From ETC Group [link and blockquote added by biscuit]:

the world’s largest seed and agrochemical corporations are stockpiling hundreds of monopoly patents on genes in plants that the companies will market as crops genetically engineered to withstand environmental stresses such as drought, heat, cold, floods, saline soils etc… BASF, Monsanto, Bayer, Syngenta, Dupont and biotech partners have filed 532 patent documents (a total of 55 patent families) on so-called “climate ready” genes at patent offices around the world. In the face of climate chaos and a deepening world food crisis, the Gene mongers are gearing up for a PR offensive to re-brand themselves as climate saviors, pushing genetically engineered crops as a silver bullet solution to climate change.

According to a new report,

patented techno-fix seeds will not provide the adaptation strategies that small farmers need to cope with climate change. These proprietary technologies will ultimately concentrate corporate power, drive up costs, inhibit independent research, and further undermine the rights of farmers to save and exchange seeds.

Beyond the U.S. and Europe, patent offices in major food producing countries such as Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, Mexico and South Africa are also swamped with patent filings. Draw your own conclusions.

The “corporate grab” of genetically engineered “climate tolerant” seeds means that just a handful of companies could end up controlling the price and access to technologies which guard against environmental extremes, according to the ETC Group, which assesses the impact of new technologies on socioeconomic and ecological issues.

“The patent grab on so-called climate-ready traits is sucking up money and resources that could be spent on affordable, farmer-based strategies for climate change survival and adaptation. After decades of seed industry mergers and acquisitions, accompanied by a steady decline in public sector plant breeding, the top 10 seed companies control 57% of the global seed market. As climate crisis deepens, there is a danger that governments will require farmers to adopt prescribed biotech traits that are deemed essential adaptation measures.”

As reported late last year Monsanto (now the world’s largest seed company) and BASF (also the world’s largest chemical firm) have forged a $1.5 billion partnership to engineer stress tolerance in plants.

From Food Navigator [link and blockquote added by biscuit]:

Food insecurity is understood to affect some 850m people around the world and the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) has raised concerns about the impact of climate change, food prices, and biofuels.

To recap: the top 10 seed companies control 57 per cent of the global seed market and farmers in the US already pay premium prices for biotech seeds that are loaded with up to three genetic traits.

One example highlighted by ETC is Monsanto’s “triple-stacked” biotech maize seed which sells for about $245 per bag – compared to $100 for conventional maize seed.

A Monsanto spokeswoman said it aimed to be generous, whilst recognizing its obligations to shareholders.

She added: “Currently Monsanto products are used by 25 million farmers globally and our biotech enhanced seeds reach 5 to 7 million farmers. We are active in humanitarian efforts and will work to help address food security problems, whether through the sharing of scientific information generally or a partnership focused on sharing germplasm and technology.”

As for their “generosity“, ask some disgruntled farmers: “Monsanto is the only company I know of that is suing individual farmers and putting them out of business.”

Last year, for the second time in five months, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has rejected patents key to Monsanto’s dominance in bioengineered seed, casting suspicion on its science and weakening the argument that helped the company prevail in dozens of lawsuits against farmers. Additionally, the Public Patent Foundation said that the U.S. patent office sided with it in its case against Monsanto, saying at least four patents should not have been granted because the gene technology was either not new or so obvious it wouldn’t require patenting.

Global food prices force about 100 million people into hunger.

High food prices are pushing 30 million Africans into poverty.

About 850 million people are suffering from chronic hunger worldwide.

Food prices have hit the highest levels in real terms in 30 years.

Price of rice has gone up by 75% globally.

Global food prices rose by 43% in 2007 alone.

The US has diverted about 40 million tons of maize to produce ethanol.

An acre of maize produces only 50 gallons of gasoline.

EU plans to get 10% of auto fuel from Bio-energy by 2020.

Food riots and food wars are not just taking place in the streets of Egypt and in Mexico, they are taking place in the corridors of the FAO (Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN)

Last week’s Rome Food Security Summit was all about getting world leaders in one place and agreeing on a strategy to ensure access to sufficient food for all. Billions of dollars are being wasted on feeding obese people in the West while millions starve around the world, Jacques Diouf, the United Nations food agency chief, has told world leaders at a summit on food security in Rome.

