The end of cheap food

  • 07/12/2007

  • Economist (London)

FOR as long as most people can remember, food has been getting cheaper and farming has been in decline. In 1974-2005 food prices on world markets fell by three-quarters in real terms. Food today is so cheap that the West is battling gluttony even as it scrapes piles of half-eaten leftovers into the bin. That is why this year's price rise has been so extraordinary. Since the spring, wheat prices have doubled and almost every crop under the sun