U.N. body urges G20 action on food prices, waste

[dipsydoodle]

Source: Reuters

(Reuters) - The world's top farm producers in the Group of 20 countries must agree coordinated action to ease worries about food prices, the head of the United Nations food agency said on Monday, as he and other experts bemoaned a huge global waste of food and water.

The third price surge in four years has come after drought in the United states and poor crops from Russia and the Black Sea bread basket region.

Senior figures from the G20 will discuss the food price rises this week, but any decisions on action are unlikely before a mid-September report on grain supply, officials have said.

U.N. Food and Agriculture Organisation Director-General Jose Graziano Da Silva said he would not characterise the current food price rise as a crisis, but it could reach that level next year if harvests in the southern hemisphere were disappointing.

Read more: http://uk.reuters.com/article/2012/08/27/uk-un-food-idUKBRE87Q0FM20120827

[Smilo]

1. This really is a disaster in making............

Da Silva is so correct - we need to take action now - actually we should have done this years ago.

I live in a desert area and am so annoyed and frustrated at people who take water for granted and waste so much.

It is also know that there are conglomerates out there buying up water rights all over the world.

[pscot]

2. Sounds like a socialist plot

to cheat agribusiness out of ginormous potential profits.

[4th law of robotics]

3. If only there were some easy way to increase the amount of usable grain

like say if some major grain exporter were doing something stupid like burning nearly half their crops in order to appease gaia.

If they could just be convinced to stop doing that perhaps we'd greatly reduce the effects of this looming famine.