Europe and the Global Food Crisis

This means that agriculture should become an international priority, with the poorest countries helped to safeguard the security and independence of their food supplies.

Countries and organizations are already mobilizing. The United Nations' Food and Agriculture Organization argues that rising food prices could lead to increasing global conflicts. The Davos World Economic Forum ranks food insecurity as a major risk to humanity. The World Bank has forcefully emphasized the importance of agriculture to jump-starting economic expansion and breaking the cycle of poverty. UN Secretary Ban Ki-moon has created a working group to define a common plan of action, and France's President Nicolas Sarkozy has proposed a global partnership for food.