February 2009:

Near Arctic, Seed Vault is a Fort Knox of Food - Climate experts claim that seeds may soon become worth more than gold.

November 2008

The GM genocide: Thousands of Indian farmers are committing suicide after using genetically modified crops - When Prince Charles claimed thousands of Indian farmers were killing themselves after using GM crops, he was branded a scaremonger. In fact, as this chilling dispatch reveals, it's even WORSE than he feared.

As children starve, world struggles for solution - Some mothers choose what their children will eat. Others choose which children will eat and which will die. The global food market's shelves are getting bare, hunger activists say -- and it will get worse. Food riots erupted across the globe this year in countries such as Egypt and India. Food pantries in the United States also warned that they were running out of food because of unprecedented demand. The news from the World Food Programme is even grimmer: A child dies of hunger every six seconds, and hunger now kills more people every year than AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis combined.

County's food pantries struggle to keep up with demand - Los Angeles County's food pantries have seen a 41 percent increase in demand from families over the last year, and agencies are struggling to keep up with the growing need, officials said Tuesday.

Proposal To Move Food Bank Denied - A charity group that tries to help people during tough economic times has been hit with a setback.

WFP extends food aid to crisis-hit Zimbabwe - Millions in the southern African country are ravaged by an economic crisis critics blame on President Robert Mugabe's policies, such as the seizure of commercial farms to resettle landless blacks, which ruined the agriculture sector.

L.A. Regional Foodbank launches food drive - Thursday's event comes as demand for assistance is outpacing supply. The organization distributes up to 560,000 meals a week in the L.A. region. A sluggish economy, high food prices, the rising cost of living and steep job losses have forced not only the poor, but middle- and upper-middle-class families to seek food assistance.

Food Banks in Need of Thanksgiving Turkeys - The Sacramento Food Bank has about 2,000 Thanksgiving turkeys in its deep freeze but needs at least 1,000 more. The struggling economy could bring a record number of people to the doors of the food bank this holiday. "This could be one of our biggest years for food giveaways," said Food Bank President, Blake Young. Since August, the number of new clients has rose 20 percent. It now serves about 16,000 people each month.

Food Prices Could Rise 9 Percent in 2009 - The current economic climate could lead to problems in your pantry. Grocery industry insiders say they expect food prices to go up as much as nine percent in the coming year.

Police give 72 turkeys to food bank - Not realizing the Food Bank of Northwest Louisiana hadn't received a single turkey this holiday season, Shreveport police arrived at the center Tuesday with 72 birds weighing a total of almost 800 pounds. Last year, the food bank distributed 320 turkeys to agencies and individuals in northwest Louisiana. And with just more than a week until Thanksgiving, the pantry needs 248 more turkeys just to meet last year's quota.

Grocery association to blame for inflated food costs - The Grocery Manufacturers Association (GMA) is waging an aggressive campaign to convince Americans that biofuels are driving painful increases in food prices. The claim is not true. But it provides a nice cover for food companies as they report record profits. The GMA lobbies Congress. Its mission is simple. Keep regulations low and profits high.

Welfare and food stamp applications soar in area - Oregon’s economic downturn is hitting Central Oregon families particularly hard, state statistics released Tuesday show. The number of people receiving welfare checks and food stamps is up across the state, but the fastest rate of growth is occurring in the region made up of Deschutes, Crook and Jefferson counties. Statewide, the number of families receiving Temporary Assistance for Needy Families is up 16 percent and the number receiving food stamps increased by approximately 13 percent, the agency said.

Food bank is busy as holidays approach - With the economy in trouble and Thanksgiving just around the corner, more families are going to the Emergency Foodshelf Network to ask for help with putting food on the table. The network distributes millions of pounds of food each year to hunger relief programs around the state and runs a variety of programs to help people in need. In one sign of the growing need, food shelf visits were up 39 percent for the third quarter of 2008, covering July through September, compared with the same period in 2007, Jennissen said. "We're expecting it to be a very tough winter'' for many families, she said.

