Farmers buoyed by remarkable price rises

By Nigel Hunt

OXFORD (Reuters) - Rising prices driven by population growth, climate change and Chinese demand will help farmers cope with lost subsidies and more international competition, farm minister Hilary Benn said on Thursday.

"After 25 years in which food prices on world markets fell by three-quarters in real terms, the huge increases in wheat and other product prices since last spring has been remarkable," Benn told a farming conference in Oxford.

"Rising prices will certainly help and will ease the further transition away from the old system of subsidised production. And just as the forces pushing prices higher are international so will changes internationally affect the industry," he added.

Benn said there was a debate about whether Britain will be able to obtain enough food as the world's population grows by 50 percent and climate change takes hold.

He noted, however, a report issued by the UK Cabinet Office's Strategy Unit on Thursday indicated poverty was the biggest cause of food insecurity in Britain.

The report said that five percent of those on low incomes reported skipping meals for a whole day.

"This reminds us that being poor means having less choice than others about what you do or have," he said.

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