NECSI Food Briefing

(CLICK ON IMAGE TO ENLARGE - .PDF FILE) - Food prices (black line) and food riots and the Arab Spring (red lines). See food riots paper.

necsi.edu - September 28, 2012 - Karla Z. Bertrand, Greg Lindsay, Yaneer Bar-Yam

This summer’s droughts in the American Midwest have pushed corn and wheat prices above their previous highs in 2011 and out of the reach of the world’s poorest, threatening to trigger a new wave of global unrest — perhaps even a second Arab Spring.

After a sharp rise in July — the steepest monthly climb since February 2011, according to the World Bank — prices stabilized in September at around $9.00 per bushel for wheat and $7.50 per bushel for corn. On Friday, the U.S. Department of Agriculture reported that domestic corn supplies totaled 988 million bushels as of Sept. 1, the lowest level in eight years.

http://necsi.edu/research/social/foodprices/briefing/

(ALSO SEE RELATED ARTICLES IN THE LINKS BELOW)

http://us.resiliencesystem.org/food-crises-and-political-instability-north-africa-and-middle-east

http://us.resiliencesystem.org/scientists-predict-food-riots-will-grip-planet-within-year