“No one understands… how over-consumption by obese people in the world costs $20bn each year,” Diouf said. “On top of this, there are $100bn in indirect costs resulting from premature deaths and associated diseases.”

Speaking at the opening of the three-day UN Food and Agriculture Organisation summit in Italy’s capital, Diouf also highlighted how an estimated $1.2 trillion was spent on weapons in 2006 while aid to agriculture fell by more than half, from $8bn in 1984 to $3.4bn in 2004.

The official statements coming out of the event were heavily laced with the same message: “It’s time for action”. Not everyone is happy with the summit’s outcome, I’m not.
It saw the signing of a declaration to make food security a matter of permanent policy, and implement short and medium-term measures to alleviate the current crisis and reduce risk of a recurrence. What about the long term future?

There have been murmurs that the declaration was watered down as participants were unable to agree on the causes of the food crisis – the very first step towards seeking a solution.

Biofuels, for instance, were a big bone of contention, as I wrote in the last diary. There were proposals for standards or criteria for biofuels, to reduce the effect that competition for grain supplies is having on the availability of grain-based food.

As The New York Times summed it up: “Everyone complained about other people’s protectionism, and defended their own”.

When you consider how the American reserve bank and the European bank have just, in the last six months, put up hundreds of billions to stabilize the financial structure of the world, I find it amazing that this sort of money cannot be available straight away for the people who are now suffering from hunger. On one hand in the West, we have the problem of obesity and food waste and, on the other hand, we have 100 million people going to bed hungry every night.

With 850 million hungry people in the world and a need to double food production by 2030, the world really does not have much time to waste squabbling over who should be giving up what. The comments on protectionism sound eerily similar to those made over the stalled Doha trade talks since they began in 2001.

The FAO’s spirit is the one everyone should be sharing. Now is the time for action. It is not the time for vested national interests. And this applies to developing countries implementing export bans on certain staples just as much as the US and EU doggedly propping up their own agriculture through high subsidies.

You and I have been listening to world leaders saying time and time again the things that NGOs have been saying for the past 20 years or so. We have been saying that everyone has the right to food. We have been saying that the lack of food is a man-made problem, and that women and children suffer the consequences.

We have been saying that the real cause of the rise in food prices is the forced integration of local economies into an international economy controlled by speculative monopolies. Someone observed, can’t quite remember who but this is a pertinent point, that if five grain giants control food trade, it does not matter how much food there is in the world, they will make their super profits. Let’s not forget that Climate Change was caused by roughly 25 per cent by industrial agriculture. Add another 10 per cent because of rising fuel prices and you’re talking about 35 per cent of greenhouse gas emissions coming from a non-sustainable farming system. What are we going to do when we hit severe food and water shortages in a dozen years or so?

“We could solve the climate problem and the food problem with investments, but not the level of investments the World Bank is talking about by supporting ecological agriculture. It is about supporting local economies, and the most important point is a valid international assessment,” said one BBC journalist.

At the end of the day, the rich countries, ie the developed countries, do not seem to be prepared to stop subsidizing their agricultural products and dumping them, undercutting the local farmers in developing countries. There’s no better time to push for real reforms than at the G8 summit in Hokkaido, Japan, next month. But, as I said before the Rome Conference, don’t hold your breath. I’m not.

This is true for many fruit and vegetable crops. To prevent trucks of produce from being rejected, crops are “culled” (hand sorted) after they are picked. About half goes into the truck on its way to the store. The other half goes into the truck going to the dump, or destined to be plowed under and sprayed with insecticide. The food being thrown away is not rotten or bad in any way.

This news come hot on the heels of the UN food summit in Rome which ended in failure as delegates bungle the final declaration. As I reported on the the Rome conference for the last three days, here, here and here, I personally did not have much hope that anything of substance would be accomplished in three short days, marred by the presence of two tyrants, Mugabe & Ahmadinejad who both managed to lay all ills at the foot of the western world’s door.

The UN’s food crisis summit lurched to a messy end in Rome yesterday as brave hopes failed to translate into convincing commitments to tackle the soaring threat of world hunger. A final declaration was only agreed after hours of bickering over the language. And the final text failed to disguise dramatic differences over the cause of price inflation and its cure.

