Green Options

The recent fall in grain prices across the developed world may have given the impression that food security isn’t a problem – but it is. There are more people not getting enough to eat than there were a decade ago.

There are starving children all over the world. As a parent, I am not above reminding my children of this when they complain about their full plates of food or daily snacks. To which they have been known to respond, “well, send it to Africa then.”

One man is doing just that. Richard Proudfit is a retiree from Minnesota and he is a man with a mission. Proudfit founded Kids Against Hunger, an organization that is bringing 40 million meals to starving children around the world.

The meals consist of 52% soy protein, 6 vegetables, flavoring and 22 vitamins/minerals. It is a simple, dehydrated food that is highly nutritious and can help reverse the effects of starvation. The main ingredients are rice, soy beans, vegetables and vitamins. It took a team of food scientists three years to find the right formulation of food for these malnourished children.

Proudfit says, “God has called me to feed starving children” and has also said that he won’t retire from this job until all the world’s starving children are fed. He has been helping fulfill that calling since 1999 with Kids Against Hunger.

According to a few under-the-radar reports, Korea’s industrial conglomerate Daewoo has just completed a deal with Madagascar for a 99 year lease of an area half the size of Belgium (about 1.3 million hectares). While complete terms of the lease are not yet available, the total price is: NOTHING.

The initial plan is to plant maize and palm oil for export to South Korea. The benefit to Madagascar of losing a little over half of their arable land would be the anticipated employment opportunities for farmers and other locals.

According to a Daewoo spokesperson:

We want to plant corn there to ensure our food security. Food can be a weapon in this world,” said Hong Jong-wan, a manager at Daewoo. “We can either export the harvests to other countries or ship them back to Korea in case of a food crisis.

© Patrick Laverdant | Dreamstime.com

Consumers in the United States struggle with prices rising as much as forty percent for grains and twenty-five percent for eggs, eighty percent for dairy and double-digit increases for other staples. The situation has led to a record number of individuals seeking assistance from food banks nationwide. Globally, however, the crisis has taken on life and death consequences.

As prices have risen, fifty and even three hundred percent in areas like Sierra Leone, these areas have experienced food riots. The growing lists of nations that have had food price protests and riots in the last six months includes Mexico, Haiti, Morocco, Mauritania, Senegal, Guinea, Burkina Faso, Egypt, Cameroon, Yemen, Indonesia, Uzbekistan and Pakistan.

The situation resulted from what some experts call “a perfect storm” of factors combined; oil prices, the use of farmland for ethanol instead of food, Australia’s drought, crop disease, climate change, U.S. economy, and the growth of a more meat-intensive diet worldwide.

Who knew Stephen King was a prophet?

No, I’m not talking about the demon-possessed hot rods (I think we all saw that coming). I’m talking about America’s zombie-like loyalty to a certain cash crop — one that has turned our entire nation into the children of the corn.

Lately, of course, you can’t watch, read, or listen to the news without someone touting the benefits of corn ethanol and how it’s the key to leading us on a path of energy independence.

There might be a *cough* kernel of truth to that argument, but… (sorry, I suffer from a cousin of Tourette’s that requires me to uncontrollably shout out useless puns)…

Seriously, corn is not the answer. It’s not even a major part of the answer. In fact, it’s a major part of the problem.

What do I mean? Well, lend me your *cough* ear (jeez, the medication is wearing off quicker)…