Rising food prices are reaching people across the globe, and the effects are hitting closer to campus.

“The national media reports regarding rising food costs are correct,” said Ralph Chaplin, director of residential dining. “Those increased costs are being absorbed by NIU Student Housing and Dining Services. With those increased costs, we are being very mindful of other expenses and our ability to control them, such as repairs to dining equipment.”

Students will not be charged extra to account for the increase in food prices, he said. Ascending food prices are affecting some NIU students, though.

“When I went to buy a carton of eggs, it went from $1.99 to $3.70,” said Shehzad Merchant, a junior political science major and president of the student group Model United Nations. “I have to change my diet. I can’t eat meat anymore. I can’t eat fresh foods. Fast food choices have been diminished to the dollar menu.”

Carl Campbell, associate professor and assistant chairman of the economics department, said most NIU students are negatively affected by escalating food prices.

“Obviously, it hurts them, unless their families are farmers,” Campbell said. “Farmers benefit from the increase in demand.”

Campbell adds there are two reasons why food prices are increasing at such a rapid rate.
“As developing countries such as China, Russia, Brazil and India are getting richer, they’re demanding more and better-quality food,” he said. “Another reason is rising petroleum prices: They raise the cost of fertilizer, the cost of running farm equipment, the cost of fuel when driving food from the farm to the store.”

Escalating food prices were worse in the 1970s, due to rising oil prices and poor harvests, Campbell said.

Merchant said the U.S. has an obligation to help other countries currently fighting hunger.
“The problem we’re going through is a global problem,” Merchant said. “The people who are going to be hurt the most are the poorest. As a rich nation, we have the responsibility of helping poor nations.”

The U.N. is reporting that food prices in general have risen by more than 40 percent in the last 12 months. The World Bank reports an 83 percent increase in overall food prices from February 2005 to February 2008.

The World Food Programme is reporting that rising food prices – the worst the organization has seen in its 45-year existence – are threatening to thrust more than 100 million people worldwide into hunger. The problem has gotten considerably worse in the past six months, the WFP said.

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