Officials predict prolonged high food prices

High food prices are likely to rise even further over the next decade, putting the poor at an increasing risk of malnutrition and hunger, a world food report warned Friday.

The joint report of the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development said the risk of price volatility that has hurt farmers across the globe remains high. The OECD leader came out to back France's demand for increased transparency and more regulation and public information in the farm commodities markets as a key measure to stabilize prices.

"Information is absolutely of the essence," OECD chief Angel Gurria said. "The one market that we don't know and where we have a lot of blind spots is precisely the agricultural market," where such critical information like the size of stocks remains largely hidden. More...