16
FEB
2013

Commodity Hedge Funds Take a Hit in 2012

As reported by the Financial Times and Wall Street Journal in recent weeks, commodity funds took a significant financial hit in 2012 losing on average 3.7 of their value during that period. As reported in these articles, investors have been fleeing this asset class, causing the...
07
FEB
2013

Commodity Speculation and Food Explained

Perhaps the biggest challenge we face at the Initiative for Human Rights in Business is explaining the relationship between commodity speculation and food security. Financial derivatives are a complex topic and their relationship with food only adds to the difficulty in...
10
AUG
2012

Are Investors Driving Up Food Prices Again?

In recent days, reports about rising food commodity prices have been announced, pointing to the serious drought in the American Mid-West. With record low rainfalls throughout the central region of the country, corn prices are approaching record levels that occurred in 2008. As...
24
JUL
2012

Investing in Hunger

Food shortages, hunger, famine. In our global society, these are terms we know all too well. Images of starving children pull at our heartstrings and their causes are often obvious if not easily solvable. War, pestilence, drought and in our modern age, energy security are cited...