Once a year, bloggers around the world are encouraged to unite and write about one theme en masse. The organizers of this year’s Blog Action Day are inviting you to join in a global conversation about food, to mark the UN World Food Day on Sunday 16 October.

For the New Internationalist, this subject could not be more apt, as our upcoming November magazine ‘Banking on Hunger’ is all about the scandal of food speculation. We have learnt how financial speculators are flooding the food markets.Their bets on the prices of staples like wheat and maize have sent the cost of food spiralling – and pushed millions in the Global South into malnutrition and poverty.

But unlike other stresses on our world food supply such as conflict, poor distribution and climate change, food speculation is – technically – easy to control if clear, hard market rules can be introduced.
So on Blog Action Day, the New Internationalist will be blogging about the fight to regulate global markets and clampdown on food speculation, taking stock of the progress at G20 meetings of the world’s most powerful nations, at the European Union and in the US.

Write your own
But we can’t rely solely on politicians to save our food supply. So why not write your own blog highlighting progressive ways to feed the planet? We’d love to see conversations going on in the blogosphere about the many local projects trying to forge a food-secure, environmentally sustainable future.

To take part, register your planned post at Blog Action Day, then on 16 October post your blog on Twitter using the hashtag #BAD11. Meanwhile keep an eye on the New Internationalist site for more on food speculation and follow the #BAD11 hashtag on 16 October for more coverage of Blog Action Day and food.