Yet ‘energy independence’ good - right?  At least so long as we don’t export it…

FT.com / Home UK / UK - US warns on moves to shun food trade

Developing countries risk exacerbating the food crisis if they turn away from the global market to promote self-sufficiency, US and United Nations agricultural officials have warned.

Gaddi Vasquez, the US representative to the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organisation, said a “return to [food] self-sufficiency could complicate an already difficult issue”.

Washington’s concerns are shared by senior UN agriculture officials who fear a return to food protectionism as an unwelcome - but likely - outcome of the crisis.

The warnings came as countries, including China and the United Arab Emirates, consider projects at home and investments abroad intended to supply their own markets, and as France urges Africa and Latin America to adopt versions of Europe’s Common Agriculture Policy to form food self-sufficient blocs.