United Nations Report Predicts Food Prices Will Rise in 2011

(Nov. 17) -- Between wildfires, floods and drought, it's been a bad year for grain production worldwide. Now, a new report from the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization predicts a bleak year for people around the world struggling with hunger.

The report predicts that food prices will rise due to unfavorable weather, declining production and rapidly diminishing cereal stocks. The people who will ultimately pay the price will be the consumers. The FAO worries that food prices could even rise to the levels they were at during the world food crisis of 2008, when hungry citizens across the world rioted for bread, tortillas and rice.

Next year's production will be critical in determining the near future for grain prices. If the world sees another repeat of some of the disasters from 2010, it could spell trouble.

Sponsored Links

"Given the expectation of falling global inventories, the size of next year's crops will be critical in setting the tone for stability in international markets," the FAO says in the report. "For major cereals, production must expand substantially to meet utilization and to reconstitute world reserves, and farmers are likely to respond to the prevailing prices by expanding plantings."

Experts fear that expanding global grain production in an era of climate change will be difficult, especially if rising temperatures lead to more of the erratic weather patterns seen in 2010. But others point out that while production is important, price discrepancies and market forces of the kind cited by the FAO are just as critical -- the world grows enough grain to feed itself, but it rarely gets to those who need it most.

"We have the resources to give every person in the world the tools they need to feed themselves and their children," Hilary Clinton wrote last year. "So the question is not whether we can end hunger. It's whether we will."