The price of food is on the rise. As a story and charts from the Wall Street Journal show, rice (prices up a whopping 134 percent), wheat, corn, and soy are all above a 60 percent increase over the last 52 weeks.
Cargill, a large international provider of food, agricultural and risk management products and services, saw a Chevron-like return in their last quarter with $1.03B in revenue. When I read the CEO’s comments in the WSJ, I couldn’t help but ask myself if large corporate farms control supply driving prices to their favor. While he says that they’re “doing an exceptional job,” my thought is this is an answer to shareholders, not the rest of the world who require the commodities Cargill, ADM, and others provide.
Cargill’s chairman and CEO, Greg Page, said earlier this month [April 2008] that “the dimensions of change in global agriculture are striking” and that the Minneapolis company is doing “an exceptional job measuring and assessing price risk.” He said world grain stocks are at their lowest level in 35 years.
(emphasis added)
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I’m amazed at how far behind we are in coming to a solution of our own energy crisis. As Americans, we are the most energy sucking people on the planet–far outpacing any other group.
“According to the Department of Energy’s most recent data on greenhouse gas emissions, in 2006 the U.S. emitted 5.8 billion metric tons of carbon dioxide, or just under 20 tons per capita.”
WSJ: http://online.wsj.com/article_print/SB120934459094348617.html
While we probably think of our cars first, a real issue is our homes. The “always on” appliances and devices that are taking power even when we “don’t” use them.
“You can forget refrigerators, microwaves, clothes dryers and flat screen TVs. Even a house tricked out with all the latest high-efficiency EnergyStar appliances and compact fluorescent lights won’t come close. The same daunting energy math applies to the industrial, commercial and transportation sectors as well. The clear implication is that we shall have to replace virtually the entire fossil fuel electricity infrastructure over the next four decades with CO2-free sources – a multitrillion dollar proposition, if it can be done at all.”
WSJ: http://online.wsj.com/article_print/SB120934459094348617.html
Are cars are truly a big issue. But the proposed targets for 2050 are going to take huge changes.
“Right now our cars and trucks consume about 180 billion gallons of motor fuel. To meet the 2050 target, we shall have to limit consumption of gasoline to about 31 billion gallons, unless a genuine carbon-neutral liquid fuel can be produced. (Ethanol isn’t it.) To show how unrealistic this is, if the entire nation drove nothing but Toyota Priuses in 2050, we’d still overshoot the transportation emissions target by 40%.”
WSJ: http://online.wsj.com/article_print/SB120934459094348617.html
I’ve really got to take a deep look into what is happening in the entrepreneurial community to see if there is an opportunity for a marketing person.