The world has made little progress in reducing hunger since 1990, a new report said on Oct. 14, pointing to 29 countries with alarming levels of malnutrition, mainly in Africa and South Asia. Those countries also are most vulnerable to the impact of historically high food and energy prices, as well as economic recession –
Index Tracks Hunger Indicators
Global Food Security Plans Too Narrow
Global plans to reduce hunger by boosting food production are too narrowly focused on farming without considering how to slow population growth or halt climate change, longtime environmental analyst Lester Brown said Sept. 29. The Obama administration and leaders of other wealthy nations have promised to spend more money and coordinate efforts to reduce the
Hog Loan Aid No-Win For Ottawa
Canada’s government will set off squeals of protests no matter how it decides to handle a plea for aid from its desperate hog farmers. If Ottawa fails to come through on the $800-million loan request, Canada stands to lose a large chunk of its once-lucrative hog sector to bankruptcy and closures. But aid for Canuck
G8 Promises A $20-Billion Chance To Beat Odds On Hunger
Last week’s promise by the world’s wealthiest nations to spend $20 billion on impoverished farmers represents a chance to tackle chronic hunger, but leaders face daunting odds to make the pledge count. The back-to-basics three-year commitment by G8 governments to aid small farmers in Africa and parts of Asia – sparked in part by riots
Plant Breeder Hopes African Development Takes Root
For Gebisa Ejeta, it was not enough that he developed new varieties of a food staple crop that resisted droughts and a devastating weed that sucked the life out of cereal crops in his native Ethiopia. Ejeta, who was awarded the 2009 World Food Prize on Thursday, was really driven to get the seeds he
USDA Starts Surveillance Of Pigs For Flu
The U. S. Agriculture Department will soon launch a pilot surveillance project to look for new strains of flu virus in pigs, including the new strain of H1N1 flu, chief veterinarian John Clifford said June 2. The program will examine samples from sick pigs voluntarily submitted to government and private labs, as well as any
Beef Deal A Gleam Of Hope For U. S.-EU Trade Tensions
The United States and European Union have agreed to temporarily put aside a 20-year fight over beef and do some business – a new pragmatic stage in a testy trade relationship that experts say could bode well for other bilateral fights. The four-year provisional deal on beef does not solve the fundamental divide over food
EU To End Beef War With U. S. And Canada?
“The EU and U. S. are engaged in negotiations to find a way forward on this issue, and I am confident we will find a solution very soon.” – CATHERINE ASHTON The United States will hold off on new retaliatory duties for European products while the two countries work on a possible fix to a
Recession Compounds World Food Crisis
The global economic downturn has compounded the food crisis, pushing more people over the brink of hunger and threatening stability around the world, the head of the United Nations’ food relief agency said March 3. Food supplies are tight and expensive, and more people in poor countries are unable to afford what they need because
Obama Pledges To Lower Farm Subsidies
President Barack Obama’s pledge to cut subsidies to big U. S. farm businesses falls short of the cuts needed to revive mor ibund world trade talks, proponents of an expanded global trade agreement said Feb. 25. “Anything that would reduce payments to farmers in the U. S. would be looked on favour-ably by the rest
Cyber-Savvy Farmer
