This week's Grocery Bag contains $880 million! Cool!
WASHINGTON, April 22 (Reuters) - A new World Bank-administered agriculture and food security fund will get $880 million in initial contributions over the next two years, the U.S. Treasury and other donors announced on Thursday.
More before the fold...
The fund aims to finance medium-to long-term projects to boost agricultural development in low-income countries. It will focus on raising agricultural productivity through investments in land use planning, better irrigation infrastructure and development of farm machinery leasing markets.
It also will focus on development of rural roads to better connect farmers to markets and improve other infrastructure to better handle harvested crops. The fund also aims to provide better technical assistance to farmers, boost distribution of agriculture inputs such as seeds, and strengthen producer organizations.
The World Bank will work through a number of other agencies, including the African Development Bank and the International Fund for Agricultural Development, to implement projects financed by the fund.
A Treasury official said the need for the fund came from a recognition that agriculture development has largely been ignored in the past 30 years, and there are nearly 1 billion chronically hungry people in the world.
A sudden increase in food prices in 2008 drove nearly 100 million people into poverty and brought the problem into sharp focus.
In addition to the US, Canada and South Korea, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation is also ponying up millions of dollars.
Ahead of the formal announcement, Bill Gates, co-chair of the Gates Foundation, told journalists that investment in small farms "is an incredibly effective way to combat hunger and extreme poverty," the Globe and Mail reports (Koring, 4/22). "Other countries meeting at the European, G8 and G20 summits in June, and at the U.N. Summit in September should join the four founding partners and make good on their pledges. If we all sustain focus until the job is done, hundreds of million of people will lead better lives," Gates said, Inter Press Service reports (Clifton, 4/22). (Source)
Gates' comment on small farms hopefully indicates that the "focus on raising agricultural productivity through investments in land use planning" means that organic and all natural farming will be given a chance. One of the central arguments in the debate over conventional vs. organic farming is land use. Conventional monoculture may not get the most calories per hectare from the land due to the relatively short growing season of a single crop. An organic farmer may plant up to three crops on the same plot of land, significantly extending the growing season and maximizing the caloric potential of the land. This argument was touched on in an NPR broadcast last week of a debate on the motion "Organic Food Is Marketing Hype". The podcast is definitely worth a listen and - spoiler alert! - the pro-organic side blows the pro-conventional side out of the water. Fans of acerbic Iron Chef America judge Jeffrey Steingarten will not be disappointed.
In other news, wholesale food prices have risen 6.8% in the past year. Guess what other price has been rising? Energy. Guess what drove that huge increase in food prices in 2008? Energy. Guess which type of farming, organic or conventional, uses less energy? Just sayin'. And which is better use of the land - growing grain for food or for fuel? A new study has the answer.
Detroit may be the leader in a new industry - urban agriculture.
Another new study confirms that Americans eat too much salt.
Kossacks continue to provide insightful and entertaining food diaries.
The Refurbished Feminist writes about her journey to veganism in Guilt and Gluten Free
grannyhelen discusses a surprising twist in the school lunch debate in School Lunches A "National Security Threat", "Revolution" Needed
patric juillet takes a break from his Tales From the Larder series in his recommended
Long Life Giving Foods: a Quick Tour to Improve One's Health and then returns with Tales from the Larder: Seafood Diaries, part 4
eddie c live blogs PBS' airing of a great food doc in Will You Be Watching Food Inc Tonight?
Food Inc. inspired people power granny to ask Do you want your food organic? Or genetically modified?
Speaking of GMOs, gravlax also diaried on the subject in Genetically Modified Plants, New Study Released. gravlax also pondered the relationship between KFC and the Susan G Komen Foundation in WTF: Buckets for the Cure?, took us on a "food-obsessed" tour of Italy in Italian TravelBlog (a Sunday photo essay) * warning pics may offend vegetarians * and wrote again about the important legislation in Food Safety Bill Delayed on Its Way to Senate Floor (Photos Updated)
alpolitics discusses regressive grocery taxes: Should My Groceries Be Taxed?
Any diary that begins with a quote from Jacques Pepin has got to be good and denis diderot does not disappoint in On Civic Agriculture: Why Backyard Chickens Matter. It's a long post but thoroughly sourced and an excellent read.
And finally, three of DK's most popular food series: Macca's Meatless Monday...give me chickpeas on Earth Day by beach babe in fl.
What's for Dinner?: Comfort Food (w/ poll) with this week's host, Cordelia Lear. Free Food: Foraging for New Spring Foods by wide eyed lib
What a busy week on the food front! Feel free to add anything I missed in the comments.