The Doha Development Agenda has long been a stumbling block for WTO trade talks. The Bali WTO made some headway in addressing the agriculture and food security-related issues that have held up previous agreements, but much remains to be done. The following links provide detailed analysis of both the Doha Development Round's history and the Bali Ministerial talks.

In addition to continued coverage of bumper harvests and low prices in grain markets, the October edition of the FAO Monthly News Report on Grains included the increasing impacts of adverse weather on current harvests and 2016 forecasts.

The FAO Monthly News Report on Grains provides a collection of news articles on issues or factors considered critical in shaping the regional/global grains economy, as well as links to reports, statistics, and upcoming events.

“Wheat” is the prevailing theme in the September report from the FAO, with eight out of ten news items focusing on policy developments and forecasts related to the commodity.

The FAO Monthly News Report on Grains provides a collection of news articles on issues or factors considered critical in shaping the regional/global grains economy, as well as links to reports, statistics, and upcoming events.

The Food and Agricultural Organization reports that food prices for August fell 5.2 percent from July levels and down 21.5 percent from last August. The FAO Food Price Index is at the lowest level since April 2009 and down 35 percent from its recent peak in February 2011. Compared to a year ago, prices for cereals, meats, and vegetable oils are down between 15 and 20 percent, while prices for sugar and dairy products are down by about a third.

Please join us below Wednesday, September 2, 2015 from 12:15 PM to 1:45 PM (EDT) for a livestreaming policy seminar exploring challenges and solutions for attaining the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), organized by the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).

Released today, the August edition of the FAO Monthly News Report on Grains features multiple announcements of 2015 crops exceeding weather-dampened expectations, with world grain stocks expected to hit a 29-year high according to the the International Grains Council (IGC).

The FAO Monthly News Report on Grains provides a collection of news articles on issues or factors considered critical in shaping the regional/global grains economy, as well as links to reports, statistics, and upcoming events.

This article is reposted with permission from farmdoc daily and is part of a farmdoc daily series on the 2014 farm bill and U.S. commitments on farm supports under the World Trade Organization (WTO). Costs and WTO notifications for crop insurance and some WTO terms used in this article (Aggregate Measurement of Support (AMS), Current Total AMS (CTAMS), de minimis thresholds, and green box) are discussed in farmdoc daily July 30, 2015 . Information on the 2008 Doha farm support proposals are from the WTO negotiating document .

Additional macroeconomic variables besides trade have a role in achieving food security objectives, and history shows that excluding them from the equation can lead to ineffective or counter-productive policymaking.

This article is reposted with permission from farmdoc daily and is part of a farmdoc daily series on the implications of the 2014 farm bill for (1) U.S. commitments on farm subsidies under the current World Trade Organization (WTO) Agreement on Agriculture and (2) current attempts to revitalize the Doha Round negotiations for new WTO trade rules.

Conditions are favorable for wheat, maize and soybeans in the northern hemisphere according to this month's AMIS Market Monitor, while conditions for rice are mixed depending on the country.

The AMIS Market Monitor provides a synopsis of major developments in international commodity markets, focusing on wheat, maize, rice and soybeans. It represents the collective assessment of the ten international organizations that form the AMIS Secretariat concerning the international market situation and outlook.