FAO

Agriculture produces nearly 20 percent of greenhouse gases, which is why the industry should play a fundamental role in mitigating the impact of climate change, said the head of the UN Food and Agriculture Organization at climate talks in Morocco.

Sharply higher prices for cheese, butter and sugar pushed up the FAO Food Price Index by 0.7 percent, continuing an unbroken rise from July. The index, which tracks prices for five groups of foods, has been on the rise throughout this year and is now 9 percent higher than one year ago.

Five weeks after the Canadian meat industry suggested the government should withdraw support from the International Agency for Research on Cancer, the Health Ministry has its answer: No, thank you. As iPolitics reports: "No adjustments to their support would be necessary at this time," said a spokesman for Minister Jean Philpott.

The world will spend $1.17 trillion on food imports, including freight costs, this year, the smallest figure since 2010 due to low prices for meat, dairy, and grains, said the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization.

Farmers, foresters, fishers and graziers generate one-fifth of the world's greenhouse gases, said the UN Food and Agriculture Organization in its annual State of Food and Agriculture report. FAO says the chief message of the 2016 edition is, "Agriculture must both contribute more to combating climate change while bracing to overcome its impacts."

Without concerted action, millions of people "could fall into poverty and hunger," said UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon in a message marking World Food Day. "To bolster food security in a changing climate, countries must address food and agriculture in their climate action plans and invest more in rural development."

Despite forecasts of bountiful harvests and a global grain glut, lower harvests of corn, wheat and sugarcane as a result of severe weather in southern Africa are pushing up prices for Zambia's staple foods, Reuters reports.

Corn prices are down sharply around the world, reflecting favorable growing weather in the United States, helping to pull down the FAO Food Price Index. The UN agency said cereal prices fell by 5.6 percent and vegetable oil prices dropped by 2.8 percent during July, offsetting firmer dairy, meat and sugar prices.

The worst drought in 35 years in southern Africa will imperil the food supply of 40 million people until next March, when crops planted in coming months are ripe for harvest, said the UN Food and Agriculture Organization. "Widespread crop failure has exacerbated chronic malnutrition in the region," said FAO, which appealed for $109 million to equip farmers and grazers ahead of the growing season.

Surging grain, sugar, meat and dairy prices worldwide drove up the FAO Food Price Index 4.2 percent, the steepest one-month increase in the index in four years. June was the fifth month in a row for an increase in the index, which tracks the average international price of a basket of food commodities, now at its highest reading since last July.

Twenty-nine countries from Iceland to Sudan established the world’s first fisheries pact designed to stamp out pirate fishing, the UN FAO said. The Agreement on Port State Measures to Prevent, Deter and Eliminate Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated Fisheries (PSMA) took effect on June 5.

Nigeria, Africa’s largest and most-populous country, needs help feeding refugees fleeing armed conflict in the northeastern corner of the country, according to the UN Food and Agriculture Organization in a quarterly report on food insecurity around the world.

A four-year decline in global food prices has come to an end, says the FAO Food Price Index, which rose by 0.7 percent in April, the third consecutive monthly increase. "April's increase was driven by palm oil prices and, in a minor key, cereals, while sugar prices tapered down after a strong increase in March," said FAO.

The fungal diseases called wheat rust "have the capacity to turn a healthy-looking crop, only weeks away from harvest, into nothing more than a tangle of yellow leaves or black stems and shriveled grains at harvest," says the UN Food and Agriculture Organization.

A UN agency says prices for staple food grains, such as wheat or rice, "appear stable for at least another season" as a result of its forecast of large crops, ample stockpiles and relatively sluggish demand in the months ahead.