No wonder vegetable seed sales have risen by around 60% over the past year. According to MySupermarket.com, British shoppers are grappling with the highest food inflation in a generation.
The cost of a basket of basics, including pasta, tea and cornflakes, is up by 15% on last year, from an annual inflation rate of 11% in March. That implies an extra £780 a year for groceries.
In the developing world, where food can account for over half of household budgets, riots have spread to more than 12 countries, while food relief agency World Vision International has said soaring costs have prevented it from providing rations to over a million people.
Why food’s booming
Growing and increasingly wealthy populations in emerging countries have underpinned demand, while the biofuels craze has reduced the land available for growing cereals to feed people; this week the Government called for a rethink of EU biofuels targets.
The lowest stockpiles in 30 years have also boosted prices, with grains hitting new records this year. Rice this week jumped to a new record, having risen almost threefold in a year. Rattled governments have exacerbated the problem by imposing export quotas and trade restrictions, which merely raise prices further, said The Economist. The end of the 30-year era of cheap food is proving “costly and painful”. See also: The ‘silent tsunami’ threatening the world economy