Agriculture & Nutrition

A protest against rising food prices in the western Indian city of Ahmedabad in July 2014. Photo: Amit Dave/Reuters

Where and why food prices lead to social upheaval

by Cullen S. Hendrix and Stephan M. Haggard Washington Post February 22, 2015

Between 2000 and 2011, prices for most globally traded commodities more than doubled. Since cresting in early 2011, however, oil and industrial metals prices have halved. As the saying goes, however: What’s that got to do with the price of eggs? No...

As Walmart gives raises, other employers may have to go above minimum wage

by Neil Irwin New York Times February 20, 2015

Walmart is the biggest private employer in America, with 1.3 million United States workers. And many of them will soon see a raise, in the latest snippet of corporate news that suggests a firmer job market is starting to enable workers to successfull...

Beatrice Alvitsa holds a bag of cement: higher millet yields are enabling her to rebuild her home in Kenya. Photo: Mark Anderson/The Guardian

Battle to feed the world pits small farmers against big agriculture. Do small-scale farmers hold the key to fulfilling global goals on hunger and poverty? Or can they only be achieved by large-scale agriculture?

by Mark Anderson The Guardian February 19, 2015

Dotted along the narrow path that skirts the edge of Beatrice Alvitsa’s house in Shimanyiro, a green Kenyan valley near the border with Uganda, are dozens of millet plants, each protected by a carefully assembled fence made of sticks. “These keep...

More than 2.2 million Iraqis have been displaced from their homes since January 2014. Photo: Cathy Otten/IRIN

Emergency aid projects in Iraq face closure due to funding shortfall

by IRIN News February 18, 2015

In the last year more than 2.2million Iraqis have been displaced from their homes due to fighting between militants calling themselves the Islamic State and government security forces and are scattered across the country, many in tented camps and mak...

Orange-fleshed sweet potato is high in beta-carotene which converts to vitamin A in the body. In sub-Saharan Africa most locally grown varieties are white-fleshed, hence no beta-carotene, and people, as yet, still prefer the white-fleshed varieties. Photograph: Felicity Cloake

Magic mash: reducing child malnutrition with sweet potatoes. A project to introduce orange-fleshed Vitamin-A-rich sweet potatoes to sub-Saharan Africa can improve child health. But can local eating habits be changed?

by Ian Low The Guardian February 18, 2015

Bright orange sweet potato mash with a slab of butter melting slowly on top is a familiar sight on Thanksgiving feast tables across north America. Not only delicious, the vegetable is increasingly recognised as a nutritional powerhouse. The intense c...

The 25-cent raise: What life is like after a minimum wage increase

by Chico Harlan Washington Post February 17, 2015

PINE BLUFF, Ark. — One Friday last month, Shanna Tippen left the house where she sometimes gets by with candles and flashlights, got into her beat-up 2003 Chrysler Sebring, and drove to work to pick up her first new-and-improved paycheck. The paych...

  • World Hunger Education
    Service
    P.O. Box 29015
    Washington, D.C. 20017
  • For the past 50 years, since its founding in 1976, the mission of World Hunger Education Service is to undertake programs, including Hunger Notes, that
    • Educate the general public and target groups about the extent and causes of hunger and malnutrition in the United States and the world
    • Advance comprehension which integrates ethical, religious, social, economic, political, and scientific perspectives on the world food problem
    • Facilitate communication and networking among those who are working for solutions
    • Promote individual and collective commitments to sustainable hunger solutions.