Nevertheless, it is America which has once again been subject to the biggest criticism at the Rome summit – this time for its policy of vast ethanol subsidies, with its effect of turning about a quarter of what was its corn production into fuel for cars, blindly promoted by George W Bush when he was made to realize that his Iraq war had failed in its objective of increasing the supply of “friendly” oil from the Middle East. Someone ought to send a memo to the future President, Barack Obama, to ensure that this absurdity would end on his watch.

Although the World Food Program has been given an additional $3bn of emergency food aid, and the Islamic Development Bank has promised to deliver $1.5bn to help farmers in some of the poorest countries increase production, I find that since the conference was informed that up to $30bn a year in aid pledges (UN’s Ban Ki Moon figure) would be necessary to alleviate the developing world’s hunger, these sums are hardly cause for great celebration.

The prevalent view to solve the global food price emergency is to invest heavily in agricultural production in poor countries through UN agencies, eliminate rich world farm subsidies and impose a moratorium on recently established bio-fuel programs. To enable these policies we need strong leadership, and political will, which frankly, is lacking worldwide.

Still in family hands, Cargill is the largest privately owned company in the world. Its grain division is the number one source of grains and oil-seeds in North America for domestic use, as well as exporting, and it is a major player in the beef and poultry industries. With so many business sectors, operating divisions, and locations across the globe, keeping tabs on the specifics of Cargill is difficult. But in general, the Minneapolis-based company markets, processes, packs, distributes, transports, and trades agricultural, food, industrial, and other products and services. It is a leading grain processor and a top U.S. meat packer, but more importantly, it greatly influences – and some analysts would say it controls – both markets. Cargill deals with wheat, corn, and oilseeds; meats, poultry, and fish; industrial products such as biofuels, oils, lubricants, and salts; health and pharmaceutical products; and agricultural services such as animal feed and fertilizers. You name it, they’re in it, they sell it.

In short, Cargill sells farmers many of the inputs they need, and buys much of their output for trading and processing. The corporate behemoth has created a worldwide agricultural system in which it is both buyer and seller, and as a result has reaped massive profits. It reported profits of $2.34 billion for the 2007 fiscal year. Unfortunately, Cargill has not been as successful in protecting the rights of consumers, workers, or the environment as it has been in adapting profitable business strategies.

Cargill threatens the environment in both the United States and abroad. It has spilled toxic waste into the San Francisco Bay, violated the Clean Air Act with harmful emissions, and deforested key habitats for endangered species in South America.

And Cargill treats people no better than it does the environment. Its operations are known to pay their workers low wages, expose them to dangerous pesticides, and renege on critical promises made to the community by a corporation it acquired. It is even alleged to force children to labor under hazardous conditions. Cargill shortchanges American farmers by transferring production overseas.

Because Cargill’s loyalty lies in profits, it does not hesitate to use new and potentially dangerous food technologies if they may bring in revenue. Cargill pushes genetically modified products, invests in irradiation, and lobbies for the right to use carbon monoxide to artificially imbue red meat with the look of freshness long past its expiration date. So now you have the lowdown on Cargill. Avoid their products whenever you can.

The GSK weight loss wake-up call:

GlaxoSmithKline’s petition to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to ban dietary supplements from making weight loss claims, has opened a cupboard and only the deluded would deny the presence of one or two skeletons rattling around in there. The petition seeks to reclassify weight loss health claims as disease claims and by most accounts is unlikely to succeed, but it has brought into focus issues industry has not managed to lay to bed. Source

Chefs take center stage in developing future foods:

Chefs have long had a role to play in the food industry’s development of new products, but ingredients companies are placing greater emphasis on how their sensory skills can be used to prepare foods that are more appealing to consumers, and to determine trends for the future. Source

Beans and Pulses are low glycemic Index Foods:

The glycemic index is a characteristic of foods that more and more people are looking at when making food choices. For people suffering from diabetes, heart disease or obesity, adding low glycemic index food to the diet may be beneficial. Source

