As rising food prices continue to threaten food security around the world, one obvious solution is being largely ignored: Brazil. The country has enormous reserves of unused arable land, most of it currently serving as under-productive pasture, that could easily and cheaply be turned over to production of grains and other foods. The problem is that much of Brazil’s farm produce continues to face prohibitive tariffs and other barriers to developed markets in Europe and the US.

“The correct response is to give priority to dealing with hunger, with access to foodstuffs and to food production in poorer countries” Celso Amorim, Brazil’s foreign minister, told the FT last week. “And to give priority to tackling the root of the problem: the enormous subsidies in rich countries that undermine production in developing nations. World hunger is not a result of a lack of supply, but principally of the low income levels in poor countries.”