In The News

In Hungry World, Japan's Farmers Are Stuck With High-Priced Rice

Blaine Harden May 13, 2008
Japan’s rice market is subjected to intense manipulation. Even as rice consumption is on the decline, farms remain small and protected, the country grows more than it needs and prices are high. Shortages of rice and other foods abound in poor countries, but Japanese rice is unaffordable, with prices more than double those in international markets. Per-capita annual consumption of rice has been...

Bee Emergency: Unexplained Mass Die-Off Hits German Hives

Andrew Curry May 12, 2008
The occupants of about half the bee hives in the German state of Baden-Württemburg have perished, writes Andrew Curry for Spiegel Online. The Rhine Valley is one of Germany’s most productive agricultural regions and bees contribute to pollination of many crops. Beekeepers in Germany and across the border in France express concern about a new pesticide, clothianidin, and question where it’s too...

Africa Plays the Rice Card

G. Pascal Zachary May 12, 2008
With food prices jumping, governments no longer taking their agriculture sectors for granted. In recent years, African governments eliminated duties on imported rice and assumed that wealthy countries would also curtail agricultural subsidies, explains G. Pascal Zachary for Foreign Policy. Many nations in Africa must import rice, but Uganda recognized that many countries subsidize their...

Food for Thought

Nayan Chanda May 8, 2008
While trying to save the environment, businesses try new public relation campaigns, which may end up hurting the world’s poor. The British supermarket giant Tesco has resorted to putting labels on imported foods that indicate foreign origin and warn consumers that the product contributes to global warming. The company also adopted a "carbon labeling" system which shows the amount of...

The Threat of Global Food Shortages – Part II

Mira Kamdar May 7, 2008
The temptation is great to find a quick fix for the shortages and high prices associated with the global food crisis. Indeed, radical changes are needed in how the world produces and distributes food, otherwise substantial numbers will go hungry later this century. That is the grim conclusion of an international report initiated by the World Bank and the UN Food and Agricultural Organization....

The Threat of Global Food Shortages – Part I

C. Peter Timmer May 5, 2008
Climate change, reduced availability of land for agriculture, growing populations in the poorest parts of the world, increased demand from a growing middle class in China and India, rising fuel costs and development of biofuels are among the reasons cited for food shortages and high prices. This two-part YaleGlobal series explores the phenomenon that has been anticipated by global experts in...

Putting Pollution on Grocery Bills

Elisabeth Rosenthal May 1, 2008
Shoppers like a steady stream of favorite fruits and vegetables year-round. “Consumers in not only the richest nations but also, increasingly, the developing world expect food whenever they crave it, with no concession to season or geography,” writes Elisabeth Rosenthal for the International Herald Tribune. Consumers get what they want with the help of global transportation systems combined with...