Here's a forecast worth looking at: World grain prices could double and the cost of rice could rise more than 30% according to a new report from the International Food Policy Research Institute. While global food prices have slipped in the last century, the report says those salad days could be over with "increasing demand driven by population and income grwoth is greater than productivity growth, which is hampered by the negative productivity effects of climate change."
The report argued that boosting investment in agriculture by at least $7 billion and strengthening world trade flows will be vital to ensuring food security in the future.
The report assumes corn yields will rise about 2% per year up to 2050, in the countries that produce 80% of the world's output now. IFPRI says price increases could be limited to 12% rather than to more than 100%. Interestingly, this would decrease the number of malnourished children in the world by 3.2%.
Rising concern over food security will become a policy issue in many countries. This latest report fuels that debate.
The balance of pushing yield to feed 9 billion people by 2050 without raising the release of greenhouse gases will impact farm policy ahead.
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