LATEST: “Despite the repetition of crises, our food is still so dependent on fossil fuels”
New information reveals that the following story has emerged from the international scene.
The most formidable effect of energy crises is their capacity to transform into food crises. In 2007 and 2008, high oil prices, the rise of biofuels and the increase in meat consumption in Asia, combined with speculative dynamics, caused a sudden increase in agricultural prices. Between 2007 and 2008, a barrel went from 70 to 140 dollars. At the same time, the food price index of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Agency (FAO) jumped by 70%. Read also | Article reserved for our subscribers The blockage of the Strait of Hormuz, a threat to food security and a revealer of the fragilities of agricultural systems Read later As subsistence agriculture had been crushed by international competition, this surge in prices caused immense suffering. While the collapse of Lehman Brothers shook New York, nearly 1 billion people suffered from hunger. Riots broke out in Haiti, Egypt, Senegal, Ivory Coast, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Indonesia… The most terrible thing is that this sequence between energy crisis and food crisis was not inevitable: this is what the first oil shock in history teaches us. During the summer of 1920, the West Coast of the United States faced a gasoline shortage. Three reasons for this crisis: demand that is soaring with the rise of the automobile; the even more rapid spread of the tractor and a drought that hit the region from 1919 to 1920. Deprived of water and hydraulic electricity, many Californian farmers were forced to resort to gasoline-powered pumps to irrigate their land. And, at the very moment when consumption is soaring, supply turns out to be rigid. The relative isolation of the West Coast limits the possibilities of massive importation. Read also | Article reserved for our subscribers Agri-food systems increasingly threatened by extreme heat: “In the medium and long term, we will no longer produce as we currently do” Read later Very quickly, the obvious becomes clear: not all consumption is equal. If the individual automobile embodies modernity, it is agriculture which appears to be the vital sector to be preserved. Without fuel, no irrigation, no tractor, no harvest, no transport of perishable products. Quite remarkably, the oil companies, rather than letting prices adjust, chose to prioritize uses through very strict rationing. [L’industriel américain] John Davison Rockefeller was even forced to cut short a trip to California… The gasoline shortage of 1920 revealed a new dependence on agriculture but also the need, in times of crisis, to distinguish the essential from the superfluous. You have 41.66% of this article left to read. The rest is reserved for subscribers.
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Source: This article was originally published in another language by International : Toute l’actualité sur Le Monde.fr. and has been translated and adapted for our global English-speaking audience. Read the original article here.