Skeptics were dismayed several years ago when a group of societies including the American Medical Association tried to end the debate by issuing a joint statement.
The world should prepare for "harder times ahead" according to the UN's food and Agriculture Organisation unless production of food crops increases significantly next year.
Russia, as a permanent member of the UN's Security Council, is also slowly coming around to the idea of new sanctions on Iran over the Islamic Republic’s nuclear programme.
This week a French naval frigate was praised by the UN's World food Programme for escorting two freighters loaded with food aid through pirate-infested waters to Somalia.
Last year the UN's food and Agriculture Organisation said that food production would have to increase globally by 70% by 2050 to feed the world's surging population.
During that period, the UN's Food and Agriculture Organisation estimates the number of hungry people in the world rose from about 800 million to more than 1 billion.
The UN's World Food Programme sent food to Somalia's capital, Mogadishu, in an effort to save the lives of people hit by drought in the Horn of Africa.
The Confederation of British Industry surveyed 694 businesses and organisations across the public and private sectors, which together employ 2.4 million people.