Added a new page about the substantially improved affordability of selected food items in terms of equivalent number of hours worked at the prevailing wage. Although that data applies to the United States, it can be assumed that a similar trend applies across most countries, including developing economies.
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Food Prices Relative to Average Hourly Wages, United States, 1919-2019
Note: Hourly wage was $0.43 per hour in 1919 and $34.33 per hour in 2019.Source: The Simon Project, Human Progress. Due to a variety of technical improvements in agriculture, transformation, and distribution, the time price of food has declined across a wide range of items. The time price refers to
NYC Maritime Hackathon 2019: Connecting Big Data and Maritime
I had the opportunity to act as a judge for the NYC Maritime Hackathon 2019. Many impressive projects were presented. Among those, the Doc-It application was evaluated to be the one with the most potential. It tool generates a list of documents required for shipments depending on cargo, source and destination
Continue readingContainerized cargo flows along trade routes (updated)
Updated an existing page looking at container flow imbalances along major trade routes such as transpacific and Asia-Europe. Although the level of container flows imbalances is relatively stable, it is increasing in volume. Containerized Cargo Flows along Major Trade Routes, 1995-2018
Continue readingTonnage and Number of Transits through the Panama Canal (new page)
Added a page depicting the number of transits and the tonnage since the opening of the Panama Canal. The surge in the tonnage after the 2016 expansion is impressive. https://transportgeography.org/?page_id=13176
Continue readingGlobal Average Food Losses by Food Type, 2010
Source: FAO (2011) Global Food Losses and Food Waste. There are five major sources of food waste along the food supply chain:
The logistics of global food systems (new section)
First draft of a new section about the logistics of global food systems is now available. It focuses on food distribution, cold chain food systems and their main vulnerabilities. More figures and maps will be added as they become available. The Logistics of Global Food Systems
Continue readingFood Consumed per Capita, Selected Countries
Source: Overseas Development Institute (ODI), 2014. Derived from FAOSTAT. Each society and culture can be represented by a diet, which reflects a preference for specific food sources. Historically, local diets were coordinated by the availability of food supplies, which tended to reflect a scarcity of calories and proteins. The core of
World Agricultural Area, 1961-2021
Source: FAO. Note: Agricultural area is the sum of areas under Arable land and Permanent crops and Permanent pastures. About 37% of the world’s land is devoted to agriculture. Up to the 21st century, the world’s agricultural surface (crops and pastures) was growing at a rate much lower than the world’s
Estimated famine deaths since the 1860s (new page)
Added a new page part of the food logistics section I am developing. Famines have almost disappeared in spite of the growth of the world’s population. This is attributed to two core reasons. The first is better food storage and distribution capabilities. The second is the collapse of communist and
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