U.N. Food Summit Ends Without Plan

A three-day United Nations conference on spiraling food costs concluded late on Thursday with the delegates calling on countries and financial institutions to provide more food for the world's poor and increase agriculture production to ensure adequate supplies in the future.

The final declaration, completed Thursday, sought "urgent and coordinated action" to address the problems associated with higher food prices, to raise food production, to lower trade barriers and to increase research in agriculture.

The draft declaration largely sidestepped the issue of biofuels, which had emerged as the most contentious matter at the conference.

Some developing countries argued that food crops should not be used for fuel, but the declaration simply urged more research on the subject.

Read more on The New York Times