability of someone getting sick eating it.

I wouldn't imagine it being too possible to transport expired foods from Wally-World USA to Africa in a time period that wouldn't render that food completely uneatable.

reply to post by Sly1one


Not being funny... but I'd rather have an upset stomach than die of starvation.. many people who are in desperate need of food would probably say the same thing. These same people are also many, many miles away from the nearest lawyer or court and, even if they lived next door to one, would more than likely not be able to afford any court fees.

As for transportation, how about deep freeze or vacuum packed or even dehydration?

Three possible and reasonably cheap options.

Here is another article from Russia Today's website :

The world is in the midst of a second global food crisis in only three years, pushing prices up, adding to the ongoing protests in Tunisia, Egypt, and elsewhere in the Middle East.
Globally, food prices set a new record in January dues to large increases in the prices of corn, sugar grains and oil.
Many argue there are direct links between Wall Street, the sale of food futures, and the printing of money by the Federal Reserve is printing leading to inflation worldwide.

Goldman to Blame for Global Food Crisis

Total and complete scam. There are millions of acres in the world food could be grown or raised on. Plus think of all the extra food that will be available when the masses cannot afford to eat at Olive Garden and Applebees anymore!

reply to post by jjkenobi


The problem is though that they're using these millions of acres of land to build more and more housing that we can't afford to buy either!

reply to post by Scops


And the Monsanto company, with their seed controll. Bullying countries to use their GM seeds, therefore profiting off food shortages also.

reply to post by Extralien


Hi, regarding this thread have you followed the new 'Big Society plans? I
ts basically exactly what that supermarket is about. No doubt that doc was just a propaganda punt for the Big Soceity, covering up the real dirty deals involved.

Seeing as corporations make money from people on benefits or welfare, they pobably have all the funds in their pockets through the 'lone bank' that is to be used by the Big Soceity'.

Like people will fall for any ploy that uses a bank as a selling point! This whole thing is just a lame cover for the rape we have put up with. 'The economy and food prices, closed libraries, all of the problems caused by banks, and Englands 'Wall Street' type corporations, well, man-on-the-street, were going to let YOU own and fix the whole mess. Arent we kind? Arent you lucky?'

you caught this faster than me dude! ha ha i only caught up with the agenda watching mitchells 10 o' clock live

Bummer seems US residents can't see the Channel 4 video.

This video contains content from Channel 4, who has blocked it in your country on copyright grounds.