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EPI REPORTS STRAIN ON GLOBAL FOOD HARVEST, COMING SHORTAGES
10 May 2004

The Earth Policy Institute is reporting new strains on global food stocks and current and coming harvests. According to the non-profit research organization, global food security is now imperiled by the fourth consecutive year of increasing grain harvest shortfalls. In 2003, the shortfall was "easily the largest on record", reducing reserve stocks to 30 year lows, pushing wheat and corn prices to their highest level in 7 years and rice to a 5-year high.

During the current year, the momentum of falling grain stocks may be compounded by other evolving crises, such as "falling water tables and rising temperatures". If this year's harvest shows another vast shortfall, grain prices will continue to rise, affecting economies around the world. [For more: EPI at EcoVaria.com]

FTAA OBSTACLES SHOW AT MIAMI MINISTERIAL MEETING
26 November 2003

The United States wants to fashion a Free Trade Area of the Americas agreement which is comprehensive, hemispheric and lasting. The public in many countries is increasingly skeptical about the benefits of such an agreement. Agricultural subsidies in developed countries can pose significant barriers to agricultural prosperity in developing nations. Argentina and Brazil in particular demand that there be an arrangement through which countries adversely affected by such policies would receive compensation or special consideration in bilateral agreements. [Full Story]

LATIN AMERICA STRUGGLING BEHIND THE VEIL
23 November 2003

The Center for Economic and Policy Research has published a study of economic trends in Latin America during the time of liberalized trade policy. Their research determined that growth has been hampered by liberalized trade policies which favor wealthy nations.

The study stems from concerns that slow growth in the first years of this century may mirror trends from the 1980's, known to analysts of Latin American economics as "the lost decade". Overall Latin American economic growth in the 1980's languished at -0.3%, marking a decline in prosperity and in GDP. [Full Story]

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