Last week, global leaders met in Davos, Switzerland for the 2019 World Economic Forum Annual Meeting . The conversation centered on globalization, climate change, and technology use, all of which play a role in food systems across the world. Technology in particular holds significant potential to transform global food systems into drivers of inclusive, sustainable development, according to the WEF’s new report, Innovation with a Purpose: Improving Traceability in Food Value Chains through Technology .

The world’s agricultural monitoring systems provide up-to-date information on food production to decision makers that is crucial to global and national food security. When prices become dangerously volatile—as they did during the food price crisis of 2007-2011—these systems spread critical information quickly that can reduce the risks of market and supply upheavals.

On November 28, the Food Security Portal will be presenting a side event at the IFPRI-FAO conference on Accelerating the End of Hunger and Malnutrition .

The FSP event will focus on the importance of information, specifically early warning and early action systems, to prevent and respond to food security crises. Panelists will include representatives from IFPRI, FAO, UNHCR, CILSS, INERA, and government ministries.

The side event will be held at the Intercontinental Hotel in Bangkok from 12:00 - 13:30 and is open to all registered conference participants.

Unsafe food poses a significant threat to human health and well-being and can hamper agricultural transformation, market integration, and economic development. Populations in low- and middle-income countries are often hardest hit by the effects of unsafe food, with countries in South Asia, Southeast Asia, and Africa south of the Sahara accounting for 53 percent of all foodborne illnesses and 75 percent of related deaths.

This year’s International Day of Rural Women (Oct. 15) focuses on the theme, “Challenges and opportunities in climate-resilient agriculture for gender equality and the empowerment of rural women and girls.” The urgency of these challenges is outlined in the recent Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report , which projects more severe repercussions of climate change —among them droughts, rising sea levels, and more frequent and powerful storms and floods—hitting sooner than anticipated.

As the world strives to feed a growing population in the face of declining natural resources and ongoing food security crises, commitment from policymakers to a sustainable food future is more important than ever. Argentina’s G20 Presidency has set sustainability and food security as a top priority for this year’s upcoming Ministerial Meeting, and these priorities were also focus of the recent T20 (Think 20) Summit, held in Buenos Aires in September 2018.

After many years of rapid growth, serious trade tensions have emerged between the United States and China. Since open trade is key to avoiding significant economic and environmental costs and help ensuring food security and nutrition, the ongoing trade conflicts have the potential for disastrous outcomes, as China and the US are key players in global agricultural trade.

The challenges facing global food security continue to increase, driven by ongoing conflict and climate shocks. According to the 2018 State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World Report (released last week by FAO, IFAD, UNICEF, WFP, and WHO), 821 million people were undernourished around the world in 2017; this represents a further rise from the 815 million estimated by the 2017 report. This troubling rise in undernourishment reverses progress seen over the past decade.

The countries that make up the G20 account for around 60 percent of the world's agricultural land, some 80 percent of global agricultural trade, and about two-thirds of global population. As such, these countries have an important role to play in global food and nutrition security, as well as sustainable agricultural production.

Hard wheat prices continued to experience excessive volatility this week, according to the Food Security Portal’s Excessive Food Price Variability Early Warning System . Futures prices for hard wheat on the Chicago Board of Trade rose in early August, reaching 586, 579, and 584 cents per bushel on August 6, 7, and 8, respectively; this is compared to 513 cents per bushel on July 6. According to the Wall Street Journal , Chicago wheat futures reached a three-year high in early August.

Hard wheat futures prices, 2015-2018