"The overall food price index, calculated by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations was up in August with a total of 216 points, up three points and 1.4% from August. FAO says the increase is attributed to dairy and meat prices and increases for cereals."

"The ice covering the Arctic Ocean was at a record low, in keeping with a sharp warming trend in the far north. At the same time, the amount of the ocean around Antarctica covered by sea ice hit a record high. It's winter in Antarctica when it's summer in the Arctic. But why in a warming world is wintertime ice growing?"

"As carbon dioxide continues to build up in the atmosphere as a result of burning fossil fuels, the seas absorb much of it.The full effects have yet to be felt."

"BEIJING -- China in recent years established global dominance in renewable energy, its solar panel and wind turbine factories forcing many foreign rivals out of business and its policy makers hailed by environmentalists around the world as visionaries. But now China’s strategy is in disarray. Though worldwide demand for solar panels and wind turbines has grown rapidly over the last five years, China’s manufacturing capacity has soared even faster, creating enormous oversupply and a ferocious price war."

"The first major snowfall of the year and a cold snap set to sweep into the northern Midwest could harm some late-maturing corn and soybeans crops and delay the harvest, an agricultural meteorologist and the National Weather Service said on Thursday."

"BRUSSELS -- The European Food Safety Authority said Thursday it cannot accept an 'inadequate' report by a French scientist on a link between cancer and genetically modified corn."

"The EFSA said an initial review showed that the 'design, reporting and analysis of the study ... are inadequate,' meaning it could not 'regard the authors' conclusions as scientifically sound.'

"An analysis of Greenland ice core samples indicates significant global methane emissions per capita during the Roman Empire and China's Han Dynasty — much greater than had been known."

"HOMER, Alaska -- Kris Holderied, who directs the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Kasitsna Bay Laboratory, says the ocean's increasing acidity is 'the reason fishermen stop me in the grocery store.'"

"BANGKOK -- Organised crime trade worth billions of dollars is responsible for 50 to 90 percent of illegal logging in parts of the Amazon basin, Central Africa and Southeast Asia, with implications for deforestation, climate change and the well-being of indigenous people, said a report released Thursday."

"Approval of foods from genetically modified animals is unjustifiably slow, scientists say; some are looking abroad."