In advance of the international meeting of agriculture ministers on global food prices called by the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation on World Food Day in Rome today (Tuesday 16 October 2012), Friends of the Earth’s Food and Farming campaigner Kenneth Richter said:

“The international community must take action on soaring food prices - starting by ending the disastrous explosion in biofuels production. We simply can’t afford to use valuable farmland and water resources to grow crops to make fuel.

“Tackling climate change is crucial – increasingly frequent extreme weather incidents are predicted, and these are already having a devastating impact on food production.

“We must make better use of our food resources to cope with feeding a growing world population – this must include shifting to diets with less meat and dairy which are more sustainable in the long run.”

ENDS

Notes to editors

1.            For further information about the impact of biofuels on food prices, please see Friends of the Earth’s briefing here.