A newly released report by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations says agricultural biotechnology is likely to play a role in alleviating global hunger, with farmers in developing countries already reaping benefits from new technological innovations.

The report, entitled "The State of Food and Agriculture," also points to agricultural biotechnology’s emerging benefits to society and the environment. It cautions, however, that benefits to poor farmers have not been extensive, and that further international efforts are needed to increase access to this new technology.

"Barring a few initiatives here and there, there are no major public- or private-sector programs to tackle the critical problems of the poor or targeting crops and animals that they rely on," the report states. "Concerted international efforts are required to ensure that the technology needs of the poor are addressed and that barriers to access are overcome."

Based in Rome, the FAO is the world's major body dealing with long-term issues of food supply and is influential in setting global food policy.

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”Willful Ignorance” on Trade – In a May speech to the Graduate Institute of International Studies in Geneva, Anne Krueger, acting managing director of the International Monetary Fund, noted that the struggle to overcome what she termed the “willful ignorance” of today’s free-trade skeptics bears remarkable similarities to Britain’s debate over the 19th-century Corn Laws.  “It is clear from reading the arguments at the time that two principal motives inspired the opponents of free trade,” she remarked.  “One was fear; the other a desire to protect vested interests.  These motives have persisted into the twenty-first century.”   Ms. Krueger also observed that the total annual cost to consumers and taxpayers of OECD governments’ support for agriculture and horticulture could pay for each of the 56 million cows in the OECD countries to enjoy a first class air ticket around the world, with $1450 in spending money left over.  Read Ms. Krueger’s remarks at: Click Here.