The world is eating more than it produces and food prices may climb for years because of expansion of farming for fuel and climate change, risking social unrest, an expert and a new report said on Tuesday. Biofuel expansions alone could push maize prices up over two-thirds by 2020 and increase oilseed costs by nearly half, with subsidies for the industry effectively constituting a tax on the poor, the International Food Policy Research Institute said. Global cereal stocks, a key buffer used to fight famines around the world, have sunk to their lowest level since the 1980s due to reduced plantings and poor weather, said the institute's director general, Joachim von Braun. "The world eats more than it produces currently, and over the last five or six years that is reflected in the decline in stocks and storage levels. That cannot go on, and exhaustion of stocks will be reached soon," he told a conference in Beijing. Countries such as Mexico have already experienced food riots over soaring prices. "The days of falling food prices may be over," said von Braun, lead author of the "World Food Situation" report. Surging demand for food, feed and fuel have recently led to drastic price increases ... climate change will also have a negative impact on food production," he added. Global warming could cut worldwide income from agriculture 16 percent by 2020, despite the potential for increased yields in some colder areas and the fertilizing impact on plants of having higher carbon dioxide concentrations in the atmosphere. "With the increased risk of droughts and floods due to rising temperatures, crop-yield losses are imminent," the report said.

To view the full article, visit the Environmental Network News. For a copy of the original article contact the WIP at (970) 247-1302 or stop by the office at 841 East Second Avenue in Durango.