The Economic and Social Department of the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) has made three international food-related publications available. Food Outlook is a bimonthly publication that discusses aspects of world food production, imports, and exports, and is highlighted by detailed selected country and region tables on those variables.

The Economic and Social Department of the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) has made three international food-related publications available. World Food Shortages is a bimonthly publication that concentrates on unfavorable crop prospects, food supply shortfalls, and local surpluses by country.

Achieving food security for all is at the heart of FAO's efforts – to make sure people have regular access to enough high-quality food to lead active, healthy lives. FAO's three main goals are: the eradication of hunger, food insecurity and malnutrition; the elimination of poverty and the driving forward of economic and social progress for all; and, the sustainable management and utilization of...

Provided by the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) Economic Research Service (ERS), this report measures farm-to-retail price spread data to determine how much and why food prices rise. Although subtitled 1950-1997, the report actually focuses primarily on data for 1997. Contents of the report include an overview of the 1997 food prices, price spreads for selected foods, food industry costs and...

Published by the Economic Research Service of the US Department of Agriculture, this study examines the two main food gaps, the status quo gap and the nutritional gap, to measure food insecurity in order to study the ways in which these two food gaps are affecting different regions of the world population. The report found Sub-Saharan Africa to be the most vulnerable in respect to food security,...

This excellent report from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, The State of Food Insecurity in the World (SOFI), found that, in 1999, 790 million people in the Third World are undernourished, and 34 million in First and Second World nations also do not have enough to eat. Although the number of undernourished people has dropped by 40 million since 1996, a decline of 8...

The US Department of Agriculture offers this report relating to international food production and demand. The Economic Research Service (ERS) of the USDA produced this report, which provides baseline projections for international supply, demand, and trade for major agricultural commodities to the year 2007. The report is offered in .pdf format only and includes an introduction and separate...

In March 2001, the Economic and Social Department of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations released this 135-page document. The handbook focuses on the Food Security Information and Early Warning System (FSIEWS), and includes treatment of the system's structure, advantages, and didactic approach. A FSIEWS "relies on existing monitoring systems for information on the...

The University of Wisconsin's Why Files (first mentioned in the August 9, 1996 Scout Report) has a recent in-depth feature that explores issues surrounding the creation of new agricultural plant varieties, with an emphasis on genetic engineering. The Web site consists of straightforward pages of text and photographs that relate the past, present, and possible future of plant breeding and genetic...

Given all the recent concern about different foodborne pathogens in the news and on television, this site (sponsored by the US federal government) will help answer a variety of questions that consumers and persons in the food industry may have about any number of related topics. For consumers with questions about preparing food and purchasing food from the supermarket, the site has a very helpful...