Environment – GM Foods the Problem, Not the Solution:
The food crisis has prompted some looks towards genetically modified food production as a solution. That in turn has led to stronger warnings over the consequences of such food for health and the environment. These concerns have been raised in Bonn again as more than 3,000 delegates from 147 countries met for the UN conference on biosafety. The conference has sought to ensure safe use of modern biotechnology. Feeding the debate, scientists, farmers and environmental activists in many countries continue to warn that genetically modified agriculture presents a risk, and not a contribution, to food production. Source

The scoop on the miracle fruit:

A relatively tasteless berry with an amazing side-effect. After eating one miracle fruit, sour things will instantly taste sweet. Eating even the sourest of lemons, one will taste only sugary sweetness. The effect lasts an hour or two. The miracle fruit is a remarkable natural sweetener that is virtually unknown to much of the world. Source

In the “I kid you not” Department: The Perfect Hate Storm: Malkin vs. Rachael Ray and Dunkin’ Donuts:

This flap is so chock full of objects of Internet scorn that it’s hard not to get a little dizzy: Right-wing nutcase Michelle Malkin has won a victory over baby-talking Food Network personality Rachael Ray, who was hawking obesity-causing products for fast-food company Dunkin’ Donuts while wearing what appeared to be a kaffiyeh, the cotton scarf that most Americans associate with Palestinian nationalists, especially the much reviled late Yasser Arafat.
Malkin called out Ray and Dunkin’ Donuts on the faux kaffiyeh being visible in the online ads and got the conservative blogosphere buzzing about a potential boycott of the donut chain. And guess what: Dunkin’ Donuts caved and yanked the ads. Source

Dispelling the myths about diabetes and diet:

Diabetics can’t have sugar. Diabetics must buy and eat special foods. These misconceptions linger despite changes in nutrition guidelines. Now some new books are spreading the word. Diabetes has become a full-blown epidemic in this country and it’s getting worse. Every day in the U.S., 4,100 new cases of diabetes are diagnosed. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention predicts that one in three Americans born in 2000 will develop diabetes. Source

Wolff pledges to fight illegal honey claims:

Ingredients company Alfred L Wolff is vigorously denying accusations against two of its US executives who were arrested for allegedly importing honey from China mislabeled as coming from Russia and the Ukraine. Honey imported from China to the US necessitates anti-dumping duties to make up for alleged unfair influences on competition, as the exported product is lower in price than what is normally paid in the home market. Source

Some good news on the wheat front! Less Wheat Import by India to Impact Prices in 2008-2009:

With India expected to import no more than 500,000 metric tonnes of wheat in 2008-2009, international prices will witness some downward pressure, according to F.O. Licht’s World Grain Markets Report. India imported 1.8 million and 6.5 million tonnes of wheat respectively, in the previous two seasons. This year the country is expecting a bumper crop and that along with a bumper procurement of 20.5 million tonnes will lessen the prospects of imports. Source

However, the increasing presence of GM crops in the US food chain has led to a growing resistance movement. Several activists groups have filed lawsuits in California calling for the USDA to review its approval of the GM sugar beet, while planting of Monsanto’s alfalfa, also genetically modified to resist Roundup, has been delayed after a major campaign against the crop in 2006 calling for a federal environmental review.

GMO sugar beet seeds, supplied by Monsanto, have an inserted gene to make the plant resistant to the company’s Roundup herbicide. Monsanto already once postponed intro of the sugar beet (ready since 2004) when candy makers and other companies fretted – rightly so – that consumers would reject products with sugar from the beets.

Citizens for Health, a US consumer advocacy group, has launched an online campaign to warn consumers about the dangers of genetically engineered sugar beets in food products. The campaign is particularly aimed at several large firms, including Hershey’s, M&M Mars, and the company mentioned in the intro, American Crystal Sugar. According to Citizens for Health, these companies in 2001 pledged not to use sugar from genetically engineered sugar beets in their products. However, with Monsanto’s Roundup Ready sugar beet now allegedly ready for planting, these companies pledges have not been renewed, said the advocacy group.

The group fears that the use of sugar beet seeds that have built-in resistance to the Monsanto’s Roundup herbicide could create new and unpredictable health and environmental risks.

American Crystal Sugar confirmed that there had been no planting of GE sugar beet seeds yet. However, the company was unable to comment further. Sugar beets are grown on about 5 665 million square meters (1.4 million acres) by about 12,000 farmers in the United States, mainly in northern states from Oregon to Michigan, according to figures published in Capital Press Agriculture Weekly.

