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From Benedicte Gravrand, Geneva: The forthcoming G8 summit (June 6th-8th) in Germany which will focus on the Kyoto protocol on greenhouse gases and the protocol’s foreseeable end in 2012, reminds us how attitudes towards climate have changed in the past few years. Whereas businesses are trying to meet the challenges, many investors are now seriously looking into the issues of peak oil, peak metals, carbon trading. But there is another problem that is more fundamental, a problem with grain supplies, which Mr. Greg Smith of Adelaide-based Global Commodities Ltd highlighted at the Singapore conference in May. Greg Smith calls it ‘The Perfect Storm’. Opalesque spoke to him to get his full view.

Population move to cities lead to greater dependence on grain imports “The U.S. and Australia have the lowest grain inventory for the last 20 years. One of the issues that we now face is that, according to the U.N., globally, a million people a week are moving from the countryside to the cities. Those cities increasingly need water and divert it from the countryside. Countries that can afford to purchase grains do so and cut back on their own supplies, as they no longer have enough water to irrigate the crops. The Middle-East, which is almost totally dependent on imported food, is a good example. So is China which has been exporting grains since 96”, (when the world faced a shortage of grain).

“Investing in grains is another wa......................

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