From hhoffman on Sun, April 13, 2008

In the richer countries of the world, where food prices are very cheap compared to the past, more realistic prices might not be a bad thing.  The problem is that with the level of inequality in the world (across countries and within), there are vast numbers of people who struggle even to pay for the cheap food we have had.  With food prices doubling or trebling, the hundreds of millions subsisting on a dollar a day or less face starvation.
A sudden redistribution of wealth from rich to poor is unlikely to happen.  One solution in the short-term might be to stop the bio-fuel expansion/production but there are other inflationary pressures now and on the horizon.
HHoffman, studying at UniSG

From anyomonous on Thu, April 17, 2008

As a student the current rise in the cost of foods is beginning to show itself in a big way.  My main source of food is that which is provided around my campus and it seems as if each week products go up in price without notice.  As this article infers this may not be a bad thing; however as someone who is restricted to where they can purchase food, this is a bad thing.  Limited to a pre-paid food plan and at the mercy of the company that provides food to my campus the prices of food are starting to dramatically affect what I can and can not eat.  After looking over some of the related articles to this conversation I find the position of Tom Philpott to be quite realistic.  Unfortunately in my position I do not have the choice to use my pre-paid food plan on fast food or even the many farmers markets near my campus.  Therefore I would argue that the rising prices is hurting more than helping.  Furthermore the claim (to much of my chagrin) that the rising cost are due to the diverting of corn-based products to the production of ethanol is understandable but at the same time ridiculous.  To think that food prices could rise because the nation is splitting the market for corn-based products (mainly oils and syrups) represents a serious flaw in the system which we currently have for pricing foods.  For instance a bagel used to be 1$ a month ago but in a week its raised in price by a quarter while other goods have doubled in price and while this may not seem like much with only 590$ for 10 weeks the rising cost in food is stretching my consumption thin.  Beyond this I find the logic behind rising food prices linked to bio-fuels as a cheap way for the government to allow for agriculture and food production groups to inflate their prices, causing more damage than good.

From cathywong on Thu, April 17, 2008

I’ve always thought this was an interesting subject. It’s been dominating headlines and I never thought it would turn out to be as big a deal as it is. What intrigues me is that we, as Americans, are being blamed for our interest for further developing bio-fuels. Although ethanol has turned out to have a bad effect, we can not be blamed for at least trying to reverse global warming’s negative outcome.  I think its funny how we try to help out the environment, end up making a mistake, and then get criticized excessively for being greedy.

I do agree with HHoffman though, as a wealthy country, we need to take responsibility for starving countries.