Food Prices Soar.

The UN Food Price index has recorded it's hightest level since 1990.





Sean O'Grady writing in The Independent today says economists predict that cereals and sugar in particular may surge even higher in coming months.

"In addition, long-term trends associated with growth in population and climate change may mean higher food costs become a permanent feature of economic life, even though the current spike may end in due course. Speculation, too, may be part of the crisis, as investors climb on to the rising food-price bandwagon."

The price rises will be felt around the globe, but poorer countries are bound to suffer the greatest impact, with more people being added to ranks of world's one billion hunngry.

A farm INSIDE a Tokyo office building...

...including a full-size rice paddy!




This is incredible and quite beautiful I think! Not the most efficient use of energy, but the concept is great. I wonder what do they do with the harvest? And I'd like to know if the building was purpose built for this or was it designed into an existing building? I just love the idea of designing office buildings that can also feed the workforce.

For more information and photographs go to this post from Balcony Garden Dreaming -

Graham Hill: Why I'm a weekday vegetarian | Video on TED.com

Graham Hill is the founder of Treehugger - he talks about his own struggle with the carnivore vs herbivore choice!

Food Distribution Network - fresh fruit & veg for people in need

I've just discovered the Food Distribution Network (FDN) - a not-for-profit community organisation that delivers boxes of fresh and inexpensive fruit and vegetables to people in need in the City of Sydney.

The aim is to assist people to remain healthy and live independently at home with the delivery of affordable, nutritious food.

The service is for older people needing assistance, people with disabilities and their carers and people living with HIV.

FDN buy fruit & veg in bulk from Sydney Markets at Flemington twice a week on Tuesday and Thursday. They're taken to Redfern where volunteers pack the boxes, and then staff deliver them.

I think that this is a fabulous idea. Does anyone know of other food services like this?

If you're interested in finding out more, phone them on 9699 1614 , or go to their website: www.fdn.org.au

Food Security in Australia -a multi-media feature.

Food Security is a hot topic at the moment. The ABC has produced Gene Wars - a multi-media special feature with a focus on biodiversity, gene patents and the future of food production.

The race to find and own all the drought resistant plant genes on the planet: A risk to universal access to food and the end of biodiversity or a solution to the predicted global food crisis?

This special report by the ABC News Online Investigative Unit and ABC Lateline program looks into the future of food production here in Australia and around the world. We talk to the major players in agriculture and science, experts in intellectual property and farmers.

Eleanor Bell and Suzanne Smith reveal a new inquiry is to be launched in the Australian Parliament into the role of patents on plant genes and what it means for Australian agriculture.

Explore this story through the text, video, multimedia, and interactive features of this extensive special.

Meet farmers John and Jan Baxter, see inside the work of the CSIRO, and peek into the future with the Generation Food Challenge - a philanthropic project by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Discover the innovations of the world's largest seed company, Monsanto and watch Australia's intellectual property adversaries debate the merits of the current patent system.

Lateline's Ticky Fullerton presented an in-depth report on patents and whether they represent a threat to farmers and consumers in the future.

Sustainable Seafood Pocket Guide Online

You can now down load a copy of the Australian Marine Conservation Society's Sustainable Seafood Pocket Guide from their website.

I'd still encourage you to buy a copy of the full guide - it contains a lot more information and funds raised from its sale support the work of the Society.

Australian Social Innovation eXchange

Hi All

This is a little off the subject and not really sure myself what it is but i thought it looked interesting for all you social minded individuals. Maybe one of you know a bit more about it. It has some ideas about connecting with NGOS and problem solving difficult social problems as well as connecting people in the local streets to borrow tools etc. Hope you find it of some interest. There is a conference coming up.

http://www.asix.org.au/

Maureen