In the Voronezh region, about 260 miles south of Moscow, a wheat field is dried-out after weeks of searing heat and practically no rain on Aug. 2, 2010. A severe drought destroyed one-fifth of the wheat crop in Russia, the world's third-largest exporter, and now wildfires are sweeping in to finish off some of the fields that remained. Mikhail Metzel / AP

By Svetlana Kovalyova and Deepa Babington; Editing by Anthony Barker
Mon Mar 7, 2011 MILAN/ROME (Reuters) – Climate change bringing floods and drought, growing biofuel demand and national policies to protect domestic markets could drive up global food prices and threaten long-term food security, the United Nations said. High and volatile food prices are a growing global concern, partly fuelling the protests that toppled the rulers of Tunisia and Egypt this year. The aftershocks have been seen across North Africa and the Middle East from Algeria to Yemen. Periods of price volatility are not new to agriculture, but recent price shocks triggered by extreme weather and increasing use of grains to produce energy have caused great concern, the U.N.’s Food and Agriculture Organization said. “There are fears that price volatility may be increasing,” the FAO said in its State of Food and Agriculture report. The growing influence of commodities markets and “counter-productive ‘beggar-thy-neighbor’ policy responses (to high prices) … may exacerbate international market volatility and jeopardize global food security,” it said. The Rome-based FAO has already warned food-producing countries against introducing export curbs to protect local markets as world food prices push further above the levels that triggered deadly riots in 2007/2008. A declining stock to utilisation ratio for major grain stocks like wheat and maize is a concern, said Kostas Stamoulis, director of Agricultural Development at FAO’s economics unit. “We worry about this,” Stamoulis told Reuters on the sidelines of the presentation of the report. “As prices increase, governments and others are trying to reduce their stocks to soften the impact of decreased supplies. This is one of the factors causing high prices … If there is another supply shock very soon, like in China for example, then the shock will happen amidst low stocks.” Global food prices hit a record high in February, and the FAO said last week that further oil price spikes and stockpiling by importers keen to head off unrest would hit already volatile cereal markets. Food prices are projected to rise over the next decade and stay at levels on average above those of the past decade, the agency said on Monday. …

Climate change, biofuels threaten food security: FAO