The FAO food price index for December 2009 shows that global food prices are on the ascent again. FAO's Food Price Index monitors and plots the price movements of a food basket composed of cereals, oilseeds, dairy, meat and sugar. The December rise is the fourth straight monthly rises. In its December Food Outlook report FAO said that "market conditions are different from those that triggered the food price crisis that started two years ago" but I think that's an anti-alarmist tack taken by FAO.