Food riots, here we come
Why should long-term smart investors be worrying about Morocco's near monopoly of phosphate and the effects of the US putting ethanol-based fuel into energy-guzzling SUVs?
The same reason they should be worrying about Egypt: it all is part of the world's intractable problems of feeding everyone by 2050.
GMO chief Jeremy Grantham has returned to his big picture fears, which he revealed more than a year ago, that the world is facing a major food crisis in coming decades. And he is taking his fears seriously, suggesting long-term investors aim for 30 per cent of their assets in resources - and that they should be preparing for reduced long-term portfolio returns.
He argues the estimated increase in food consumption by 2050 to keep up with demand "is just not going to happen" given the difficulties faced.
Long before an extra 60 per cent rise in food output is reached, "rising prices will have made food too expensive for hundreds of millions", Grantham says.
To balance the books, the entire world must consume less meat; it must cut food wastage; and major food-producing countries will need more investment in sustainable production.
Poorer countries also need to curb population growth but Grantham's pessimistic conclusion to all the challenges is: "The main contributor to reducing the food imbalance between supply and demand is once again likely to be price: more of the poor will eat less and some, regrettably, will eat nothing," he says.
Comment: More evidence of increased volcanic activity around the world. Remember, most volcanoes are underwater.
Increased evaporation due to geological changes - and not antropogenic global warming, as they tell us - may already be affecting the global weather.