Well it’s that time of year again.  For many people across the North American farm belt having corn in the field at Christmas time is something that doesn’t happen very often.  As I write this on Christmas Eve many farm families across the greater North America are gathering to celebrate Christmas.  I only hope those with corn in the field take some time off for now and get those acres off in the next week or two.  It certainly has been a tough go for many people this year in corn country.

Christmas time on the farm is many things to many people but I would surmise that for the most part across the North American farm belt that Christmas is pretty traditional.  For instance I have celebrated Christmas since I was a child with several big meals over an extended period as different families celebrate together.  I know this is not the case for everyone and especially the single people among us but in farm country that is the case.  If there is one constant in the celebrations its the abundance and variety of food set on the table.

I have thought about this more than once this week, in fact I’ve thought about it for several weeks.  In North America there is a huge industry built up to help people lose weight.  Billions of dollars are spent so people can capture that silver bullet to lose those pounds, which they build up in times like this.  It is true that I write about agricultural commodities almost every week and how we can increase food demand to boost farm prices.  However when you think about it, food has become so ubiquitous and so cheap in Western society it has become an Achilles’ heel.  The cheaper it is, the more we eat and the more often we eat and the rest as they say is history.  Society goes to great lengths to curb health care costs based on the obesity epidemic as many of us treat our bodies like a garbage can.

So increasing food demand in places like North America and Western Europe might be an endgame.  For instance how much more can we eat here to increase the demand for agricultural commodities?  I don’t think too much.  Sure the two-for-one pizza deals increase the demand for tomato paste in US and Canadian tomato fields but how much of that pizza is thrown away?  I say quite a bit of it.  That might increase the demand for tomato paste but I don’t think it translates into the world of corn, soybeans, wheat, beef and pork.  I don’t see any two-for-one deals there.

So that means if we want to see increased demand for our agricultural commodities much of that will have to come from the Third World where food demand is a lot different.  For instance, take a place like Bangladesh where I visit from time to time.  Their food is very basic and it takes much preparation in order to eat.  Firstly food in Bangladesh is either fresh or it will kill you.  So if you can get by that fact there might be hope.  Then of course you have the poverty situation where you need incomes to rise to get a corresponding rise in food demand.  Ditto for much of the developing world.  It’s not impossible but it is slow and painful getting there.

Take for example the greater region of South Asia which includes Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal Pakistan and Sri Lanka.  Is a region of the world that I find myself in every few years.  It has a population of 1.5 billion people and about 400 million live below the poverty line.  Literacy is a huge problem and feeding these people is a constant battle.  Alleviating poverty will always be a challenge in this region as their governments try to forge any type of sustained economic growth.  In short, for many people in this area of the world the festive meals that we are about to partake in across North America farm country would be the stuff that dreams are made of in this region.  And of course there are so many more of them than there is of us.

So keep in mind that this Christmastime about others less fortunate than you might be.  It’s also a time to keep in mind that when we talk about the great agricultural issues like “food demand” there is a human face to the issue.  It’s much more than a simple 13 cent jump in the future price.  So from my farm to yours, I hope all of you have a very Merry Christmas.  Next year this time, let’s hope the world is doing a little better.