French Agriculture Minister Bruno Le Maire said the G-20 summit of agriculture ministers had agreed to calm the world market by establishing a transparent system to track global supplies, emergency food reserves, engage in more research into new wheat strains and create a rapid response mechanism to deal with drought in producer countries.
"It is a tour de force for the international community that lets you still believe in the power of solidarity and working together to address the big questions facing the planet, like the future of world agriculture," he told journalists.
In a reflection of the seriousness of the crisis, this is the first time agriculture and food security have been made a G20 summit topic.
"We all recognize the necessity of putting in place on the market of agricultural products new rules and regulations," Le Maire said.
One of the key aspects of the new accord is the Agricultural Market Information System that would stave off panic food speculation by making instantly available to all countries the state of world food stocks and consumption, Zoellick explained.
"What we saw when prices started to surge in 2008 was that the lack of information on stocks and availability can lead to panic in markets and panic is what leads to price hikes," said Zoellick. "Uncertainty leads to volatility."
