Biofuel and diet sow seeds of farm crunch

Malthus may have been right after all, though two centuries early and a crank. Mankind is outrunning its food supplies. Hunger – if not yet famine – is a looming danger for a long list of countries that are both poor and heavily reliant on farm imports, according to the Food Outlook of the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO).

What has abruptly changed is the twin revolution of biofuel politics and Asia’s switch to an animal-protein diet. Together, they have shattered the fragile equilibrium.
The world’s grocery bill has jumped 21pc this year to $745bn (