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The End of Plenty

Special Report—The Global Food Crisis

/2009/06/cheap-food/img/01-egypt-mob-714.jpg /2009/06/cheap-food/img/food-60-01.jpg Photograph by John Stanmeyer Egypt Stung by soaring food prices, angry Egyptians throng a kiosk selling government-subsidized bread near the Great Pyramid at Giza. Across the globe, rising demand and flat supplies have rekindled the old debate over whether production can keep up with population.]]> /2009/06/cheap-food/img/02-brazil-soybeans-714.jpg /2009/06/cheap-food/img/food-60-02.jpg Photograph by John Stanmeyer Brazil A mountain of soybeans rises in the hold of a cargo ship bound for China, where they will be crushed for cooking oil and animal feed. Though China has managed to meet most of the food needs of its growing population, its imports of soybeans have soared.]]> /2009/06/cheap-food/img/03-punjab-work-714.jpg /2009/06/cheap-food/img/food-60-03.jpg Photograph by John Stanmeyer /2009/06/cheap-food/img/04-dry-harvest-714.jpg /2009/06/cheap-food/img/food-60-04.jpg Photograph by John Stanmeyer Bangladesh A woman sweeps a harvested rice field, gleaning leftover grains to feed her family. One of the world's largest consumers of rice, Bangladesh needs more each year to feed its burgeoning population. A near doubling of rice prices over the past two years—exacerbated by flooding and a major cyclone that devastated crops in 2007—brought the nation's total number of starving people to 35 million.]]> /2009/06/cheap-food/img/05-usa-corn-714.jpg /2009/06/cheap-food/img/food-60-05.jpg Photograph by John Stanmeyer U.S.A. Jason Hinson, a sixth-generation corn farmer near Kingston, Iowa, keeps an eye on his auger as he unloads his combine on the fly. Federal mandates for corn-based ethanol soaked up 30 percent of the 2008 U.S. crop, helping send corn prices over eight dollars a bushel last year—triple the 2005 price. As long as energy prices remain high, biofuels will compete with food for land and water across the globe.]]> /2009/06/cheap-food/img/06-china-pork-714.jpg /2009/06/cheap-food/img/food-60-06.jpg Photograph by John Stanmeyer China Every imaginable cut of pork is on display at a busy butcher stall in Guangzhou, a sign of prosperity in China's growing cities. A rare treat for most Chinese just a couple of decades ago, pork is showing up on more dinner tables, though the United States' per capita meat consumption is still more than twice as high. China now raises about half the world's pigs and must import grain to feed them.]]> /2009/06/cheap-food/img/07-ethiopia-714.jpg /2009/06/cheap-food/img/food-60-07.jpg Photograph by John Stanmeyer Ethiopia The sorghum porridge at this refugee camp lacks the protein and fat needed for an Afari mother to produce enough milk to breast-feed her malnourished son. Thousands of pastoral Afaris have fled here from nearby Eritrea to escape war and drought. The green revolution that brought high-yield grain to Asia in the 1960s never reached sub-Saharan Africa, where crop production per capita has declined in recent decades.]]> /2009/06/cheap-food/img/08-phillippines-terraces-714.jpg /2009/06/cheap-food/img/food-60-08.jpg Photograph by John Stanmeyer /2009/06/cheap-food/img/09-phillippine-rice-714.jpg /2009/06/cheap-food/img/food-60-09.jpg Photograph by John Stanmeyer Philippines Skilled fingers separate good seed from bad at the International Rice Research Institute in Los Baños. "Miracle rice" varieties developed here in the 1960s doubled yields in Asia. Further growth has stalled since the mid-1990s, as investment in agriculture has declined. "Governments thought we'd won the war on food security," says IRRI Director General Robert Zeigler. "So they put money elsewhere."]]> /2009/06/cheap-food/img/10-china-fortune-714.jpg /2009/06/cheap-food/img/food-60-10.jpg Photograph by John Stanmeyer /2009/06/cheap-food/img/11-iowa-corn-714.jpg /2009/06/cheap-food/img/food-60-11.jpg Photograph by John Stanmeyer /2009/06/cheap-food/img/12-hanging-noodles-714.jpg /2009/06/cheap-food/img/food-60-12.jpg Photograph by John Stanmeyer gua mian, or hanging noodles, a staple in China's Henan Province that has become more expensive as wheat prices have climbed. The drought in China's wheat belt could drive costs even higher.]]> /2009/06/cheap-food/img/13-india-doctors-714.jpg /2009/06/cheap-food/img/food-60-13.jpg Photograph by John Stanmeyer India A hidden cost of the green revolution is evident in the plight of Gurjiwan Singh: Doctors say his birth defects are the result of pesticide poisoning. Supported by U.S. foundations in the mid-1960s, the use of high-yielding seeds, intensive irrigation, fertilizers, and pesticides turned Singh's Punjab homeland into India's breadbasket, but left depleted, poisoned aquifers in its wake.]]> /2009/06/cheap-food/img/14-brazil-ablaze-714.jpg /2009/06/cheap-food/img/food-60-14.jpg Photograph by John Stanmeyer Brazil Set ablaze by farmers, trees go up in flames in Mato Grosso state, where the rate of rain forest conversion to farmland has marched in lockstep with the price of soybeans since 2000. More than nine million acres of forest were damaged or destroyed last year. Turning forest into fields has increased food production throughout history, but doing so can take a heavy toll on the environment.]]> /2009/06/cheap-food/img/15-ethiopia-starvation-714.jpg /2009/06/cheap-food/img/food-60-15.jpg Photograph by John Stanmeyer /2009/06/cheap-food/img/16-miss-river-714.jpg /2009/06/cheap-food/img/food-60-16.jpg Photograph by John Stanmeyer /2009/06/cheap-food/img/17-steam-rice-714.jpg /2009/06/cheap-food/img/food-60-17.jpg Photograph by John Stanmeyer /2009/06/cheap-food/img/18-small-portions-714.jpg /2009/06/cheap-food/img/food-60-18.jpg Photograph by John Stanmeyer /2009/06/cheap-food/img/19-bazaar-poverty-714.jpg /2009/06/cheap-food/img/food-60-19.jpg Photograph by John Stanmeyer /2009/06/cheap-food/img/20-empty-bowls-714.jpg /2009/06/cheap-food/img/food-60-20.jpg Photograph by John Stanmeyer