Although it often comes second or third in the news listings of current major world crises, the global food crisis has had profound effects on the way that we eat. The nation’s corn crop has been diverted from livestock feed (and human food) toward ethanol production. Wheat from the nation’s breadbasket — an important symbol for America, and once a source of food for the entire world — has been largely replaced by soy bound for China, forcing production costs for simple staples to soar.

The Washington Post reports on the trickle-down effects of the global food crisis around Washington. A growing number of farmers are giving up traditional livestock and taking up, of all things, the alpaca. Agricultural officials say that nearly all of the farmers in southern Maryland have cut the number of livestock animals they keep on their farms and some have replaced them altogether.

Not only does the alpaca offer an abundant resource of cute, it is economically efficient to raise. They eat less than livestock and they don’t have to be slaughtered for farmers to harvest their woolly fur, which fetches a good price at market. Plus the food they eat is called alfalfa, making this an animal that brings two hilarious words into everyday use.

But man cannot live on cashmere alone. When the markets return to D.C. neighborhoods in the summer, should we expect to see higher prices for locally raised pork and grass-fed beef? Will we see a slowdown in slow food?

In other news:

» Arlington County announced that there will be no pay raises for county employees in 2009, NBC4 reports. To offset this bad news, the County will raise taxes.

» Metro will be testing eight-car trains on all lines at all hours over the next week to prepare for the inauguration, says ABC7.

» Former Richmond mayor and Virginia governor Doug Wilder is starting a blog! WTOP reports that it will be named WilderVisions. Meh. Readers can come up with a better name, I’ll bet.

Photo by afagen