An editorial in this morning’s New York Times:
“It is disappointing that the agriculture ministers from the 20 large industrial economies who gathered last week in Paris failed to end two policies that are a big part of the problem: bans on agricultural exports by certain producers and government supports for food-based biofuel production.
A report for the Group of 20 meeting by the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization, the World Bank and others noted that eliminating or curtailing these policies would help mitigate the spikes in prices that have deepened hunger in the poorest countries in the world.
The United States, Brazil and several other biofuel makers opposed an agreement to cut support for biofuels. The ministers also failed to forbid the use of export barriers to hold down food prices at home.”