Jim Hightower, who calls himself America’s Number 1 Populist, has recently written an editorial called ‘Speculators and our food’. From Mr. Hightower:
Speculators have long messed with farmers by artificially manipulating prices on everything from corn to soybeans. But now they’re pooling up billions of dollars from global investors to go after the farms themselves, as well as the fertilizer plants, grain elevators, ships and barges and other basic tools for producing, shipping, and storing our food supply. As one hedge fund operator says: “It’s going on big time. There is considerable interest in what we call ‘owning structure.'”
My Illinois farming friend John Phipps several years ago started getting calls from Wall Street folks wanting advice on buying farmland.
I also know that many of the financial products that Mr. Hightower sees as speculative also allow farmers to manage risk… but, like oil options, those markets have speculators. Unfortunately, his concern for stability in food -both production and prices – is completely valid.
We need to make certain our market structures for food (and other ecoproducts) are sincere. If it looks and walks like a duck, it should be a duck.
Richard Pace 