Editing Agricultural policy (section)

===Food security===
The United Nations [[Food and Agriculture Organization]] (FAO) defines [[food security]] as existing when "all people, at all times, have physical and economic access to sufficient safe and nutritious food that meets their dietary needs and food preferences for an active and healthy life".<ref name=FAO>FAO (2008) [http://www.fao.org/docrep/013/al936e/al936e00.pdf An introduction to the basic concepts of food security.] Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, Rome, Italy.</ref> The four qualifications that must be met for a food secure system include physical availability, economic and physical access, appropriate utilization, and stability of the prior three elements over time.<ref name=FAO />

Of the 6.7 billion people on the planet, about 2 billion are food insecure.<ref>{{cite journal | url=http://www.ifpri.org/sites/default/files/publications/20090326jvbEADS.pdf | title=Threats to security related to food, agriculture, and natural resources - What to do? | author= von Braun, Joachim| journal=Paper Presented at 'strategic Discussion Circle' EADS, Berlin, Germany | year=2009 | pages=1–6 | publisher=[[International Food Policy Research Institute]] (IFPRI)| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130512134438/http://www.ifpri.org/sites/default/files/publications/20090326jvbEADS.pdf | archive-date= May 12, 2013|url-status=dead}}</ref> As the global population grows to 9 billion by 2050, and as diets shift to emphasize higher energy products and greater overall consumption, [[food system]]s will be subjected to even greater pressure.<ref name=Beddington>{{cite book | url=https://cgspace.cgiar.org/bitstream/handle/10568/35589/climate_food_commission-final-mar2012.pdf?sequence=1 | title=Achieving Food Security in the Face of Climate Change: Final report from the Commission on Sustainable Agriculture and Climate Change | publisher=[[CGIAR]] Research Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS) |vauthors=Beddington J, Asaduzzaman M, Fernandez A, Clark M, Guillou M, Jahn M, Erda L, Mamo T, Van Bo N, Nobre CA, Scholes R, Sharma R, Wakhungu J | date=March 2012 | location=Copenhagen, Denmark | pages=64}}</ref> Climate change presents additional threats to food security, affecting crop yields, distribution of pests and diseases, weather patterns, and growing seasons around the world.

Food security has thus become an increasingly important topic in agricultural policy as decision makers attempt to reduce poverty and malnutrition while augmenting adaptive capacity to climate change. The Commission on Sustainable Agriculture and Climate Change listed high-priority policy actions to address food security, including integrating food security and sustainable agriculture into global and national policies, significantly raising the level of global investment in food systems, and developing specific programs and policies to support the most vulnerable populations (namely, those that are already subject to food insecurity).<ref name=Beddington />