As food prices continue to rise, world leaders have suggested they may hold a summit to discuss the possibility that poor harvests and massive inflation could lead to another food crisis and attempt to develop a response.

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G20 leaders have expressed concern over the fact that drought in many of the world’s grain producing regions will lead to unsustainable pressures on food resources, as the food needs of a growing world population, increasing livestock production and a heavily subsidised and quota-driven biofuel industry all compete for scarcer supplies. As early as late June the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation expressed concern over the effect challenging conditions in the United States in particular would have on world food prices.

The organisation suggested dramatic rises in food prices would impact most severely on the world’s poorest. World leaders fear that such rises could lead to a repeat of 2008, when record food prices and scarcity are thought to have contributed to widespread unrest which saw civil strife in some global regions and even led to regimes being deposed.

France, which used its presidency of the group last year to call for action to curb speculation on agricultural commodities, along with the United States and Mexico are planning to convene a meeting of the Group of 20 to coordinate a response to surging food prices. The decision was made as maize prices reached record highs on Friday, breaking previous records set last month, due to the effects of the United States’ worst drought in over half a century.

It is thought that a meeting will take place in September or October to discuss the issue. The G20 meeting would be the first test of the Rapid Response Forum, which forms part of the Agricultural Market Information System (AMIS), created as a result of France’s action as G20 president. French agriculture minister Stephane Le Foll said yesterday, "France ... and the United States remain attentive to any new fact that could justify a meeting of the rapid response forum."

Conncern, scepticism over rising food prices

Elsewhere, spiralling food prices have sparked calls for action from anti-poverty and food NGOs. Last week, FAO leader Jose Graziano Da Silva called on the United States government to relax its biofuel mandate, which currently sees 40 per cent of the country’s corn crop going into biofuel production, in an effort to ease pressure on food prices.

Experts have expressed doubts that anything more than talk will emanate from the G20 over the growing crisis. Simon Evenett, a former World Bank official, told news agency Reuters yesterday that the G20 had a history of belated monitoring and diluting any action on food to the point of ineffectuality. He said this is partly as a result of the differing views which exist between the G20 governments.

Oxfam has also criticised intergovernmental handling of the growing crisis. Hannah Stoddart, head of economic justice at Oxfam UK said that there is “unequivocal” evidence that biofuel production has contributed to rising world food prices. She said, “This is not some gentle wake-up call - it's the same global alarm that's been screaming at us since 2008. The combination of rising prices and forecast low reserves means the world is facing a double danger; as usual, it will be people in developing countries who will be hit the hardest, with millions who are currently 'just getting by' starting to go hungry as a result.”

She continued, “These latest figures prove yet again that there is something fundamentally flawed in the way we produce and distribute food around the world. For too long our leaders have stood by complacently, while up to a billion people go hungry worldwide.”

Max Lawson, the global charity’s Head of Policy echoed Ms Stoddart’s sentiments. Last week, he said, “We cannot keep relying on humanitarian agencies to pick up the pieces. Putting food in fuel tanks while people go hungry is nothing short of a scandal,” and called for policy makers to commit to “Real reforms that end the scandal of almost a billion hungry people in a world that produces enough food for everyone.”

In Britain, Prime Minister David Cameron has incurred the wrath of poverty campaigners by suggesting that the global food crisis could be reduced by distributing fortified foods to children. Campaigners from War on Want accused Mr Cameron of ignoring the root causes of poverty and hunger.

War on Want blames record levels of global hunger on a food system which has been “hijacked by agribusiness corporations such as Cargill, the world’s largest grain trader.” Cargill announced $134 billion in consolidated revenues for the full fiscal year 2012 on the same day the UN FAO reported a 17 per cent rise in world cereal prices in the space of a month.

War on Want executive director John Hilary commented on Cameron’s suggestion and the UK government policy of supporting food aid programmes and nutritional interventions, “The world needs a massive shake-up of farming and food distribution if we are to end the global food crisis.

“Record numbers of people now live with hunger as an everyday reality, yet the big food companies continue to profit from their control over the system. David Cameron’s suggestion that the problem can be solved through handing out high-energy biscuits to children is a distraction from the seriousness of the issue.”

The charity has called for more widespread adoption of ‘agroecological’ farming methods, part of an approach which views social and environmental aspects and impacts of farming as intrinsically important to food production as a whole. The school of agriculture has encountered massive successes in reducing poverty, producing food and mitigating the effects of climate change.

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