Endless Appetites: How the Commodities Casino Creates Hunger and Unrest

Praise for Endless Appetites

"For all those concerned about the issues of hunger in the world, this is essential reading." —GEORGE McGOVERN, former U.S. Senator and 2008 World Food Prize laureate

"Alan Bjerga′s well–written book, Endless Appetites, takes readers from distant farms to commodity markets all over the world as he examines the growing complexity of farming, food production, and distribution. This award–winning journalist skillfully weaves stories with data as he explains why food prices continue to rise and why, despite record food production, famines still occur. Although it deals with a complex problem, Endless Appetites is easy to read and easy to understand. I highly recommend this book to everyone who cares about food." —DAVID BECKMANN, President, Bread for the World and 2010 World Food Prize laureate

Author’s Note viii

Prologue xi

CHAPTER 1: Floors, Fields, and Famines 1

CHAPTER 2: Chicago Makes a Market 13

CHAPTER 3: Elephants in the Kiddie Pool 25

CHAPTER 4: A Recipe for Famine 39

CHAPTER 5: The View from Rome 51

CHAPTER 6: Hot Air 65

CHAPTER 7: Promise 79

CHAPTER 8: The Price of a Cup of Coffee 97

CHAPTER 9: A Better Banana 113

CHAPTER 10: Thai Quality 131

CHAPTER 11: Steps Up 147

CHAPTER 12: Harvest of Hope 159

Notes 169

Acknowledgments 189

About the Author 191

Index 193

Alan Bjerga has covered food and agricultural issues for more than a decade for Knight–Ridder Newspapers and Bloomberg News. He won the Glenn Cunningham Agricultural Journalist of the Year Award from the North American Agricultural Journalists in 2005. In 2009, he was recognized for covering U.S. food aid and famine in Ethiopia by the Society of American Business Editors and Writers, the North American Agricultural Journalists, the New York Press Club, and the Overseas Press Club. In 2010, Bjerga was President of the National Press Club and the North American Agricultural Journalists.

" “Endless Appetites is ideal for someone interested economics and global markets, packed as it is with numbers. But the information in this book is important for anyone who is concerned about the future of our food supply—which should probably be all of us.”
— Serious Eats!

"Worth checking out … Based on the author′s personal visits to farmers around the world, Bjerga explains how the crisis happened (short answer: greed), it’s tragic effects, and what now has to be done to reverse them."
— The Atlantic

"Some of Bjerga’s best writing is about the inner workings of the Chicago Board of Trade and other markets, and when he brings American agricultural history into the story of what other countries have not had and do not have to encourage stable agricultural development. … Bjerga’s skill is in the way he forces the reader to make connections between aspects of agriculture that do not normally appear together. And the book is chock full of unusual observations."
— AgWeek

“My Thanksgiving holiday book discovery will become Christmas season reading. ... Lest you think this is just another rant at financial and trading institutions, be aware that Bjerga is a veteran commodities writer and Washington correspondent."
— Lee Egerstrom in Hindsight: The Minnesota 2020 Blog