Not my words, but important thoughts

I think many of us living in or from Western countries take food for granted. And, the investments we make, the news we broadcast, tends to affect others in many places around the world. The quote below is from a piece of correspondence I received. It was written by a man very experienced in working in and with different countries, and he holds a PhD in, essentially, plant genetics. He works in food crops. I have left in any typos from the original email.

"As the man on the news tonight said, I havent seen anything like this since
the bread lines of WWII. This Feb I did a survey for Belize (what they call
"Food security Survey" )which was nothing more than calling 5 rice mills to ask
"How long will your rice supplies last at the present consumption." A couple
said they woould run out but 3 said they have plenty to cover those 2. Since
then they have seen world prices go up and have raised Belize price 2 times.
They say price has gone up in Mexico and people are coming across the border.
Now today, they say "With 1 month til harvest of the early crop, there will be a
shortage." We are having a meeting next week and I can guarantee it will be
about how to keep Belize rice in Belize. This when only 2 years ago there was a
large illegal influx to Belize. Also the news tonight showed 2 things. Our
Caribbean news showed food fights in Haiti and Jamaca, but this has been going
on for years. This together with the gov of 4 coountries talking about how to
produce more food for their own people in light of the shortage, CREATES the
image of worldwide famine when last year they were still bickering about how to
sell all the sugar, bananas and rice from Guyana. To top it all off, CBS
showed shoppers IN AMERICA, limited to 4-25# bags of rice from Sam"s club.
People in america dont eat 100# of rice in ONE YEAR. But to a forewigner who
lives on rice, this creates an image of impending famine even in America. They
even showed American "food banks" ---empty, saying "We dont get rice
donations anymore. God Help us, What are we going to do foreigners are
thinking. Now it so happens that rice futures went up the MAXIMUM allowable
of $1. in 3 of the last 5 days. From $18-23/hundred. I heard that no broker
worth his salt has their clients at least 10% into commodities and some are
going for 20%. Just the thing we did with housing, then oil and gold and now
food---Are we trying to start WWIII. Already the list of countries NOT allowing
exports is too long to remember. My latest US rice report says "Yes Texas rice
is gone but Miss River ports are holding back as the price is rising. Mid-SOuth
Texas rice harvest Starts end of May so the rice should be
GONE. I heard that gasoline supplies are at an all-time high but may become
depleted come rising demand for the summer. Sop why is the price up
NOW!!! I think the media and the markets HAVE CREATED instability to cash
in on the monitary gains. Maybe I should send this to ABC, CBS and NBC and see
what they reply."

Certainly, stuff to think about. Feel free to email questions to me. If I can, I will forward them on.