Can markets curb ‘agflation?

FARMERS have had to cope with a bewildering range of bureaucratic and economic buzz words for decades.

And now a new term – agflation — has been coined by global financial services group Merrill Lynch to capture the phenomenon of world food prices forcing up consumer prices more generally.

It has come about as persistent and continuing rises in food prices are now seen as posing problems across the world. Some experts believe this could rival global warming as the biggest single concern on the planet.