Cost of Food Increased 29% in 2010

NBC Nightly News reported yesterday about the growing global food crisis stating that it is reaching "dangerous levels" and will push millions more into poverty. World food prices have risen 29% in the last year. This spike is being sited by some as the spark to recent uprisings and revolutions where conditions are such that the wages people are making can not keep pace with the cost of a most basic human necessity: food.

Food price increases are largely due to changes in food commodity prices. Food commodities are bought and sold on the market like stocks and bonds . Speculation forces the price of these commodities to rise making some very wealthy while working people and the poor starve.

Watch the video here: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/41610114#41610114

This report by Labor Justice Radio reporter, Milena Velis, details what the rising cost of food means for Philadelphians who are underemployed or out of work as a result of the most recent crisis in the economy: http://phillylabor.org/listen-food-pantries-struggle-serve-new-poor

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