Although a minor crop compared with corn and soybeans, sugar beets account for about half the US sugar supply, with the rest coming from sugar cane. In the same context, farmers, food safety advocates, and conservation groups filed a suit in the federal court on 23 January 2008 in San Francisco, challenging the deregulation of “Roundup Ready” sugar beets by the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) of the US Department of Agriculture (USDA).

According to Citizens for Health (take a look at their website, quite informative, plus you can take action as well – see at the end of this diary), as these sugars are found in hundreds of everyday food products, such as candies, cereals, and cakes, “the infiltration of GE sugar beets could represent a significant alteration of our food supply”.

Well, look no further than Japan.

Japan’s leading chocolate maker Meiji Seika has recalled a range of confectionery products, after it was discovered that they contained a novel sweetener made with an unapproved genetically modified enzyme.
Environmental campaign group Greenpeace is now calling on the company to issue a list of other firms that are buying the sweetener developed by Meiji for use in their products. Sweeteners are seeing booming demand around the world as consumers seek to avoid sugar for weight loss reasons. Selling sweeteners made with GM ingredients is a different story however. Japan has approved 36 different varieties of GM corn for human consumption as well as other food ingredients. But Greenpeace claims labeling laws are weak and confusing to consumers. Under Japanese food labeling laws, only the top three ingredients by weight in a food product are required to be labeled if they are genetically modified, and then, only if they are above a 5 per cent threshold. Highly processed products such as soy oil are not required to be labeled. The GF2 sweetener is described as a sugar alternative and targeted at the weight loss foods market.

In Europe, a request for placing products produced from sugar beet H7-1 on the market was submitted by KWS SAAT AG, a German plant breeding company and Monsanto Europe to the authorities of The United Kingdom on 12 November 2004.

On 20 December 2006, the European Food Safety Authority gave a favorable opinion and concluded that

“it is unlikely that the placing on the market of the products produced from sugar beet H7-1 as described in the application will have any adverse effects on human or animal health or the environment in the context of their intended uses.” Yeah, right.

Back on US soil, a coalition of ethical stock market investors have called on 63 US food, beverage and restaurant companies to stop using genetically modified sugar beet. The coalition of nearly 300 faith-based investors with over $100bn in invested capital, which goes under the name of the Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility (ICCR), has launched a web-based campaign against the planting of GM sugar beets from the April 2008 planting season.

The campaign, claims that allowing GM sugar into the US food chain would affect thousands of the most widely consumed products in the US.

What you can do: visit the ICCR’s website and take action, also join OCA’s Campaign to Mobilize One Million Consumers to End Monsanto’s Global Corporate Terrorism here!

This is not a very well known fact: prior to being the Supreme Court Judge who put GW Bush in office, Clarence Thomas was Monsanto’s lawyer. I rest my case.

However, emeritus professor Richard Selley from Imperial College London claims in a new book that if temperature rises continue, areas such as the Thames Valley, parts of Hampshire and the Severn Valley will be unable to support wine production. Instead, the land may become suitable for growing raisins, currents and sultanas, said Selley. These products are currently only cultivated in hot climates such as North Africa and the Middle East. “Grapes that currently thrive in the south east of England could become limited to the cooler slopes of Snowdonia and the Peak District,” said Selley.

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and the Met Office’s Hadley Centre predicts UK temperatures will rise by up to five degrees centigrade by 2080. Some US  Senators such as the dunderhead from Oklahoma, Senator Inhofe, still derides Al Gore.

According to the most recent figures provided by the English Wine Producers, there were 362 vineyards and 102 wineries in the UK in 2005. White wine production far surpasses red wine. From 22 white grape varieties, 2,691,200 bottles of white wine were produced in 2006. Meanwhile, 677,733 bottles of red wine were produced in the same year, from seven red grape varieties (info from EWP).

Nonetheless, the UK cannot compete in output with the world’s top producers, France and Italy, providing between seven and eight billion bottles per year each.

For the last 100 years, British vineyards have concentrated on Germanic grape varieties, which fare well in cooler climates. This has led to the production of wines such as Reisling and Muller-Thurgau.

