Starved of ideas

Philip Stott at A Hot Topic takes the British government to task for failing to address the issue of food security in its National Security Strategy.

[T]he desperate needs to keep food production ahead of population growth; to face up to diversifying food demands, especially in the developing world; to balance the fierce competition for land, from biofuels, from conservation, and from development; and to grasp the structural changes inherent in agricultural economics are abundantly clear. These all have historical precedents, and they remain at the heart of human survival.

[According to the Financial Times:] “Most governments now agree that the astounding surge in food prices last year - the cost of food rose almost 40 per cent globally, according to the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organisation, and has continued to rise this year - is structural, meaning that prices will not retreat to former levels. This is because newly wealthy consumers in countries such as China and India, who can increasingly afford to improve their diets, as well as the biofuels industry, are expected to maintain a rapacious demand for basic food commodities such as wheat, corn and soyabeans.”

And things are only going to get worse. Let's hope the government starts giving this issue the attention it deserves.