ABSTRACT
These recent world food crises have generated intense debate over their causes and effects. State officials, international organizations (IOs), media outlets, and academics offered many explanations for the crisis including: a weak U.S. dollar that helped draw down commodity reserve levels; environmental events that placed a natural limit on commodity production, particularly in developing nations; income and population growth in the newly emerging countries, which sparked renewed fears of famine and starvation throughout the world; requirements for biofuel production that reduced the amount of commodities available for food consumption; and investment speculation on agriculture commodities. The world food crisis also incited debate over possible solutions, which included new genetically modified organisms (GMOs) and production techniques; a new Green Revolution; UN World Food Program (WFP) efforts to increase food aid to the neediest nations; the reduction of trade barriers; measures to improve food distribution while overcoming conflict and war in many poorer countries; and an emphasis on food sovereignty as a strategy to democratize the food system and strengthen local food economies.