Food and fuel debate starts anew despite falling commodity prices - Despite falling corn prices, the food-versus-fuel fight is in full swing in Washington. With a new website and advertising campaign, companies that turn corn into fuel are asking why prices at grocery stores have remained high even though corn prices have tumbled from $8 to $4 per bushel.

Food pantry says demand up 53 percent, supplies needed - A sharp 53-percent increase in the number of individuals served by the food pantry at the Salvation Army's Norridge Citadel is worrisome for Pamela Church, the citadel's family assistance ministry director. In the face of a shaky economy, she's hoping she'll still be able to supply the needy she serves with the ingredients for a generous Thanksgiving meal.

July 2008

Midwest Floods Ruin Crops - "The United States was fortunate to be an observer, not a victim, when natural disasters ravaged global crops in the first part of this year. Spared from the turmoil, U.S. farmers planted near-record crops this spring and expected to enjoy record prices.Now, however, there is devastation here, too." US News, July 8, 2008

Corn, soybeans hit records - "Corn and soybean prices soared Thursday, climbing to new all-time highs after more thunderstorms drenched Midwestern states and left recently replanted crops underwater again ... Estimates range from 2 million to 5 million acres of U.S. farmland being damaged or destroyed — a huge loss that would depress crop yields and almost certainly send world food prices higher.", AP, June 26, 2008

Weather Impacting Groceries? - "Supermarket prices are up 3.5%, and staples like milk and bread may not be coming down." WILX.com, July 8, 2008

World leaders to discuss food shortages - "The leaders of the Group of Eight nations, meeting in Japan this week, will sit down with the leaders of other major economies including Australia to discuss climate change and world food shortages." , Radio Australia, July 9, 2008

Food Shortages 'the real threat' - "Future food shortages are a far bigger threat to the world than global warming, a Golden Bay dairy farming seminar has been told. 
Irish farmer and businessman Mike Murphy told the 70 farmers at the DairyNZ seminar yesterday: "Global warming gets all the publicity but the real imminent threat to the human race is starvation on a massive scale.", RedOrbit.com, July 8, 2008

Report says families must eat leftovers to ease world food shortages - "Families must eat leftovers to ease world food shortages and help the starving, a shock report will warn today. The average UK household bins £420 of food every year and this must be cut to ease pressure on dwindling supplies, it says. The report comes as Gordon Brown arrives in Japan today for a G8 meeting of world leaders.", Mirror.co.uk, July 7, 2008

Annual Food Price Inflation Hits 7% As Retailers Pass on Rising Costs - "Food cost 7 per cent more in British supermarkets in June than it did in the same month last year, a survey showed yesterday. The annual rate of food price inflation jumped from 6 per cent in May to 7 per cent last month, as shops passed on the continuing rises in the cost of global commodities, the British Retail Consortium said.", Independent.co.uk, July 10, 2008

High Prices Nudge Europe Nearer to GM Food - "Like many in Europe, Switzerland's Coop supermarkets do not specify whether goods are genetically modified -- none are. But a wave of food inflation may help wash away resistance to "Frankenstein foods" , Forbes, July 7, 2008

Food shortages loom as wheat crop shrinks and prices rise - "The world is only ten weeks away from running out of wheat supplies after stocks fell to their lowest levels for 50 years. " Times Online, Feb. 24, 2008

Midwest Floods Devastate Corn CRops, Could Raise Price - "Floods that have inundated the Midwest could reduce world corn supplies and drive food prices higher at a time when Americans are already stretching their grocery budgets and people in poor countries have rioted over rising food costs." Fox News, June 14, 2008

Midwest Floods Damage Essential Food Crops - "In a world where food and clean water are becoming rare commodities, the floods across Iowa and the Midwest could have global repercussions.  Corn, soybean, and wheat crops have been destroyed.", Now Public, June 16, 2008