Channing Arndt, United Nations University; James Thurlow, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) , and Karl Pauw, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI)
Malawi’s large-scale subsidy for farmers has resulted in higher maize production, lower food prices and higher wages. But this has come at significant costs.
India has become the biggest land investor in Ethiopia. There are concerns at the behaviour of Indian firms in the Gambela ecological hotspot.
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Foreign investors need to tread carefully when acquiring land in Africa. This is best illustrated in the ecologically sensitive Gambela region of Ethiopia, where firms have endangered livelihoods.
Do warehouse stories contribute to the obesity epidemic?
Ryan Ozawa/Flickr
Today many people follow vegetarian, vegan and a variety of eclectic diets, but before World War II meals were commonly based on the meat and two veg philosophy. And so food rationing, which began 75 years…
Price wars are crippling for producers.
Chris Radburn/PA Wire
The crisis of confidence at Tesco signals a remarkable fall from grace given that it wasn’t so long ago that Britons were spending one pound in every seven in its stores. But should we feel sorry for Tesco…
Aldi and Lidl bring with them all kinds of new competition in the supermarket wars.
PA/PA Wire
The decline of big supermarkets in the face of brutal competition from discount retailers like Aldi and Lidl has been widely discussed. But, as shoppers move away from conventional ways of shopping, little…
Thanks to sanctions, prices for fish in Russia have spiked by up to 50%.
Anatoly Maltsev/AAP
When Russia announced counter-sanctions against the European Union, USA, Canada and Australia banning imports of food items from those countries, it was clear there would be imminent consequences. But…
Another victim of (Borough) Market forces …
laFeba
Political wrangling over food prices has a long history, and a difficult future. We have become used to ever-cheaper food, but a closer look at what’s happening shows that what we buy and how much we pay…
Falling food supply sees lunch breaks replaced by lunch riots.
Jon Hrusa/EPA
The global growth in demand for food is outstripping supply and by the middle of the century there will be about a third more mouths on the planet to feed. The world’s middle class is expected to rise…
Food prices are likely to rise in line with inflation, but taxes and natural disasters could also have an impact.
Melanie Foster/AAP
Australia’s cost of living is among the highest in the world, despite our low inflation rate. In this series we explore what consumers can expect from the big ticket items - petrol, power and groceries…
The cost of fresh fruit and vegetables soars in rural areas.
Flickr/ Family O'Abé
Would you pay A$9 for six mushrooms in inner-city Melbourne? Or A$4.50 for one small piece of broccoli or cauliflower in Sydney? Probably not – but this is what rural Australians are being asked to fork…
People should not be hungry with the food, resources, and technology at our disposal.
PA
How much would you pay for staying alive? How much would you pay for breathing pure air? That may seem a silly question since air is everywhere, accessible to all. Air is a global public good, part of…
Celebrity chef Jamie Oliver’s characterisation of poor people eating “chips and cheese out of styrofoam containers” in front of “massive fucking TVs” doesn’t represent all poor people, working or otherwise…
Wheat-free: fields full of quick-growing miscanthus grass, an energy-rich biofuel.
Andrew Parsons/PA
Critics of the conversion of plants into biofuel have long argued that it is an issue of food versus fuel, and a recent UN report gives some weight to their argument. Since the amount of maize needed…
“Burgerisation” has made waste as common in the food system as take-away wrappers on streets.
Niall Carson/PA
Foundation essay: This article on food waste by Tim Lang, Professor of Food Policy at City University London, is part of a series marking the launch of The Conversation in the UK. Our foundation essays…
Last week saw national and international media attention on events unfolding in Parliament House. But another function in that magnificent building was arguably of much greater long-term importance — the…
Market share: Two companies in Australia control more than half of the country’s bread and bakery business.
Flickr/looseends
The Federal Government’s current national food plan process is heavily dominated by business interests. It is built on flawed assumptions that the market can provide the solutions that our broken food…
The rains came too late for these Texas wheat crops, which are stunted and thin. But there’s more to rising food prices than bad weather.
Flickr/agrilifetoday
Not so long ago, things were looking good. The UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) had announced on the 5th of July that the FAO food price index had been falling for the third consecutive month…