'Despite repeated crises, our food remains just as dependent on fossil fuels'

T

he most daunting impact of energy crises is their ability to trigger food crises. In 2007 and 2008, soaring oil prices, the rise of biofuels and increasing meat consumption in Asia, combined with speculative dynamics, led to a sharp spike in agricultural prices. Between 2007 and 2008, a barrel of oil rose from $70 to $140. At the same time, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) food price index jumped by 70%.

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As subsistence farming had been decimated by international competition, this surge in prices caused immense suffering. While the collapse of Lehman Brothers shook New York, nearly one billion people went hungry. Riots broke out in Haiti, Egypt, Senegal, Côte d'Ivoire, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Indonesia and other countries. The most tragic part is that this chain reaction from energy crisis to food crisis was not inevitable: This is what the first oil shock in history teaches us.