Droughts, disasters hike grain prices

Prolonged droughts in southern and eastern Europe, coupled with natural disasters in the US and Russia, have raised global concerns over food security and pushed grain prices higher.

Experts are urging the European Union to rethink its resistance to science-based agricultural policy as the confederation prepares to review the effect of the extreme weather on its agricultural output and farmers' incomes.

Recently, Strategie Grains cut its forecast for EU corn output by 7.1 million tons to 58.1 million tons, a 13 percent drop from 2011. Strategie Grains also lowered its global forecast for corn production in 2012-13 by nearly 70 million tons to 829.1 million tons.