Terry Stevenson’s Agricultural Weblog

World leaders have gathered in Rome, Italy for a three day meeting in order to discuss food shortages, skyrocketing prices and how to feed the increasing world’s hungry. It is sure going to be tough to find a lot of common ground upon which they can come to a consensus and develop an effective, meaningful action plan. About the only thing they can agree on is that food prices are too high and shortages are contributing to world hunger.

The problems the world faces dealing with hunger are complex. On one side the rising demand for biofuels is said to be the leading cause of higher prices and lower world food supplies. Adding to that argument is the fact that some people don’t even believe that biofuels is a worthwhile alternative to fossil fuels, much less any better for the environment. Another issue that is causing heated discussion is the bickering between countries over unfair farm subsidies given out to farmers by governments of wealthier countries like the United States.

Developing countries have seen their agricultural funding cut by these wealthier countries while increasing their own spending on subsidies for their own farmers, biofuels and the military. One estimate by Jacques Diouf, director general of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations has said it may cost more than $30 billion a year to help provide food aid for the world’s hungry. I wonder where this money is going to come from and when it is going to be seen? I wish all of these international leaders the best of luck in trying to solve this global food crisis. Finding answers to this problem will be a real challenge. It won’t likely happen until they can at least come to a mutual understanding and actually agree on what the problems are. Only then will the real progress start in ending the crisis of world hunger.