Food and Life Sciences

Agricultural Resources

Agricultural resources references.

Farm Animals

References related to farmed animal food resources.

Fish and Sea Foods

References pertaining to Fish and Sea Food resources.

Forests and Rainforests

References pertaining to rainforest resident natural resources.

Food and Life Science Video and Audio Podcasts

This library is dedicated to video and audio media content related to Food and Life Science Topics.

A New Hand at Agriculture

President Bush's nominee for agriculture secretary, Gov. Mike Johanns of Nebraska, has a real opportunity to reshape an overconcentrated industry.

FDA to Issue Guidelines On Evaluating Biotech Food

The Food and Drug Administration will publish draft guidelines today that would encourage companies to submit voluntary safety evaluations of bioengineered food crops that sometimes drift and cross-pollinate with plants in nearby fields.

A Secretary for Farmland Security

President Bush's selection of a new secretary of agriculture, Gov. Mike Johanns of Nebraska, comes as American agriculture is at a dangerous crossroads.

The State of Food Insecurity in the World (SOFI)

The State of Food Insecurity in the World 2004 reports on progress and setbacks in efforts to reach the goal set by the World Food Summit (WFS) in 1996 - to halve the number of chronically hungry people in the world by the year 2015.

'No drop' in world hunger deaths

The annual report of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations estimates the population of the chronically hungry as 852 million worldwide, meaning the rate at which people go hungry has not changed much since the adoption of the Millennium Development Goals, which seek a 50% reduction in hunger by 2015. Lynn Brown, who chaired the report committee, told reporters, "The number of hungry people remains intolerably high, progress in reaching them unconscionably slow and the costs in ruined lives and wasted resources incalculably large."

NIGER: Government launches "anguished appeal" for food aid

Up to three million people in the West African country of Niger are at risk of hunger if $16 million in funds requested by the United Nations earlier this month remains unfulfilled, Prime Minister Hama Amadou said over the weekend, with UN Under-Secretary General and Emergency Relief Coordinator Jan Egeland calling the crisis "the number one forgotten and neglected emergency in the world." Drought and swarms of locusts have ravaged the country's cereal crop as opposition groups increasingly express frustration with the government's lack of attention to the matter. IRINNews.org (5/31)

Global Warming Will Increase World Hunger

The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization announced this week trends in global warming are likely to result in a greater number of those who will need food assistance around the world, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa, and will increase financial pressures on the organization. FAO officials said the new report indicates a rise in global warming will increase the number of floods, droughts and storms worldwide, and the amount of harsh land in Africa unsuitable for farming could rise to 90 million hectares by 2008. Environmental News Network/Reuters (5/27)

Fat Substitute, Once Praised, Is Pushed Out of the Kitchen

Scientists contend that trans fat, a component of partially hydrogenated oil, is more dangerous than the fat it replaced.

One in six countries facing food shortage

United Nations scientists warned global food shortages could become permanent due to the effects of global warming. The shortages are caused by severe drought currently impacting one of every six countries. Wulf Killman, head of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations group on climate change, expressed particular worry about Africa, where food shortages in Ethiopia, Zimbabwe, Malawi, Eritrea and Zambia could leave up to to 15 million people starving. The Guardian (London) (6/30)

US$3m for global survey of how science helps farming

A project that will assess how science can improve agriculture worldwide has received US$3 million in funding from the World Bank.

Don't Get Fresh With Me!

Local-food devotees mistake good eating for good ethics.

On Beyond Organic: Michael Pollan, 'Food Detective'

For renowned food writer Michael Pollan, a critical step toward understanding our food chains and making smarter eating choices is accepting that the “cult of convenience is a cult of ignorance.”

THE WORLD FOOD SITUATION:NEW DRIVING FORCES AND REQUIRED ACTIONS

Joachim von Braun December 2007 Press Materials Rising Food Prices Threaten World's Poor People December 4, 2007 Press release, fact sheet, and related resources. IFPRI's Biannual Overview of the World Food Situation presented to the CGIAR Annual General Meeting, Beijing, December 4, 2007