Marc F. Bellemare Posts

According to a conference held by the European Commission’s Joint Research Council (JRC), it is:

“Food security is “probably the most urgent and dramatic” problem facing mankind, a Brussels conference has been told. (…)

Dominique Ristori, director general of the JRC, said that in order to tackle the crisis, food production must assume a much higher priority in political agendas. He said that the case for ‘urgent action’ in the global food system ‘is now compelling.'”

This much is obvious to anyone who has been following the movements of food prices since the second half of 2010. What is more interesting is what the JRC suggests policy makers should do about it:

“Improving ‘governance’ of the global food system is another possible solution, it argues. ‘It is important to reduce subsidies and trade barriers that disadvantage poor countries.'”

This is in line with my own view on the impact of agricultural subsidies in the United States, in Europe, and elsewhere in the industrialized world on developing countries. More on this topic on Tuesday morning.