Biofuel, price speculators and free trade often grab the headlines when people struggle to explain the rapid rise in food prices and why so many people go hungry. Fred Pearce in this article reminds us of the factor of production that is perhaps the most scarce and largely mismanaged - water. From India and China to the United States, major rivers are being mined to support industrial and small scale agriculture. Water tables are dropping and salinization is having a devastating impact on the productivity of the land. Pearce prescribes three actions necessary to ensure that water shortages will not too drastically effect food production: a rethinking of biofuels, more food exports from countries enjoying a water surplus and last but not least, using this scarce resource more efficiently. To access the full article, please click here.

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