Harming Farming LOW FOOD PRICES USED TO HURT THE WORLD'S POOR—NOW HIGH PRICES DO. WHAT GIVES? By Liza Featherstone
Posted Wednesday, Aug. 6, 2008, at 5:45 PM ET
Last week, the Doha Development Round of global trade negotiations collapsed. Some of the stickiest points involved agricultural trade: Third World governments refused to open their markets further to exports from the European Union and the United States, citing the need to protect small farmers, who make up 75 percent of the world's poor. But just why are these Third World farmers suffering? We've been hearing for years that cheap food makes it tough for them to make a profit. But food's not so cheap anymore: Global food prices have increased 26 percent from 2004 to 2007, according to the World Bank, and are expected to remain above 2004 levels at least through 2015. Now that we're all paying higher prices at the grocery store—meaning more visits to food pantries or fewer to Whole Foods, depending on your situation—shouldn't the farmers' fortunes be improving?
Alas, economics is not that simple....