On March 12, 2013, a group of US and Canadian scholars and leaders of organizations addressing hunger submitted to the Director-General José Graziano da Silva of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations a document entitled “Communication for Discussion.”

In it, we raised critical concerns about the core messages of the 2012 edition of the pre-eminent annual report on hunger worldwide, the agency’s The State of Food Insecurity in the World. After useful exchanges with key leaders within the Food and Agriculture Organization, we amended our response to reflect what we had learned. We are now pleased to make publicly available our submission to the Director-General—edited to reflect the FAO’s response—with the hope that the questions we raise can deepen the debate about how to end hunger.

We are eager for feedback. If you have questions or suggestions for us, please email info [at] smallplanet [dot] org with SOFI in the subject line. We would also appreciate your informing us if you quote or use our work. From all of the signatories below, thank you.

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