Mr. Darling

An article defending supermarkets. One of the few.

"Food prices at the global level, notably dairy and wheat, are now beginning to dip after last year's huge surge and they could fall further. Unlike oil, the supply response to grain price increases can be rapid, as quick as the next harvest.

That will take several years. It requires huge investment, in farms, in infrastructure and in agricultural technology. Without high food prices, the investment will not happen. It will take time for the world to compensate for the past three decades of low investment in food and there is little that the supermarkets or Mr Darling can do about it."