However, according to Selley, French grapes such as Pinot Noir, Pinot Meunier and Chardonnay have recently been planted in southeast England. This trend will continue as temperatures rise, he said.

In fact, he predicts cool and intermediate grapes will be confined to the far north of England, Scotland and Wales if current temperature predictions are accurate.

Professor Sir Brian Hoskins, director of the Grantham Institute for Climate Change at Imperial College, said:

“This research shows how the environment in the UK could be affected by climate change in a relatively short period of time. Increases in temperature over the course of this century could have a dramatic effect on what can be grown here, including vines.”

Global warming and the changing climate could affect agriculture in many ways and cut yields, according to the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO). I have written about this many times.

It has already been partly to blame for poor harvests experienced in the past couple of years, which have damaged stock and contributed to food shortages and increased food prices. Additionally, the FAO said unpredictability could make farm planning more difficult and the sea-level would rise, threatening coastal agricultural land.

Biological diversity would be reduced, distribution and quantities of fish and seafood could change dramatically, and pests and vector-borne diseases would spread into areas where they were previously unknown. Governments have begun enforcing environmental policies to curb climate change. For example, recent EU Commission’s proposals for the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) health check include provisions to help the environment.

The Commission suggests subsidies to wealthy farms be progressively cut with the funds going instead to help programmes involved in climate change, renewable energy, water management and biodiversity. Take note, America!

I smell a rat! Some financial entities (read speculators), like the oil producers, are making a killing. Somewhere.Some weeks ago I wrote a piece on how traders are playing some kind of  “casino capitalism” by speculative buying that is helping to drive food prices higher. I’m convinced that soaring wheat prices are driven partially by greed, but can’t prove it. Yet.

The FAO reports that favorable weather conditions and a greater confidence in more plentiful supplies in the new season have driven prices down sharply in recent weeks. Have you bought a loaf of bread today that was cheaper than say, a few weeks ago? Nope.

By mid-May, international wheat prices stood about 50 per cent below their peaks in late February, although it is important to note that by April, the price of United States wheat was still 80 per cent above the same period last year, according to the FAO.

Decline in wheat futures! No kidding? How will that be passed to us? Don’t hold your breath as Food Outlook confirms that recent declines in the US wheat futures have been “pronounced” driven by firmer prospects for a “significant increase” in this years American output as well as at the world level. US winter wheat is forecast up 17 per cent and the world level up 8.7 per cent.

“In May most US wheat futures fell to a five-month low in light of prospects for a record wheat crop this year”, said the report.

In the northern hemisphere bigger harvests are expected in all regions with the exception of Asia, where output is expected to remain close to last years levels (though I’m still waiting for China’s wheat crop production to be announced.)

Reports from Europe tell us that better weather conditions than last year have particularly favored production in countries situated in the eastern Black Sea zone such as Bulgaria and Ukraine. If normal growing conditions continue for the remainder of the season production in the EU-27 is forecast to reach about 138 million tonnes, up nearly 15 per cent on 2007′s low output.

More good news: with regard to wheat imports into the EU it is anticipated that there will be a “sharp decline” as a result of the expected recovery in output, I read in EuroNews. When shall we expect a reduction in price, I wonder? Again, don’t hold your breath. Traders are saying that stocks must be replenished first.

After falling to nearly a 30 year low, world wheat stocks by the close of the 2009 crop season are forecast to rise to 168 million tonnes, up 16 per cent. At current forecasts the world wheat stocks-to-use ratio for the new season is forecast at 26.4 per cent, nearly a 5 per cent increase from the 2007/08 low but below the 30 per cent at the start of the decade.

Sadly, the strong demand for wheat, particularly for animal feed, will prevent wheat stocks and the stocks-to-use ration from any significant improvement. In other words, flour prices will remain high as wheat inventories in major exporting countries are expected to rise, with expansion in the EU up 5.5 million tonnes. As Shakespeare would say, “Something’s rotten in the State of Denmark”!

Next month (June 3 to 5) there will be a high-level conference on world food security and the challenges of climate change and bio-energy. It’s going to be in Rome, at the FAO headquarters. I’m not sure the enormity of how to feed the hungry 900 millions in developing countries can be solved in two days of talk, color me skeptic.

