Right.
Food Security Isn’t Being Tracked, According To Scientists. Here’s Why That’s A Huge Issue
Food prices are soaring globally, largely because there is no set system for tracking, planning and forecasting the food supply chain, according to food systems scientists.
That’s based on this article.
In recent years, global food security has had shocks from the COVID-19 pandemic, the Russian invasion of Ukraine, extreme weather events and more. My colleagues and I scramble to find convincing answers quickly when development outfits, aid organizations and government think tanks come calling. What would be the impact of COVID-19 mobility restrictions on harvests in sub-Saharan Africa? How would Germany’s move away from Russian gas affect global fertilizer production and use? How would heatwaves change the ability of the poorest people to afford food?
As we talked back in 2020, it was clear to both me and my colleague what we needed: next-generation food-systems models, hooked up to real-world data, that consistently capture patterns of food production, transport, processing and consumption, allowing stress-testing and real-time informed responses to systemic shocks.
Here’s a hint: Ask futures traders how they decide how much to invest in what.
And talk to Walmart about how they plan months in advance what foods to obtain from where, and how and where to ship them.
You might even ask the governor of Michigan why she thought it was a good idea to ban the sale of crop seeds (suggesting that central government planning and control might not be a good idea).
I think they’re only whining because it isn’t socialist “central government planning and control.” And they can ask survivors of the Soviet Union how well that worked for them.
Gab Pay link (More Tip Jar Options) |