Bits And Pieces

"FOOD PRICES WILL SOAR AT LEAST 16% THIS YEAR ," says James A. McHale, Secretary of Agriculture of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. This does not mean, however, that the people who grow that food will profit from those prices. In fact, says Mr. McHale, "Farmers will be paying 80% more for fuel, 40% more for fertilizer and 20% more for pesticides in 1974 than they did in 1973. The extra money they receive for their crops and produce will in no way match these production cost increases. It's the middlemen--the processors, canners and distributors--who increasingly control, and profit from, agriculture in this country. If we do not move quickly to break the monopoly that the food industry is rapidly creating, we may see the price of supermarket food double and triple in a single year."

INDIA STANDS POISED ON THE BRINK OF DISASTER , in the judgment of Patrick Moynihan, U.S. Ambassador to that nation. "A resource-depleted, population-exploded collapse is about to occur in the subcontinent," he says, "and, because of last year's droughts and this year's shortage of fertilizer (due to the oil embargo), we can expect a 25% shortfall in India's grain production during 1974. This means famine no matter how you calculate it." Moynihan also notes that the United States is no longer in a position to ship massive amounts of grain to India as was done in 1966-67, when the nation last faced starvation. "India has no choice but to turn to the Soviet Union this time, 11 says Moynihan, "which will put the Indo-Soviet relationship to a strong test."

DES (DIETHYLSTILBESTROL) is an artificially produced hormone that stimulates growth in beef cattle. It is also a known carcinogen (cancer-causing agent) that can be detected in measurable amounts in the meat from those same cattle. For that reason, it was banned from use in animal feed in August of 1972. Never, however, underestimate the power of the agribiz industry: It has now pressured the Food and Drug Administration to open new hearings on the use of DES . . . due to the "current shortage" of meat.