The document discusses several issues facing the global food system including rising food prices, inequality, and lack of resilience. By 2030, food prices are forecast to increase 70-90% due to pressures from climate change, environmental degradation, population growth, and other factors. Half the world's population will live in countries chronically short on water by 2050. Women farmers have lower yields than men due to inequalities in access to resources. The food system is dominated by a small number of large corporations. Population growth in poor countries outpaces agricultural productivity growth. Countries dependent on imports are vulnerable to volatile food prices and crises. Food aid does not always meet local needs and can undermine local producers.

1. The Need for GROWSeptember 12, 2011

3. A skewed and failing systemTHE AGE OF CRISIS

4. IntroductionPower above all determines who eats and who does not.

5. In 2009, the number of hungry people passed one billion for the first time (Following the collapse of the Lehman Brothers which caused oil to reach $147 a barrel)Food PricesThe Problem: Food prices are forecast to increase something in the range of 70% to 90% by 2030 before the effects of climate change.

6. The Reason: The food system is buckling under intense pressure from climate change, ecological degradation, population growth, rising energy prices, rising demand for meat and dairy products, and competition for land from biofuels, industry, and urbanization.Glaring InequalitiesBy 2050 an estimated 7 out of 10 people will live in Low-Income Food Deficient Countries.

7. In more than half of industrialized countries 50% or more of the population is overweight.

8. The amount of food waste by consumers in industrialized countries is possibly as much as 25%Glaring InequalitiesIn 2000 half a billion people lived in countries chronically short of water; by 2050 the number will have risen to more than 4 billion

9. In 2006, the value of bottled water sales in the United States was around $60 billionGlaring Inequalities

10. Glaring InequalitiesEstimates suggest that by providing women with the same level of access to resources as men, they could increase yields on their farms by 20-30%

11. In developing countries women account for only 10-20% of landowners (more likely to rely on marginal tracts not registered, which are precisely the ones currently identified by governments and investors as “available” for large scale land acquisition. Glaring Inequalities4 firms dominate over 50% of the seed industry

12. 6 firms control 75% of agrochemicals

13. Research agenda of these companies focuses on their biggest customers—large industrial farms that can afford expensive input bundles—such technologies rarely meet the needs of farmers in developing countries.Bottom LinePopulation in poorer countries is growing faster than agricultural productivity. Even if the resources are available they may lack the access to acquire them.

14. The Resilience ProblemVolatile food prices have delivered 2 global crises in the past 3 years

15. The countries most vulnerable are countries with large populations living in poverty that depend on international markets for much of their food needs. The Resilience ProblemIn 2010, nearly 40% of the corn production in the United States’ corn production went into engines rather than stomachs.

16. Between 2005 and 2009, donors covered only about 70% of emergency assistance requested in UN appeals.