In an editorial in the Wall Stree Journal, Nobel Prize winner Norman Borlaug and Peter McPherson, president of the National Association of State Universities and Land-Grant Colleges, talk about how the US should get a long-term plan to stave off famine in the developing and rural world. Despite the Green Revolution "and other advances in technology, production methods and related investments in agriculture" that increased food production 30 years ago, agricultural biotech might be the next tool in the shed to avoid a pending food shortage, they argue.
At AlterNet, Scott Thill warns that we're already on the verge of famine, which could become the "chief terror of the future," he writes. "Rising food prices do not have one simple cause," says Bettina Luescher, chief spokesperson for the North American chapter of the UN World Food Program. "They are caused by several factors, all combining to a perfect storm. But they are rooted in increased energy prices, competition between biofuels and food, rising demand from economic growth in emerging economies, and increasing climatic shocks such as droughts and floods."
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