The overall purpose of the conference is to address food security and poverty reduction in the face of climate change and energy security. More specifically, the objective is to assess the challenges faced by the food and agriculture sectors from climate change and bio-energy in order to identify the steps required to safeguard food security within the broader context of action being recommended to address climate change and bio-energy at the global, regional and national levels. It should thus contribute to the UN system efforts in the field of climate change.

I am compiling a photo diary on the amount of food and its cost consumed by families from all over the globe in one week. Make sure you see it, it will be posted tomorrow at 5.30 EDT. It will astonish you how little some families can survive on.

The prices of staple foods such as rice could stay high for the next three years, hindering the battle against poverty, a top World Bank official said Tuesday. I personally think this may be the understatement of the year. With oil prices to hit $200, widely predicted by our own Jérome a Paris and others, I doubt very much staple food will come down as the price to fill a gas tank could, more or less, double within the next five years. Foodstuffs need reasonably priced transportation and it looks as though it’s going to get worse before it gets better.

Welcome to world of foraging, a lost art for most as more and more convenient stores and supermarket chains crop up in neighborhoods with dizzying regularity. Try this for a change: take your family to the nearest forest, gather wild produce and see if you can bring home the bacon, so to speak.

There is such a thing as a free lunch after all, the elite forager insists, as long as you know what to look for. Henry David Thoreau, the master forager, understood that gathering foodstuffs was about more than the end crop:

“The bitter-sweet of a white-oak acorn which you nibble in a bleak November walk over the tawny earth is more to me than a slice of imported pineapple.”

Foraging isn’t just fun, it’s green as well. No food miles, no pesticides, no pointless plastic packaging, plenty of fresh air, no money exchanged…what’s not to like?

My life as a forager started early. My great grandmother, a tireless walker with an encyclopedic knowledge of Provencal lore and the woods around us initiated me aged five. Off we went on most clement mornings, our jute bags with large carrying handles over our shoulders and our Opinel knives (a must have for serious foragers) safely sheathed in our back pockets. She would decide, depending on the season, of the day’s gatherings. Most days we would head for the forest and on others we’d go to the seaside and explore our pine trees covered “calanques” for seawed, baby clams, tiny crabs, sea-urchins (my job was to dive and select females only, as males didn’t bear eggs), whelks, and of course pine nuts which were plentiful. The trips to the forest were longer and more exciting: we had to climb the nearest tree to avoid galloping wild boars a couple of times.

When the mushroom or the stone fruit season wasn’t on, we’d set off for specific areas, all intimately known to her and start gathering wild carrots, asparagus, garlic, artichokes, nettles, all kinds of edible berries, wild spinach (though it could have been collards), wild herbs such as thyme, rosemary, and when our bags were nearly full, we’d pick some wildflowers for our favorite family members and head off home. The only bit of food we’d ever take with us was a small loaf of country bread, and two small bottles of olive oil and vinegar, and a little salt, in case we decided to make a salad on the spot. To my best recollection we came back with full bags each foray.

Here are a few tips on what to look for should you wish to explore the nearest woods.

First of all be very sure of what you are eating and know what Poison Ivy and wild Parsnip look like to avoid them while foraging. Be a responsible forager, asking for permission when necessary. Be kind to the trees and plants you harvest, leaving enough behind for them to regenerate or reseed. Always leave some for the wild birds and animals that depend on them for survival. Never gather too much in one area that looks stripped or bare.

Violets: the purple or white flowers of all American violet species are edible and can be found in the early spring on lawns, on roadsides or in the woods. They can be used as beautiful garnishes in salads, or candied for cake decorations or an elegant dessert.

Dandelions: many people know that dandelions are edible, but few know how to deal with them. The leaves must be picked before the flower heads open, or they will be very bitter (my great grandmother used to soak the leaves overnight in water with the juice of one or two lemons). They are very good in a salad, especially one with a Dijon mustard dressing.

Elderberries: it’s easy to pick elderberries, just snap off the entire cluster and drop it into your bucket. They are not tasty fresh or in pies, but cooked into juices or jellies, they are delicious.

