As if rising gas prices are not enough, the food we eat is steadily getting more expensive. Take wheat for instance: in the space of one year (March 2007 to March 2008), wheat prices have risen 130%. That's a huge jump that is going (if it hasn't already) to find its way into our pocketbooks.

The BBC recently interviewed six families in different countries around the world about what types of food they buy and how much they spend. I found the results interesting:

Country     % of income per mo.    $ per mo.
Guatemala                 40%                     $250
UK                             10%                     $200
India                          20%                     $100
China                         16%                     $100
Kenya                         7%                     $228
Egypt                         80%                 unknown

*Note: the family in Kenya had two incomes – hence the low % of income per month.

** More graphs can be found here

Why the rise in global food prices? [@more@]

While there are many reasons for the price increase, here are the top four:

1. Growth in the world's population – over 6 billion and growing
2. Emerging economies in developing nations, such as China and India (basically, the more money you have, the more food you tend to eat)
3. Desertification, flooding and changing rainfall patterns have impacted agricultural production around the globe (especially in China and sub-Saharan Africa)
4. Biofuels – corn previously used for food is now being turned into ethanol; pushing up the cost of corn flour

Summary:

I, for one, am planning on starting a garden this year so I don't have to continue to purchase any vegetates. Plus I get the added bonus of knowing how they where raised and what chemicals (if any) have been used.

As for flour… *sigh* I think I will have to bite the bullet and continue to buy wheat and corn flour as I don't think I will be grinding my own this year. Next year…maybe…