The Economist Food Price Index is at 280.6, up 11.3 percent on the month and a frankly astonishing 66.2 percent over the last year. Elasticity in this case is a measure of people going hungry, I think.

The Economist questions organic farming: But as global food prices soar, hurting the poor in particular, environmentalists may find organic farming trickier to promote. Organic farming produces far less than conventional intensive methods, and so more land must be farmed for the same yield.

The Economist food price index is up again this week, up 4 percent, at 267.7.

Global food prices rose 4 percent in the last week, according to the Economist food price index.

This week’s Economist food price index is at 252.1, essentially unchanged from last week, flat now over the last month, up 50 percent from a year ago.

The Economist food price index this week is down a hair at 252.2, 0.7 percent below last week.

The runup in global food prices seems have stabilized for now, according to the weekly Economist food price index. It’s a 254.5 this week, down 3.5 percent over the last month, but still up 57.9 percent over a year ago.

Ajay Shah explains what’s hidden behind the economic term “elasticity” – people with empty bellies: GDP growth yields fewer poor people who respond to higher wheat prices by purchasing less meat or wheat, i.e. we have less of a shock absorber. That generates a reduced elasticity of demand of wheat. So prices have to rise …

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