Food in rich countries... A habit they can't give up

The Economist July 12th-18th 2008
The recent diminishing food supply has caused riots in some poor countries. Most of the food are consumed by people in the rich world.
-- increase in food price:
--"the industry has taken cheap oil for granted. Oil fuels transportation and farm machinery, and natural gas is the basis of synthetic nitrogen production" (increase in cost of production)
--water is becoming increasingly scarce and expensive (increase in cost of production,decrease in supply, increase in price)
These factors will "force a complete rethinking of the way we make food.
For years, food price was kept down due to government subsidy, plenty of water and easily-made nitrogen fertilizer.
"Consumers have grown eating too much."
In the U.S. : "obesity has caused 400,000 premature deaths in America"



Possible solutions:" halve the size of portions in all American restaurants" (to decrease demand)
organic produce, genetically modified crops.

Model for the future: "easily obtainable seasonal foods that do not need to be transported huge distances " (decrease in cost of production, increase in supply)



Shao Chen