When you live in a place where grocery stores are common and well-stocked, the following headlines may seem peculiar: "Riots, Instability Spread as Food Prices Skyrocket," "Global Food Riots Turn Deadly," "Hunger to Replace Energy Crisis."

But the stories are real, and speakers in a symposium at the 2009 AAAS Annual Meeting in Chicago said that such headlines may become more common if immediate actions are not taken to improve the quality and supply of reliable agriculture in the world's poorest nations.

Their key to preventing future food crises: ensuring reliable access to cheap, nutrient-rich foods by developing better seeds.

Specifically, the speakers called on scientists, governments, and non-governmental organizations to work together to ensure that farmers in the developing would have reliable access to seeds that are resistant to pests and produce high-yields. Because many of these nations have begun to experience the effects of a changing climate, the seeds should also be resistant to extreme temperatures, floods, and drought.

"Bringing science to agriculture has the potential to save millions of people and effect the lives of billions of people," said Ren Wang, director of the Consultative Group on International Agriculture Research (CGAIR).

CGIAR is a coalition of organizations--governmental, inter-governmental, and foundations-- which seek to achieve sustainable food security and reduce poverty in developing countries through scientific research and research-related activities in agriculture, forestry, fisheries, policy, and environment. CGAIR has 64 coalition organizations with 8,500 consulting scientists and 15 international research centers around the world.

One of its most successful projects was developing a drought-tolerant maize seed, Africa's most important cereal crop. When a drought occurs, the harvest can be ruined, and that can result in widespread food shortages, riots, and famine deaths. But through their research, CGAIR has developed more than 50 drought-tolerant strains of maize seed. CGAIR is in the process of distributing them throughout Africa.

Beyond work in Africa, Wang said his organization has projects in Asia to revitalize the cereal crops and control wheat rust, which can ruin a harvest.

"We have the ability to reduce hunger and malnutrition through science," said Wang.

Robert Zeigler, director general of the International Rice Research Institute, said that the best way to distribute the technology to the areas that need them the most is to foster small and medium-sized seed businesses. These small companies can ensure the quality of the seeds, and most importantly, have local contacts and relationships with the farmers, he said.

Jon Hamilton, a science correspondent for National Public Radio, recounted several stories he filed on the lack of clean water around the world, which he called "inextricably linked to food crises."

"You have very dry countries that use all of their water for drinking, leaving farmers nothing with which to water their crops," Hamilton said. "That in turn creates a significant food crisis."

While stories of food crises around the world have grabbed headlines, Hamilton said that most go unreported because they don't effect much of the media-consuming world. But that could soon change.

Due to the global economic downturn, Hamilton said that media report of food crises could increase, with shortages appearing in places once thought to have a surplus.