ONGOING DISCUSSION Open until:  18.10.2020 -  The most recent Global Report on Food Crises finds that 135 million people in 55 countries faced crisis level acute food insecurity in 2019 - driven by conflict, weather extremes, and economic shocks.

EUROSTAT STATISTICS EXPLAINED - September 2020 In July 2020, total European retail sales decreased by 0.8 % compared with June 2020. The total sales volume is now equal to 98.8 % of the volume reached in February before the Covid-19 crisis;

FAO-WFP, July 2020 -The COVID-19 crisis unfolds at a time when the number of acutely food-insecure people in the world has already risen over the past four years, largely due to conflict, climate change and economic downturn.

Science,  31 Jul 2020: Vol. 369, Issue 6503, pp. 500-502 DOI: 10.1126/science.abc4765. As the COVID-19 pandemic progresses, trade-offs have emerged between the need to contain the virus and to avoid disastrous economic and food security crises that hurt the world's poor and hungry most.

Executive Summary - Sustainable Development Solutions Network, July 2020 - The world is facing the worst public health and economic crisis in a century.

UNEP UN  ENVIRONMENT PROGRAMME - 14 JULY 2020 - Food systems are essential to economic activity because they provide the energy that we need to live and work.