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Show "FOOD NIGHTMARE" SOLUTION TRANSLATES INTO ENERGY EN-ERGY CRISIS ANSWER Jonathan Power, a columnist for the International Interna-tional Herald Tribune, recently wrote about the world's food situation. H headlined his article, "The Food Nightmare." Power related how Western Europe has been replaced by the United States as the world's leading grain producer. He continued by mentioning that the largest increase among grain importers-is among OPEC nations. That in itself is an interesting develop- ment and part of the reason behind the recent bushel-of-wheat-for-a-barrel-of-oil trade proposals. But still more curious is the advice Power gives OPEC nations and Third World Countries. Noting that weather watchers predict that the great rain seasons the United States' grain belt enjoys are diminishing (meaning that there will be less grain produced at a time when more countries will be trying to buy that grain), Power states that grain prices are destined to move upward. That prompts him to sound this tocsin, "And even if the grain is available, the poorest Third World countries will be edged out of the market by other countries that can afford to pay . ' ' Power then gives this bit of advice: "Short of a revolution. . . . if the Third World is to escape from the bondage of the Chicago grain dealers it must knuckle down to the job of growing its own food. It must increase its use of fertilizer, high-yielding seeds, irrigation and multiple cropping." Curiously, if one were to transpose our present energy crisis into that paragraph it would read something like this: "If the United States is to escape from the bondage of the OPEC oil producers, it must knuckle down to the job of producing its own sources of energy. It must increase its exploration and production of oil, and must encourage the discovery of alternative forms of energy." |