Date of Award:

2012

Document Type:

Thesis

Degree Name:

Master of Business Administration (MBA)

Department:

Applied Economics

Advisor/Chair:

Dr. Donald L. Snyder

Abstract

The United States has a National Oil Reserve but no food reserve. Just as the oil reserve is designed to buffer unforeseen disruptions in the critical supply, the nation should also have a food reserve for at least the same purpose. The United States and other developed nations have little or no food reserve beyond the typical demands between growing seasons. Marvelous production achievements in agriculture beginning in the early 1960s and known as the “Green Revolution” are now leveling off. Food production, suffering from such negative side effects as reduced water tables, is being outstripped by population growth (Bourne, 2009). In 2006 through 2008 the US and world drawdown of wheat and other grain stocks, together with agricultural events such as droughts in various parts of the world, caused grain reserves to hit historically low levels. The resulting lack of supply created significant disruptions, including record high prices (Figure 1) (Good and Li, 2010, USDA - Foreign Agricultural Service, 2011), countries refusing to export, riots, and famine (CNN.com, 2008). The need for higher world grain stocks seems clear. Higher grain stocks should result in lower price volatility and higher food security in Utah, the US, the UK, and internationally.

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This work made publicly available electronically on April 12, 2012.

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