Perilous
Times and Climate Change
Food Prices soar to new highs as Europe battles
drought
From correspondents in Brussels
From: AP
May 28, 2011 11:55PM
A DROUGHT throughout much of northern Europe this spring is
starting to hurt upcoming harvests and efforts to bring food
prices down.
From beer hops in southern Germany's Bavaria to cereals in eastern
England and fodder shortages in many areas, the lack of rain and
abundance of sunshine is creating problems for farmers in much of
Europe, officials say.
The Rome-based UN food agency FAO said its earlier hopes of a four
to five per cent spike in wheat and barley production in the EU
have been dashed.
World food prices have reached a historic peak this year, raising
fears of a repeat of the global food emergency that led to
violence and unrest in many countries in 2008.