Former Nationals leader warns of global food shock Article from: Herald Sun September 26, 2007 10:03am
FORMER deputy prime minister and Nationals leader John Anderson has warned of a potential global food shock with falling production and soaring prices.
Mr Anderson said anyone outraged by the federal government's support package for drought-hit farmers had never gone hungry.
He said the aid package reflected the fact that farming was essential, unlike any other business, and farmers could not do it on their own.
"This comes at a time of unprecedented concerns globally of very low grain stocks. It is not beyond the realms of possibility that we will see a food shock in the next few years," Mr Anderson told ABC Radio.
"We talk about oil shocks. We have gone on assuming that the supermarket shelves will always be loaded."
Mr Anderson said in an average year Australian farmers produced enough food and fibre for perhaps 100 million people, with most exported and plenty left for our own supermarkets shelves.
But in a world where a billion people still live on less than a dollar a day and go hungry, there are major humanitarian issues, he said.
"This affects everyone from the farmers right through to those people who are dependent on countries like Australian to feed them," he said.
"We are going to have to look closely at what the scientists are saying. They will need to be properly resourced. They will need to be drawn upon in terms of painting a road map for the future.
"We may very well be facing changes. But I don't for a moment believe that the severity of this drought is something we will see year in and year out."
Mr Anderson said among the tough decisions ahead was whether or not to accept the use of genetically modified crops.
He said there were some very interesting drought-tolerant varieties coming through which would perform much better in a drier, hotter climate.
"That I know is a contentious issue but we won't be able to simply be indulgent on the basis of full bellies and not worry about impacts globally," he added.
