Food - the new BBQ stopper

And the international community?

First, the G8 should underwrite some of these schemes.

Second, Australia must continue to push the US, EU and Japan to remove their farm subsides, which distort agricultural trade prices and disadvantage developing country farmers. Removing them will help develop a long-term solution to unstable food prices.

Finally, the world needs to stop adding fuel to fire by pushing biofuels - a product produced from carbohydrates like sugarcane, sugar beet, corn, wheat and from oilseeds like canola, oil palm and soy. Vast swathes of land across the world are being converted to biofuels production at the expense of food. This has pushed up food prices by as much as 75 per cent according to an internal World Bank report leaked last week.

As a regional leader, Kevin Rudd must keep pushing for these changes for the sake of stability and security in our region, with or without the help of the G8.