Protectionism is to Blame for the World Food Crisis

The world has enormous capacity to produce food to deal with the current food crisis. But this potential has been held back by agricultural protectionism in developed economies and, more recently, by export restrictions imposed by some less developed countries. Contrary to what is often heard, today's crisis cannot be explained by higher demand for food in emerging countries or by speculation. In addition to natural catastrophes such as the Australian drought that has slightly reduced world production recently, ill-advised government policies are largely to blame.