Ethanol demand fueling shortages.

• Position: Food Production

The worldwide food crisis is a direct result of the choices made by policymakers and the lack of attention paid to the agricultural system and its relationship to global warming and fossil fuels, according to Samina Raja, assistant professor of urban and regional planning at the University at Buffalo (N.Y.).

"The current food shortage and rising prices of agricultural products are very serious problems and are going to get worse now that the use of agricultural land is encouraged for ethanol production," Raja charges. "Although food insecurity in the world isn't a new phenomena, what is new is that the press and many policymakers--the very people who did not attend to the crisis as it developed and therefore contributed to it--now are alarmed by food shortages, riots, and soaring prices.

"Fortunately, this is drawing much needed attention to the relationship [among] the energy crisis, climate change, and the soaring cost and inadequate supply of food," she adds. "The crisis is real and growing and I would like to hear [Pres.-elect Barack Obama] address this in a meaningful and educated way.

"The production, processing, distribution, sale, and consumption of food and disposal of food waste historically have been paid little attention by U.S. urban and regional planners, so it isn't surprising that we find ourselves in this situation."

Raja points out that, in years past, the vegetables, flour, meat, fruits, and dairy products Americans consumed came from family farms located in rural areas outside of the nation's cities. "Today's conventional food system requires the same products to travel roughly 1,500 miles from farm to fork. The transportation of food over long distances requires enormous quantities of fossil fuels, and causes severe...