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NFO: Grain reserve neededOne year ago, under much more favorable growing conditions and grain harvest projections, National Farmers Organization urged adoption of a farmer-owned grain reserve. "We've been calling for a grain reserve since 2006, and today's conditions are exactly the reason that National Farmers advocated one then, and why we are calling for it once again," says National Farmers Ag Policy Analyst Gene Paul. "Living hand to mouth and not storing grain is just the reverse of what plain common sense tells us," said Paul. "Price shocks and drought will occur. They're a given," said Paul. "It's time to put common sense over ideology." Experts predict the world must double its food production by 2050. That, combined with a history of drought recurring around the world, it was just a matter of time until the U.S. faced a drought of its own. Oxfam's Colin Roche predicts that the drought could lead to food shortages for millions of people worldwide. "This is not some gentle monthly wake-up call, it's the same global alarm that's been screaming at us since 2008," Roche said. Oxfam International is a confederation of 17 organizations working together to find lasting solutions to poverty and injustice around the world. Paul said the federal government could facilitate farmers isolating a corn supply of last resort, with provisions of grain release at price levels of 160 percent of production costs. Date: 9/10/2012
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