Purslane: this plant is a weed in the States but is cultivated in Europe and Asia today and has been grown in India and Persia for centuries. Added to soups and stews, it can help to thicken the broth, as does okra. It is also good fried with bacon, or in an omelet.

Yellow wood sorrel: a tart, delicious three leaved plant that I have gathered in my childhood. It is first seen in early spring, and its tiny yellow flowers are a cheery sight after a long winter. It has a lemony flavor that goes well in salads and cold or hot fruit soups.

Ah, and the mighty chestnut, the most delectable wild source of carbohydrate bar none. There are, of course hundreds more wild eats, and I could go on till the cows come home, but diary size matters!

The most overlooked area to forage is our own gardens, yards, and property, and that could be another diary in the future. In the meantime here’s a small list of websites for your perusal, should you decide to give foraging a try.

LearningHerbs.com is a site with some great wild food recipes. The Journal of Wild Mushrooms; Modern Forager; Fergus the Forager; Backwoods Home; About Forager’s Harvest Classes; Wild Food Foragers.

Remember, water conservation is essential.

Rescuers reach epicenter of China quake:

China – The first rescue teams arrived at the epicenter of China’s worst earthquake in modern times, scouring the rubble of mountain villages in Sichuan Province for survivors and airlifting emergency supplies to them. Makeshift aid stations and refugee centers are springing up across the vast region, where hospitals were leveled and survivors must be treated in the streets. In the city of Yingxiu in Wenchuan County, only 2300 out of 10,000 residents were left alive. Source

New Measures Against Water Waste:

Yemen – The Yemeni government recently signed new laws against water waste throughout the country. This includes not only monitoring the quality of potable water in certain areas but also the depth of new wells. Source

Iran allocates $163m emergency fund for drought:

Iran – In Tehran, Iran’s Deputy Energy Minister for Water and Wastewater Affairs, Rasoul Zargar, announced that the government had budgeted the equivalent of $163 million U.S. to implement emergency plans in case of a devastating drought. Source

Huge project to restore Everglades to be suspended:

Florida – The construction of a 25-square-mile reservoir designed to help restore water flows in Florida’s Everglades wetlands is on hold due to a lawsuit. The vast basin was scheduled for completion in 2010 and is intended to store rainwater that would normally be diverted into the sea to prevent flooding. When the wetlands need replenishing, the water will channeled from the reservoir. The Natural Resources Defense Council is suing the South Florida Water Management District, not to stop construction, but to get a legal commitment from the state to use at least 80% of the stored water for environmental restoration. Source

Laws passed to regulate recycled water:

Australia – In Brisbane, capital of Queensland, Australia, Parliament passed legislation to regulate the safety of drinking water and the addition of recycled wastewater to the supply. Queensland Health will set quality standards and the Department of Natural Resources will be responsible for ensuring that those standards are maintained. Source

My favorite: Wind to fuel Sydney’s desal plant

Australia – The desalination plant under construction near Sydney, New South Wales, Australia will be powered by wind, announced Premier Morris Iemma, who called it Australia’s biggest-ever “green energy” contract. The Capital Wind Farm, run by the firm of Babcock and Brown, is under construction in Bungendore and will be operational by 2010. Source

Ways of Ancient Mexico Reviving Barren Lands:

Mexico – Jesus Leon Santos, a Mixtec Indian from San Isidro Tilantongo in the Mexican state of Oaxaca, helped to found the Center for Integral Campesino Development of the Mixteca, or CEDICAM, to revive pre-Hispanic farming practices and the economy of his barren region. Source

Cote d’Ivoire: Waste management – The residents of Abidjan exposed to real dangers:

COTE D’IVOIRE – A four-day international workshop on waste management in West Africa opened on 12 May in Abidjan, Cote d’Ivoire, at the Abobo-Adjame University. Delegates from 12 African countries, Germany, and Belgium are discussing the creation of research and training programs in environmental engineering at African universities and how to improve the collection and treatment of wastes. Source

More research on climate change and water supplies needed, UA climate scientist tells Congress:

Washington, D.C. – Professor Jonathan Overpeck, director of the University of Arizona’s Institute for the Study of Planet Earth in Tucson, Arizona, told the U.S. House of Representatives in Washington, DC that because water supplies and climate change are so closely linked, allocating more money for research on both topics is essential. Source