The world food council at three years: Global food system manager?

Analyzing the results of the World Food Council's Third Ministerial Session (Manila. 1977), in terms of both substance and procedure, the authors discuss the Council's current role in international food policy making. It appears that the final communique from Manila, as well as the improved policy making processes begun there, point to a strengthened and more positive position for the Council in the future, as an advocate, catalyst and coordinator of action to alleviate global hunger.     

世界食品包装机械未来发展趋势

20世纪90年代，全球的食品工业总产值达到了2．2万亿美元，高居于其他工业产值之上。至于食品包装工业总产值同样占包装工业总产值的大约60％以上。21世纪，预计各国发展的重点依然是力争妥善解决持续发展（包括军与民的各种特殊需要）的大问题上，从而决定了食品工业和包装工业都是永不衰落的朝阳工业。     

The four world food organizations: Influence of the Group of 77

The influence of the Group of 77 (G77) within the four world food organizations in Rome is limited. The structure of power and the policy making process within each organization varies rather considerably, but in each of them G77 has neither the resources, information, unity nor leadership needed to play a very influential role. The international economy is presently in a state of doldrums, and the Group of 77 is struggling, not without some success, to maintain the status quo within the world food organizations that it estabilshed during the 1970s.     

The Soviet burden on the world food system : Challenge and response

Through its disruptive entry into western food markets and its non —participation in global efforts at food policy management the Soviet Union has placed a burden upon the world food system. Dr Paarlberg examines this burden and the US response which has been to seek better information on Soviet agriculture, impose ad hoc controls on food sales and to enter a bilateral agreement in 1975. Three other suggested responses —grain reserves held without Soviet participation, a US wheat board, and a North American export cartel —are discussed. The author concludes that the Soviet burden is decreasing and is best lifted by increasing the free supply available for export. In future. Soviet reliance on food imports may draw it into a greater dependence on the non-socialist world.     

Models of world food supply,demand and nutrition

Computer simulation of the world problematique offers a policy maker an interesting opportunity to see the dynamics of relationships within and between the global subsystems of which food and agriculture is one. The four major modelling studies reviewed in this article make assumptions about the possible level of food supply, technological and economic impacts on production, ecological consequences, and social and political factors influencing demand. Following their analysis of agricultural data inputs in all these areas, the authors discuss the type of policy measures likely to be recommended on the basis of global modelling.     

Technology and the world food problem : A US view

In order to realise the potential for increased production in the developing countries more and better technology will have to be made available to these countries. After outlining the problems involved in this the authors discuss the role of the USA and other aid giving countries. They suggest three areas where the rich countries can help: increasing the supply of research skills; expanding experiment station capacity in the developing countries; and strengthening support for basic research in the USA. The rich countries will have to face the problem of encouraging increased production of competitive commodities in the developing countries.     

International trade and world food security : The role of developed countries since the World Food Conference

No mechanism is in place for the international coordination of grain stocks. World market stability is largely dependent upon the actions of major grain trading countries. These countries have avoided the exportation of their domestic supply variations onto world markets over the past decade, but have been reluctant to allow domestic consumption to respond to world shortages and surpluses. Improvement in the sensitivity of domestic storage and consumption to world conditions could increase their contribution to world food security.     

Denmark's contribution to the world food programme: a success story

The Danish government has achieved a six-fold increase in the number of people who could be fed with Danish development food aid from 1990 to 1997, at a reduced total cost. A change in the composition of the Danish food basket from high-value commodities of animal origin toward basic vegetable commodities produced this dramatic increase in the cost effectiveness of Denmark's regular contribution to the World Food Programme. The decision to change the food basket was strongly opposed by the very well organized Danish meat and dairy industries and their interest organizations. Notwithstanding the substantial opposition from these organizations, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs maintained its commitment to phase animal commodities out of the Danish food basket. The World Food Programme was very supportive of Denmark's initiative to promote a more flexible approach to the determination of donor food baskets. The outstanding partnership between the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the World Food Programme has been instrumental in the successful implementation of the new Danish food aid policy.     

Meeting world food objectives : Towards an improved trade environment in agriculture

The global economic crisis of the early 1980s has left developing countries with their agricultural sectors starved of investment and their overall development prospects radically trimmed. Growing hunger and malnutrition are among the visible symptoms of a world food system in disarray. But the lessons of recession could stimulate review of entrenched attitudes and foster the will to address future trade policy objectives and adjustments against the background of increasing acknowledged interdependence of development partners and the ever more urgent need to serve world food objectives.     

Wheat in the world food economy: Increasing role in developing countries

Wheat is the oldest and most important of the cereal grains in world food supply. In the last two decades the role of wheat in the world food economy has increased substantially, especially in the developing world. This article describes and analyses the role of wheat and highlights and interprets changes that have occurred in the last two decades of rapid change. The authors analyse, in turn, trends in production, consumption, trade and prices with special emphasis on the developing countries.¹ Finally, the authors speculate on how these trends are likely to be effected by future events.     

哥本哈根气候会议:一个缓慢的开始

亲历哥本哈根气候会议13天艰难谈判的美国自然资源保护委员会中国项目主任费雯莉、卡内基国际和平基金会能源与气候项目研究学者米瑞丝,在这篇发自美国的访谈中,就如何看待会议取得的成果、会议的焦点问题,以及全球抗争气候变暖的前景阐述了各自的观点。     

The political ideology of food

Using data from a survey of over 700 Americans, we sought to measure and investigate the nature of citizen’s political ideologies in relation to food. Results reveal that a majority of respondents can be classified as “food statists,” desiring more government action in the realm food and agricultural relative to the status quo. People’s ideologies with regard to food were multidimensional, falling along lines related to food health and quality, food safety, and farm subsidies. Respondents were most in favor of additional government action related to food safety. Food ideology was related to conventional measures of political ideology with, for example, more liberal respondents desiring more government involvement in food than more conservative respondents, but the relationship was far from determinative, suggesting food ideology represents a unique construct in its own right.     

The quest for food

The Quest for Food is an educational project written and planned by Kenneth P. Wilkinson, a professor of rural sociology at The Pennsylvania State University. The project is offered as a one credit college course and consists of both a written and television component. The television part of the course includes interviews with Sterling Wortman, the Vice President of The Rockefeller Foundation in New York; Frances Moore Lappé, the Director of the Institute of Food and Development Policy in San Francisco; and, Rustom Roy, the Director of the Materials Research Laboratory, and Science, Technology, and Society Program (STS), both located at The Pennsylvania State University.