Growing up in the 1960s, I have seen my share of riots although riots back then were different than they are today. Back then they were spontaneous affairs born out of rage and frustration. They were often the result of injustice, intolerance, or oppression.

Today riots are well-planned by professional organizers with well-predetermined video coverage and well-spun talking points. They more resemble street theatre with bizarre characters and over-the-top antics. The reasons for a riot have also changed. Today global warming, trade, an anti-Islamic cartoon, or George W. Bush coming to town are all reasons to riot. Now, hikes in food prices can be added to the list of reasons to paint your face, grab a brick, make a sign, and head to the street.

Isolated violent uprisings have occurred around the world in the past month.  Food Riots have been reported in Haiti, Morocco, the Ivory Coast, Senegal, Burkino Faso, and Egypt. Hold it! Egypt? Isn’t that a place with lots of oil? Oil that is selling for $119 a barrel and that is causing the high food prices? How about if we just swap them some food for oil. When you examine the reports of these food riots, you discover it is the price of food not a shortage of food that is the issue.

Consumers in the U.S. have been doing a lot of griping about the hike in food prices. In less developed countries, where they don’t have cable TV for entertainment, they riot when food costs go up. Many media outlets and political leaders around the world have blamed this global increase in food prices on renewable fuels. This is categorically wrong. “Ethanol does not take food from the mouths of starving people. Ethanol production uses field corn, most of which is fed to livestock with only a small percentage going into cereals and snacks. In fact, only the starch portion of the corn kernel is used to produce ethanol.

The vitamins, minerals, proteins, and fiber are converted to other products including sweeteners, corn oil, and high-value livestock feed,” said Toni Nuernberg, executive director of the Ethanol Promotion and Information Council.

The culprit that can be directly related to increased food prices is the price of oil.

For example, of the several dollars it takes to buy a box of corn flakes, only 10 cents represents the price of the corn in the box. The rest is the labor, packaging, and transportation it takes to put that box conveniently on your store shelf. If you really want to riot over high food prices, make sure you do it in front of the Saudi embassy.

Another factor that can be directly related to food price hikes is government policy. Governments that support agricultural production will have a low cost food supply.

Governments which take over private farms and regulate the price and distribution of raw commodities will have higher food prices and food shortages. It is noteworthy that some of the people who are yelling the loudest about high food prices have done the most to inhibit food production over the past decade.

Contrary to the headlines, we do not have a world food shortage. World hunger could be greatly reduced with a few key trade, energy, and economic policy changes by both developed and developing nations. Food riots draw a lot of attention, but they focus that attention on the problem and not the solution.

The views and opinions expressed in this column are those of the author and not necessarily those of Farm World. Readers with questions or comments for Gary Truitt may write to him in care of this publication.