VOA标准英语2011--High Food Prices Expected to Climb Furth

High Food Prices Expected to Climb Further

World food prices remain near record-high levels, according to the latest UN world food price index, and they're expected to climb even higher.
The index hit a record in January and has not come down much since.
Today's high prices come less than three years after the index hit its previous peak in 2008.
"I'm not surprised at all," says Shenggen Fan, head of the International Food Policy Research Institute. "The factors that pushed food prices higher remain the same."
Food for fuel
He says one of the biggest factors pushing up food prices is the growing use of food crops to produce fuel.
In just the last few years, ethanol production from maize¹ has skyrocketed in the U.S. In Brazil, it's sugar cane². And in Europe, fields of canola are sprouting³ up to produce biodiesel.
One of the key factors pushing up food prices is the growing use of food crops to produce fuel.
That means food and energy prices are more closely linked today than they were before the biofuels boom, says Iowa State University economist⁴ Dermot Hayes.
But that's just one way food and fuel prices are connected, he adds, "the second one being the increase in transportation costs."
Transporting food from field to fork costs more when fuel prices are high. And it also costs more to run the trucks, tractors and machinery⁵ to produce it.
The cost of prosperity
Meanwhile, the demand for food is growing where prosperity is increasing and diets are changing, especially in emerging economies such as China, India and Brazil.
"They deserve a good life. So they want to eat more meat, more diversified⁶ food," Fan says. "And that all demands more feed, more grains."
Fan notes that it takes several kilograms of grain to produce each kilogram of meat.
The tremendous global growth in the demand for grains means farmers in the major producing countries need to produce ever-larger harvests.
Bad weather
But last year the weather did not cooperate.
"The midwestern part of the U.S. had too much rain," Hayes says, "and just about everywhere else in the world had too little rain. In particular, Eastern Europe had too little rain. It caused both Russia and Ukraine to literally⁷ cut off exports of wheat."
Russia and Ukraine's export ban started prices climbing last July.
Eastern Europe is doing better this year, but the midwestern U.S. is not, Hayes says.
"We're really dry right now, so it's the opposite of last year," he says. "But I personally am getting more and more concerned about the size of the U.S. crop, both for corn and soybeans. So, potentially, things could evolve next year as they did last year and we could see higher prices next year as well."
Hayes says high prices are actually good news for farmers. They will encourage farmers around the world to produce more.
The question is whether they will produce enough to keep up with the ever-growing demand, and if weather extremes brought on by climate change will make it harder for them to do so.

1 maize   

n.玉米

参考例句：

• There's a field planted with maize behind the house.房子后面有一块玉米地。
• We can grow sorghum or maize on this plot.这块地可以种高粱或玉米。

2 cane   

n.手杖，细长的茎，藤条；v.以杖击，以藤编制的

参考例句：

• This sugar cane is quite a sweet and juicy.这甘蔗既甜又多汁。
• English schoolmasters used to cane the boys as a punishment.英国小学老师过去常用教鞭打男学生作为惩罚。

3 sprouting   

v.发芽( sprout的现在分词 )；抽芽；出现；（使）涌现出

参考例句：

• new leaves sprouting from the trees 树上长出的新叶
• They were putting fresh earth around sprouting potato stalks. 他们在往绽出新芽的土豆秧周围培新土。 来自名作英译部分

4 economist   

n.经济学家，经济专家，节俭的人

参考例句：

• He cast a professional economist's eyes on the problem.他以经济学行家的眼光审视这个问题。
• He's an economist who thinks he knows all the answers.他是个经济学家，自以为什么都懂。

5 machinery   

n.(总称)机械，机器；机构

参考例句：

• Has the machinery been put up ready for the broadcast?广播器材安装完毕了吗？
• Machinery ought to be well maintained all the time.机器应该随时注意维护。

6 diversified   

adj.多样化的，多种经营的v.使多样化，多样化( diversify的过去式和过去分词 )；进入新的商业领域

参考例句：

• The college biology department has diversified by adding new courses in biotechnology. 该学院生物系通过增加生物技术方面的新课程而变得多样化。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Take grain as the key link, develop a diversified economy and ensure an all-round development. 以粮为纲，多种经营，全面发展。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

7 literally   

adv.照字面意义，逐字地；确实

参考例句：

• He translated the passage literally.他逐字逐句地翻译这段文字。
• Sometimes she would not sit down till she was literally faint.有时候，她不走到真正要昏厥了，决不肯坐下来。