A recent report by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations (URL above) gives some perspectives on the recent worldwide surge in food prices and possible action plans to address the crisis. The report describes the recent “high price event” in the prices of food/feed commodities, as “unlike previous high price events."  The price surge covers nearly all major food/feed commodities, with a possibility that the prices “will continue to remain high after the effects of short-term shocks dissipate”. Among the listed factors contributing to high food prices were: (1) “strengthening of linkages among different agricultural commodity markets (i.e. grains, oilseeds and livestock products)” with fuel prices and the consequence of rapid economic/population growth in many emerging countries, and (2) “biofuels and financial instruments that influence not only the costs of production of agricultural commodities (such as sugar, maize, cassava, oilseeds and palm oil) but also the demand for them”. The additional demand for maize (for bioethanol) and rapeseed (for biodiesel) “has had the potential for the strongest impacts on prices”. Countries which utilize food-based feedstocks for biofuels production may need to review their biofuel policies. One of the suggested strategies to address high food prices (or to mitigate negative impacts) involves a “twin-track approach”: (1) “actions to protect the welfare of the most poor and hungry by providing direct support on an emergency basis and beyond” and (2) “providing public resources and designing policies to re-launch agriculture and revitalize rural economies over the medium term”..